Dethatching is a gardening concept that every organisation should steal.
Thatch is the layer of dead matter that builds up between the grass and the soil. It blocks water, air and nutrients from reaching the roots.
So every now and then, you rake it out – and the lawn grows back stronger.
Organisations are the same. But instead of dead grass, they build up bloated, redundant or unfit-for-purpose processes and procedures.
And having shitty processes and procedures is a real oxygen thief within an organisation, because they:
- Undermine the credibility and integrity of the management system, as people stop following them and start developing shadow systems of work (which in turn makes auditing and accountability difficult)
- Lead to rubbish outcomes – Rubbish systems of work produce rubbish work
- Waste people’s time whenever they have to read and understand redundant processes and procedures (i.e. in onboarding or any annual verifications)
- Erodes engagement – We all hate working within systems that make no sense
- Reduces leadership credibility, because – when they tolerate poor systems – senior managers look like they don’t care and/or don’t know what they’re doing
Does this sound like your organisation?
If so, consider trying the following:
- Start an annual radical dethatching day – All staff take a day to ‘spring clean’ their processes and procedures, to consider whether they’re truly serving the organisation or whether they should be updated (better) or retired altogether (best)
- Implement a one in, one out rule – A new process or procedure can’t be added until an old one is retired
- Empower frontline edits – Encourage and empower the people closest to the work to directly suggest edits or flag unfit procedures in real time
- Setup a ‘procedures we hate’ feedback form – anonymous or otherwise – for people to call out unnecessary, outdated or harmful procedures (or steps within them)
Healthy organisations need oxygen flowing through their systems of work. When ours are clogged with gunk, we need to start clearing the dead matter and making space for better work to grow.
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