Bureaucracy - You Can Cut Excessive Red Tape without Cutting the Umbilical Cord.

Good bureaucracy does exist. The military can respond quickly on the frontline. A business can make a fast, sound decision that is beneficial to the company. A large group of people can feel empowered, motivated, and positive towards fulfilling that group’s common purpose.

Why is it when you think of a bureaucracy right now, you are thinking paperwork, waiting in long queues, and you find yourself already drained and exhausted? Why does it often feel like life is being sucked out of you? You feel dis-empowered  uncreative, stifled, frustrated and you hope it’s going to change. We often reflect on the nature of bureaucracy and give up hope.

A bureaucracy, from the definition I saw at dictionary.com is inherently negative as it is about, ‘excessive red tape and routine’. Red tape and routine are fine; good governance is not the problem here. The issue is not whether administrative boundaries are needed, the question is, how many administrative boundaries do you need before it is excessive?

Let me give you a few examples.

The accountant meets with a store manager, and they discuss the implementation of this year’s budget. The budget is decided upon, and expenses relevant to the store are budgeted for and agreed upon.

The store manager, a few months later, intends to spend money on the advertising that was budgeted for. The manager is told that approval is needed to spend over $2,000. Permission must be granted. Now some may say, this is simply good governance. I say that the second step in this process is unnecessary red tape. The advertising was agreed upon during the budget process. Why this extra step in the process? I’ll answer that question in a moment.

I once worked closely with a Non-For-Profit, with a lady who was the manager of a particular Outside Hours School Care Service. There were two other employees at the service, of which she was in charge. She had to get permission from her head office to purchase a $30 board game from Target for her after-school program.

Remember the Australian Government helping to administer donations that came through the Red Cross following the flood emergency in Queensland? There was so much red tape that families took months to receive financial assistance during the crisis.

What about Motor Vehicle organisations and the plethora of forms that must be filled out to apply for car registrations?

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Let me ask two questions related to bureaucracy.

What is the effect on business and individual performance in an excessively bureaucratic business/organisation?

Why do we in fact have excessive red tape (bureaucracy)?

Firstly, from my experience (practically and from discussion with others) excessive red tape causes the following problems in an individual:

• Decreasing intrinsic motivation
• Stifling of the creativity within
• Negativity towards the organisation
• A growing feeling of worthlessness
• A mindset that the overall organisation (whether true or not) is one that is slow to move, stubborn, passively aggressive and resistant to change

The effect, from my opinion, that bureaucracy has on an organisation as a whole is the following:

• Creates a high level of distrust in the organisation
• Stifles creativity within the individuals
• Can cause very slow, clunky, decision making
• Fosters conservative financial spending
• Creates a culture of cautiousness
• Only tried methods are allowed, the rest is resisted, frowned upon and by no means encouraged
• A resistance to change is developed (because of the bureaucracy!)

I want to come to a fundamental question in this discussion. Why do we in fact have bureaucracy? Or rather, why do we in fact have excessive red tape?

Let me come back to example one. Head office had agreed with the store manager, during the budget, that $2,000 would be spent on advertising. So why is there an extra step in the process?

Why?

The issue is surely a fundamental lack of trust in the store manager. A trust firstly from an integrity point of view (that he would spend and only spend that amount on advertising) and secondly trust in the man’s competence (that he would spend the amount on the right type of advertising).

This bureaucratic step in the process is there to safeguard the organisation against stupidity.

Can I ask why in the world would you employ a store manager if deep down you don’t trust that store manager? Now, do one of two things. Either fire the manager because you don’t trust him, or allow him to freely spend money that has already been budgeted for and agreed upon at an earlier date.

I understand, not all bureaucracy is related to trust. Some red tape exists to merely administrate a business. Though excessive red tape that exists because we have lowered the administrative bar to the lowest, most untrustworthy employee, will stifle the organisation!

Inherently trust people.

Let your administrative processes reflect trust, creativity and empowerment.

Rid the business of needless process.

People will only rise to the level you put the bar of trust. 

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Cutting the Fat - Best Management Practices for Leaders

Best Management Practices - Cutting the Fat!

No, I'm not talking about my latest weight-loss fad. I'm probably not the right person to listen to in relation to that. I'm talking about cutting the fat in business. Let me explain.

