Fast Company recently

5 Ways that process can kill production in your organization

  1. “Empowering”…but loads of approvals and red tape. It is not empowering to be given more responsibility, but still be required to get countless approvals and sign-offs to get things done. This communicates a lack of trust.
  2. Focused on process instead of people: By trying to standardize everything, leaders often strip out personalized approaches and look to processes to solve problems–which rarely works. This communicates a lack of humanity.
  3. Death by meetings: Productive teamwork does not require meetings for every single action or decision. This wastes valuable time and communicates that politics have overtaken productivity.
  4. Lack of (clear) vision: Great organizations need a grand vision and important goals. When a vision or mission statement is loaded with jargon but devoid of meaning it signals a lack of purpose.
  5. Management as judge, not jury: If the purpose of a meeting is to think, create, or build, squashing people when they propose new ideas or questions should be kept to a minimum. Otherwise, this signals a lack of openness.

5 Ways to cou