Monthly Archives: May 2016

How to Beat Bureaucracy

Bureaucracy has a bad name

In a recent survey for identifying company problems, some managers told us stories like these:

Six months ago we applied for a government subsidy for new machinery, but the answer never came. We are still waiting.
By the time my bank loan application gets approved, the opportunity will be gone.
We prefer to do whatever we can and rely on our own resources even when there are subsidies and other aids for which we can apply.
Bureaucracy whether external or internal kills business initiatives.

Questions to ponder about

If it’s so bad, why then do we let it happen and why do we tolerate it?
Is it really needed, does it exist for a purpose?

We looked into the matter and tried to identify circumstances that give rise to bureaucracy:

Mistrust in the organization
Fraudulent behavior
Not owning the failure we caused
Shifting responsibility for things that gone astray
The need to go back and examine things

Its costs are high

Bureaucracy costs, destroys the climate, slows down processes and kills enthusiasm. Bureaucracy is not easily rooted out and has the power to kill business initiatives.

It is a left brain work that burdens that part of the brain even further. Its real cost, however, is on the right brain which it chains to a halt destroying its potency for creativity and innovation.

Remedy:

Bureaucracy when on the rampage is a malice that urgently needs medication. Its treatment calls for us to develop antidotes by which to fight it.

Things are not easy. We must use our ingenuity for developing the antidotes.

What if we could have the right individual employee? If we could form the right group and the right company culture? If we could have the right leaders? If the [...]

Turn your Performance Appraisal into an effective management tool

7 simple steps:

(1) What we call it matters a lot: It is a Performance Management and not a Performance Appraisal. Avoid the falsely limiting title.

(2) It is a Management tool of the utmost significance. How managers perform on the matter should be reflected in their appraisal for higher up positions

(3) The Performance Management process is not done once or twice a year as a chore beyond normal duties, but continuously through the year as a prime managerial responsibility.

(4) Training managers on the way to operate this valuable tool as well as on its goals:

(a) Set and follow objectives

(b) Explore weaknesses and offer remedial courses

(c) Coach

(d) Appraise performance by recognizing the good as well as the weak deeds/behavior of the employees

(5) Training employees on their obligations for making the system work and what to expect from it

(6) Accompany appraisals with a fair and transparent reward system including non-monetary rewards

(7) The forms and documents used should by their extent reflect all the goals as mentioned earlier

We have prepared these 7-steps brief post in response to the request we have received from some of the readers of our previous post on “Performance Appraisal and its importance”, and we hope that it clarifies and adds to the subject.