I spoke with a political leader whose Government was recently voted in across their state. As he flew to a remote town to conduct business, he noticed that five different small planes, from five different governmental departments had flown to this small town on the same day. There were twelve people all together, all fulfilling different functions within the government. Step back for a minute and notice the problem. There's a leadership problem here. Five different departments on five different small aircraft. The politician went and spoke to one of the pilots. He asked whether it would have been possible to fly all 12 people in a slightly bigger plane to the same town. The man mentioned, 'Oh, of course.' Think about the savings! One slightly bigger plane, as opposed to five pilots, five tanks being refuelled, etc, etc.

If this particular state government learns to cut the fat in this particular situation, they will save thousands of dollars! I'm not even talking about cutting jobs, offending people or anything sinister, I'm just mentioning about how to be a good leader and steward of the resources given to you. Sure there are four pilots who are not flying in that particular instance, but I'm sure there would be other flights to fly. This is cutting the fat. Making the business lean. Cutting away the excess. It's a best management practice!

My father for instance has a black belt in Six-Sigma (What is Six Sigma?). I barely know what that entails, but I do know that it involves coaching businesses on how to improve their policies and processes in order to bring a greater quality end product, in a quicker space of time to the end customer, with a greater profit margin. To do that, you need to cut the fat. (It is also linked with intuitive leadership.)

Why is it when you order a bunch of books from an online retailer (Amazon, Book Depository, TheNile, Dymocks, etc), some businesses will have the product on your doorstep in one or two days and other businesses will take ten or more days? That's no doubt because the latter business has terrible lag time between the order being made and the product being sourced, and then terrible lag time between when the product is packaged and to when it is sent. Let's cut to the chase - you need to cut the fat.

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In Christian circles we get touchy about talking on such matters, like organisational and leadership structure is some sacred cow that was instituted by Jesus himself. We somehow believe we are being unfaithful to the movement/denomination that God birthed if we make systemic changes. No.

After reading some of Neil Cole's Organic Leadership, I got fired up about this. I'm not advocating the Christian church simply start meeting in houses and become anti to everything that smells of Christendom. What I am saying, is that we need to do more to be intentional about being good stewards of our resources, and finding ways to cut the fat in our bureaucracies. Some may argue we need to flatten the hierarchies. I would argue we need to ensure quick, sound, decision-making occurs, and if that can happen within a hierarchy then there's no issue. By cutting the fat we may well place a whole other bunch of people from administrative desk jobs, to front-line missional practice.

Leadership in all fields of work should embrace this best management practice of cutting the fat.

Meanwhile, I will work on bringing you the latest weight loss literature to help those who need it! God knows I do.

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* The most important truth about leadership
* Leadership and Management Similarities/Differences

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Spiritual Leadership and Business Management Leadership - Differences/Similarities

Many Christian authors will write that spiritual leaders need to be careful in relation to adopting management principles from the business world. Kind of like the business world is some sort of disgusting sticky substance you can't get off your fingers once it's there. You may flip it around and say at times, business management principles have been adopted and/or changed from existing leadership principles handed down from the days of the New Testament.

What do you think? Are there many differences between spiritual leadership and managerial leadership?

I think the answer is yes. Spiritual leadership has a very different outlook and overarching purpose than management. Though we are of course not throwing business management out the window! There are still many similarities between spiritual leadership the business management world. Let's compile a list and consider the topic further:

Differences Between Spiritual Leaders and Business Leaders

Spiritual leadership is about fulfilling the purposes of God. Managerial leadership is about fulfilling the vision of the business, which are generally greater profits, and increased shareholder dividends, amongst other things. For spiritual leaders and business managers purpose is absolutely important. What the leader and organisation's core business is, is crucial. The difference lies in what that core business is. I have not heard recently of a business whose core business is to reach the lost and bring them to Christ!

Spiritual leadership has particular core values that underpin leadership activity, for example, compassion, humility, servant-hood, love for others, etc. Leadership in the business sector can still characterize those values, but more often than not values exist in business simply in order to reach a profitable end (so, if the profit/outcome/success does not occur when adhering to those chosen values, then the values can change). I don't want to be too negative here, but spiritual leadership is adamant that particular values like love, respect, servant attitude, and being God-honouring are non-negotiables. Here is a clear difference between spiritual leadership and business management. Jim Collin's Built to Last for instance, says that for businesses to be long-lasting, they need to be built upon strong core values, but listen, it doesn't matter particularly what those values are, just as long as the business sticks to it! Spiritual leaders develop their values from the Bible, and thus their value system is not dependent upon a changing business world but by an unchanging morality code. That being said, the general population still admire and respect businesses that hold to respectable and strong values, that are not just nicely written on the wall in the office, but actually affect the everyday business.

