Bureaucracy is dead, and this is the age of “nimble.” Trust me on this – if your organization has silos, turf battles, or is overwhelmed by policy manuals, you’re about to get squashed by smaller, nimbler, and hungrier organizations. You see bureaucracy everywhere today – the government can’t even pass a budget because of the number of special interests they have to please.
Remember when Hostess, the maker of Twinkies went out of business because among other things, their Union rules required cake and bread to travel in separate trucks, and barred drivers from loading and unloading? Nimbler firms were eating their lunch.
I see it in nonprofit organizations who can’t cooperate enough to solve the problem they were created to fix. Churches that can’t work together to actually make an impact on their community. College professors who are more concerned about the size of their office than their ability to teach.
If you want to survive into the future, it’s time to get nimble.
Position your team to re-act, re-focus, and re-think.
Meet with your employees and banish phrases like:
“I’m sorry, that’s not our policy.”
“We should form a committee.”
“Let’s do an RFP and then evaluate our options.”
This year, let’s cut the CRAP:
Charts, forms, and paperwork.
Rules that hold back productivity and kill inspiration.
Anger, bitterness, and other negative emotions.
Policies that undermine your most creative and talented employees.
Care to join the movement?
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Phil Cooke, Ph.D. is a producer and media consultant to churches and ministries across the country. His latest book is “The Way Back: How Christians Blew Their Credibility and How We Get It Back.” Find out more at www.philcooke.com.
