is moving too fast slowing you down

Is Moving Too Fast Slowing You Down?How to Prevent Overload from Undermining

Your Organization’s Performance

David Peter Stroh

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David Peter Stroh• Global expert in enabling leaders, organizations, and

communities to solve chronic, complex problems through applied systems thinking

• Co-founder and Principal, Bridgeway Partners • Author of over 30 articles and book chapters including “Is Moving

Too Fast Slowing You Down? – How to Prevent Overload from Undermining Your Organization’s Performance” and “Managing Your Time as a Leader”

• What others say about David:• “He’s a magician.”• “He has an extremely practical knowledge of systems and

how they function.”• “Helps tremendously in getting to the core issues.”

Overview

Purpose: Prevent organization overload from undermining your organization’s performance

Goals and Agenda:1. Clarify the costs of overload2. Uncover the root causes of organization overload3. Increase organization effectiveness by reducing overload

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The Problem of Overload

• Organizational overload occurs when expected workload persistently exceeds capacity

• Organizations cannot create and/or sustain focus on strategic initiatives when people are overloaded

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Examples of Organizational Overload

1. Over 50% of 600 organizations studied are caught in an acceleration trap. People are asked to:– Do too much– Focus on too many different things– Work continuously without sufficient breaks to recharge their

energy

2. People in many organizations are expected to work at 200-400% of their capacity


1. Heike Bruch and Jochen Menges, “The Acceleration Trap”, Harvard Business Review, April 2010

2. Stephen Wheelwright and Kim Clark, Revolutionizing Product Development, (Simon and Schuster, 1992) - original research since corroborated by Professors Rebecca Henderson and Nelson Repenning at MIT

Costs of Organizational Overload

• Individual– Productivity and fulfillment at work– Health– Quality of relationships with family and friends

• Organizational – Low effectiveness, e.g. poor quality, missed deadlines and windows

of opportunity, angry customers, failures to develop new business– Underutilization of resources, e.g. time spent firefighting vs.

implementing strategic initiatives, time wasted in unproductive conflicts and meetings, recurrent problems, outmoded systems and processes, health costs, turnover

• Community


Causes of Organizational Overload

• The obvious suspects– Market pressures – Budget pressures– 24/7 technology


The Need to Dig Deeper

• Obvious causes are external • Some organizations perform better than others• These organizations maintain high levels of energy and

focus without incurring the significant costs of overload and continuous crises


Michael Beer, Russell Eisenstat, and Flemming Norrgren, Higher Ambition: How Great Leaders Create Economic and Social Value, (Harvard Business Review Press, 2011)

Ponderable

• What enables some companies to balance expectations with human capacity – while others continuously pressure people to do more than they can?


Why Overload Persists and Affects Some Organizations More Than Others

• A tale of two cultures • Dynamics of organizational overload


A Tale of Two Cultures

“Can-Do”

1. Being a good team player means always saying “Yes”

2. Since performance is based on effort, people must always be “on call”

3. People do their best work under pressure4. We can always “pull the rabbit out of the

hat”5. Failure is never acceptable

“Results and Renewal”

1. Being a good team player means keeping agreements

2. Contributions are measured by results on key initiatives – not continuous availability

3. People do their best work when they sustain energy and focus over time

4. Pulling the rabbit out of the hat means we have to plan more carefully going forward

5. Many failures are inevitable or even desirable; the key is to learn from them


Poll 1


If you assume the “Can-Do’ and ‘Results and Renewal’ cultures to lie along a continuum from 1 to 10 (with 1 indicating fully ‘Can-Do’ and 10 representing fully ‘Results and Renewal’), how would you describe the culture of your organization on a scale of 1 to 10?

