When an organization is crying for more staff, the spotlight should be turned inwards.

“We need more hands to cope with our work” people say, and then they go on to tell of things that point to their real problem like there is a lack of coordination here, they don’t delegate authority to people that do things, communication among us is very poor, things we suggest get lost in the process, frequently the customers don’t get informed properly resulting in unnecessary complaints, and so on.

These follow-up confessions are all signs that the organization is performing poorly and are telling of the lack of cohesion, poor relationships, low motivation, and that the need for corrective action is long overdue.

For such organizations, it is not a solution to bring into the company more staff and pour it into an ailing system; you will only aggravate the problem. You will create additional requirements and expenses with more hands feeding a staff-swallowing system that stifles productive work and acts like a black hole.

The real problem is the organizational machine. If you tune this machine to an efficient working, you will achieve 10, 30, 50%, and even higher increases in the staff performance which is equivalent to satisfying the people’s demand for 50% more staff. And you will achieve this without rocketing the operational costs, without increasing prices, by faster processes and responses to the staff’s satisfaction and the delight of your customers.

Why then don’t companies do it? Either they are not aware of the possibilities, or they don’t want to face the consequences of waking up and mobilizing their half-sleeping giant!