One of the major signs of corporate growing pains is the dreaded Bureaucratosis. When administration becomes corporate red tape, passion bleeders and success barriers are created. The levels of frustration in the workplace grow and productivity falls. Among the primary causes of Bureaucratosis are the approaches taken to corporate policies. Ask yourself how many times you have been astonished when somebody doesn't follow a corporate policy and a problem occurs as a result. How many times have you sent out reminders about the importance of corporate policies or organised training programs so your people know and understand the policies?

Most organisations jump straight to these fixes.They are expensive and take up significant resources and time. They also tend to be repeated often, even in some cases becoming part of standard corporate practice.

Your starting point should be to challenge the policy itself.

Policies have a habit of failing to keep up with changes in work patterns and tools. They can be written in very complex ways to satisfy the needs of lawyers and insurance auditors rather than for the benefit of those implementing the policies or to delight the customer. Amendments are made from time to time that create confusion within the policy. Policies that suit one workplace may not suit new work sites, product lines or geographic areas of operations. Attitudes and approaches may change but the policies still remain on the books.

There are many reasons that people fail to follow corporate policies that have nothing to do with incompetence, laziness or carelessness.

If you feel as though your passion is draining because you are spending so much time dealing with corporate policy breaches or reporting; If you feel as though you are having problems achieving in your work because of the barriers and complexities of policies; If you feel as though you need someone in your organisation just to ensure and audit policy compliance even though this position doesn't add to productivity or customer delight:- ... start by challenging and analysing the policy itself before you move on to other explanations.

Use "simplicity" and "agile" approaches to analyse, review, change and re-develop policies. You may be very surprised by how many passion bleeders and success barriers are removed as a result, and how much your organisation's productivity and delighting of customers will improve. Making this standard practice will also mean that your policies are reviewed and analysed for effectiveness more regularly.

You will also be on the way to curing the dreaded Bureaucratosis and easing corporate growing pains.

For more information on the major signs of corporate growing pains, see our latest publication.