Pornography and Organizational Bureaucracy

Recently a client asked me if the management structure and disciplines we were instilling would create a bureaucracy within the organization. I was a bit flabbergasted by the question, as it would be the last thing I would ever want to do —does anyone really do that on purpose?

As I considered this subject and began looking at the situation through the eyes of my client, I thought back to Supreme Court Justice White’s comment about pornography (I’ll know it when I see it).  Does that apply to the difference between good management processes and bureaucracy–and whether it would be easy to recognize when crossing the line from one to the other?

A primary and critical purpose of the management team is to communicate and maintain effective policies.  It is equally important the team understands not every exception needs to be documented separately  (and thus avoiding an   energy-sapping bureaucracy).  In this regard, managers need to be supported when determining areas that must remain discretionary.  This requires they exercise good judgment in discretionary areas and exhibit confidence in their decisions.  Those afraid to make subjective decisions, or who hope to avoid criticism, are likely to insist on excessive policies.

Good leaders are attuned to new issues which can develop into significant problems or trends. In these cases, they choose to be proactive; working with their peers and executive management to quickly provide the staff with well-defined, written direction.

Operational guides lay out the basic foundation of a firm’s approaches and processes, so staff can be properly trained to provide clients with first class service. This process—where your systems must run your business and your people run your systems….and most companies get this backward—was endorsed and made famous by Michael Gerber’s popular eMyth business development system.

As an example of this process, we created an operational guide for a client’s management team to use recruiting, hiring, training and managing their sales staff.  It provides a common foundation; detailing their markets, key differentiators, pricing strategies, sales process, sales goals, compensation plans and forecast processes. As Michael Davis, president of Savid Technologies recently told Inc. Magazine, “I knew I could close deals, but I didn’t know how to build and manage a sales team.” Our Sales Operations Guide helped him create better results and discipline in his business practices.

This process provided a guide for the staff, helping them work through critical issues with the firm’s business methods and with setting high standards for all employees. It was a concise document and directed the management team on issues which were non-negotiable, while providing the flexibility they needed to be aggressive and quick-acting. In this case, the client was comfortable they could now implement effective guidelines—not unsavory bureaucracy.

Do you struggle with the red tape generated from too much bureaucracy or a chaotic environment where money, time and energy are wasted every day? Drop me a line and let me know how you manage this delicate balance.

J.R. Samples is founder and Chief Encouragement Officer of Accountability Partners, a firm that helps IT channel business executives build successful and sustainable organizations. He specializes in   leadership development, creating efficient work processes and designing integrated sales and business plans. J.R. can be reached at JR@AccountabilityPartners.com;