Believe it or not, bureaucracy was once a progressive innovation. Its hierarchical authority, specialized division of labor, and standard operating procedures enabled companies to grow far larger than they had ever been. The German sociologist Max Weber famously praised bureaucracy’s rationality and efficiencies.
Bureaucracy Can Drain Your Company’s Energy. Agile Can Restore It.
Today, most people work in some sort of bureaucracy — and according to Gallup, 85% of employees around the world feel disengaged from their work. Maybe this group includes you. If so, what can you do to escape the iron cage? Discouraged employees below senior management levels often lament: “This company’s bureaucracy is killing me. It’s killing the whole business. I know it is critical for the leadership to embrace agile, but the sad reality is that I’m not sure our leadership team will start before it’s too late. What can I do?” In these situations, advocating greater patience or more persuasive business cases isn’t likely to help. Nor is recommending a job change. If 85% of global employees are unhappy, chances are that most job jumpers will merely land in another company’s cage. Instead, our discussions typically turn to another option. Rather than debating the advantages of agile teams, why not start demonstrating them? Executives, like other customers, may not know what they will want until you show it to them.