You may remember the story of Johnson & Johnson (founded in 1886 by Robert W. Johnson), that continues to have a vision to 'alleviate pain and disease'. It also said that it valued its customers above everything else. Have a read of this excerpt from Wikipedia in relation to needing to respond to a crisis:

On September 29, 1982, a "Tylenol scare" began when the first of seven individuals died in metropolitan Chicago, after ingesting Extra Strength Tylenol that had been deliberately laced with cyanide. Within a week, the company pulled 31 million bottles of capsules back from retailers, making it one of the first major recalls in American history. The incident led to reforms in the packaging of over-the-counter substances and to federal anti-tampering laws. The case remains unsolved and no suspects have been charged. Johnson & Johnson's quick response, including a nationwide recall, was widely praised by public relations experts and the media and was the gold standard for corporate crisis management.

This was a great test of whether the value system that Johnson & Johnson had, would actually be lived out within their business. They chose to stick by strong values over the quest for profits.
Spiritual leadership values humility highly, and not position. Any positional authority or power one has, is merely a gift from God, to be used for God. In managerial leadership, you have the sense at times, that business positions are highly sought after, by potential up and rising gifted leaders. The underlying reasons for this passion of climbing the corporate ladder, may well be the financial benefits of such a position, or the popularity that arises from such a position. The difference here seems to be that spiritual leaders are keen to acknowledge that their position is given by God, while working hard in the process, while business leaders may attribute their position to hard work and merely the right set of lucky circumstances to have them arrive at that point.

Spiritual leadership and managerial leadership are not necessarily poles apart. You can be a spiritual leader in a management position; that is, you can live out an expression of your core values and belief system in the business environment, while improving the business you are in. This is certainly what Ed Silvoso advocates for in his book, Anointed for Business (2002).

There are many more differences and similarities between spiritual leaders and managers, but we have discussed three important aspects:

1. Purpose
2. Values
3. Position. 

There is much more to say about spirituality in business; and I hope future posts may touch on such topics.

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~ Matthew 5:6 - Hunger and thirst for righteousness...

Join the discussion at Disciples in Training on Facebook.

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Also: The differences and similarities between leadership and management.

The truth about influence - what secular leadership won't tell you

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Selected Books to consider on spiritual leadership and leadership in business:

• Blackaby, Henry & Richard. (2001). Spiritual Leadership. Tennessee, USA: B&H Publishing Group.
• Collins, Jim. (2001). Good to Great. New York, U.S.A.: HarperCollins Publishers.
• Kouzes, James M. & Posner, Barry Z. (2010). The Truth About Leadership. California, U.S.A.: Jossey Bass.
• Sanders, Oswald. (2007). Spiritual Leadership. Chicago, USA: Moody Publishers.
• Silvoso, Ed. (2002). Anointed for Business. California, U.S.A.: Regal Books.

Ethics in Business: Nestlé Finally Stop The Traffik!

Finally we see some ethics in business.


Nestlé have made the decision to certify 100% of the cocoa that is used in Australia!

This is good news, and a good, ethical step for  Nestlé  - a company that has embroiled itself in ethical disasters over the years. Remember the selling of the formula in third-world countries to women who should have been breastfeeding?

I'm personally happy to see that  Nestlé will not just release ONE line of chocolate that is 'Fairtrade' or rather developed ethically. This is in a sense what Cadbury have done, with their release of Cadbury Dairy Milk Chocolate with Fairtrade certification.

When will Cadbury ensure Australian consumers ALL of THEIR chocolate has ethical processes in place?

So, well done  Nestlé . You make all us Social Justice focused people proud. I'm sure you have further to go in reaching global ethical practices, but for now, we shake hands and say, 'Good one!'


 A Stop the Traffik email says:

'Nestlé announced in a letter to STOP THE TRAFFIK Australia that they will UTZ certify all their cocoa by the end of 2012. A number of international commentators have suggested that Nestlé’s decision to certify their Australian line first is a result of the intense lobbying pressure they received in Australia, greater than anywhere else in the world.' 

Contact Nestlé and say thanks: Click here.

Here's the dream: The vision should be for each and every company to be ETHICAL within EVERY segment of their business, and not just bow down to public pressure when the social justice advocates get too loud. This goes beyond just chocolate companies, but the Insurance companies, the Lawyers, the Accountants, the Military, and so the list goes on...


Ethics in business should simply just exist.