☕️💪 Leadership Library: Hack Your Bureaucracy
If you’ve ever worked in a large organization, you know how frustrating the layers of red tape and bureaucracy can be. This month, I’m going to summarize Hack Your Bureaucracy: Get Things Done No Matter What Your Role on Any Team by Marine Nitze and Nick Sinai.
I came across this book on a few “Best of” lists, and despite my deep-seated aversion to simple “hacks”, decided to give it a try. I’m glad I did, as I found this book more engaging and practical than many of the business books out there. Written by two former Obama staffers, I especially appreciated the anecdotes shared (more government and policy focused).
The book focuses on “having an outsized impact—at a rate, scale and force beyond your immediate resources—within large organizations that others often consider immoveable”. Even if you work for a more nimble organization, you will undoubtedly find valuable pearls below.
Define the Problem
To understand any problem, you have to get out of your office and talk to prospective, current or former users. Listen closely and ground your ideas in their real-life experiences.
Be your own customer. In order to understand gaps or areas for improvement, experience the product or service for yourself, if possible.
When you shadow a process from start to finish, look where things fall apart. It’s usually when there’s gray area over “ownership” and things fall between two silos.
Play the “newbie” card. Being new to the organization allows you to ask questions and draw connections that more experienced members are either too embarrassed or too embedded to see.
Before proposing change in an organization, understand how the change will impact current employees and proactively plan and troubleshoot for resistance.
Avoid presenting a laundry list of problems. Pay attention to your framing, and make sure you get feedback from others before identifying your list of concerns.