Can-DoResults

and Renewal

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Dynamics of Organizational Overload

• Overload begets overload directly• Quick fixes to problems created by overload increase

it even further• There is no time for management


Figure 1: Overload Creates More Overload Directly

Overload and Resulting Crises

• Underestimated Resource Requirements• Chronic Stress • Quality Erosion• Burnout • Lost Productivity

Vicious Cycles (1)

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Quick Fixes That Backfire

• Firefighting• Focusing on under-performing individuals vs. on

unproductive norms, policies, and processes• Working longer hours


Overload creates crises which organizations respond to in ways that achieve short-term results at the expense of creating additional long-term overload and crises:

Poll 2

Which quick fixes does your organization depend on to deal with chronic overload and resulting crises?

1. Firefighting2. Focusing on under-performing individuals3. Working longer hours4. All of the above


Unintended Consequences of Firefighting

– Rework increases because of additional time required to correct mistakes and deal with complaints

– Resources which are redirected to fight fires disrupt capacity elsewhere in the organization

– Fixing immediate problems takes resources away from preventing future ones

– Firefighting is rewarded instead of viewed as a core problem

– Since crises bring resources, people create crises


Unintended Consequences of Focusing on Under-performing Individuals

– When workload exceeds capacity, some projects inevitably fall short of expectations

– Increasing pressure on the managers of these projects masks the underlying organizational problems that produce these shortfalls

– Blame and defensiveness also increase, which results in reduced trust, low quality problem-solving and decision-making, and additional crises


Unintended Consequences of Working Longer Hours

– Adrenaline and caffeine addictions undermine health– Stress increases further– Continuous accessibility triggers an expectation of

continuous availability– Email dopamine substitutes for renewal


Figure 2: A Culture of Continuous Crises


FirefightingIndividual Blame and Pressure

Length of Work Week

• Resource Disruptions• Rework• Blame and Defensiveness• Recurrent & Last Minute Probs• Distractibility

Quick Fixes

Vicious Cycles (2)



No Time for Management

• Managers report insufficient time for:– Reflecting– Strategic clarity and execution– Developing people– Strengthening organizational culture and community


Strategy: A Casualty of Organizational Overload

– Continuous interruptions, defensiveness, and unmanaged conflict undermine problem-solving, decision-making, and follow-through

– As a result, people tend to:• Avoid hard decisions about priorities• Set ambiguous and conflicting goals• Add or shift priorities instead of staying the course or eliminating what isn’t

working• Let time and attention drift away from strategic initiatives• Tolerate slowly eroding performance

– Customers are conditioned to expect “one off” solutions, which undermine an organization’s ability to focus resources and increase efficiencies


Figure 3: No Time for Management


Managing Clear Limited PrioritiesLeading Product/Process Innovation

Balancing Resources

FirefightingIndividual Blame and Pressure

Length of Work Week

• Less Management Time for Strategic, Developmental, and Early Stage Work• Less Effective Goal-Setting and Decision-Making• Lost Focus• Performance Erosion• Customer Entitlement

Quick Fixes

Fundamental Solution

Vicious Cycles (3)



Ironies of a “Can Do” Culture

1. People do more but do not necessarily accomplish more2. Organizations incur additional costs in their efforts to cut them3. Organizations drain or waste existing resources in their efforts to

maximize them4. They slow down the most important work by trying to move too

quickly on too many initiatives5. People have less time because they use time-saving devices to be

continuously available6. Firefighting breeds arsonists7. Addiction is confused with commitment



Developing a “Results and Renewal” Culture

Where We Are

What We Want

Build Foundation for Change –

Readiness

Face Current Reality – Understanding & acceptance

Make an Explicit Choice – Commitment

Bridge the Gap – Focus, momentum &

correction Stage 1

Stage 3

Stage 4

Stage 2

1. Build Foundation for Change

• Identify a champion• Make the case for change• Engage the senior management team


Possible Champions

• Hard-driving CEO• Visionary leader• Key opinion leader


Make the Case for Change:Costs of Not Changing

– Low effectiveness, e.g. 1. Poor quality2. Missed deadlines and windows of opportunity3. Angry customers4. Failures to develop new business

– Underutilization of resources, e.g.5. Time spent firefighting vs. implementing strategic initiatives6. Time wasted in unproductive conflicts and meetings7. Recurrent problems8. Outmoded systems and processes9. Health costs 10. Turnover


Poll 3

1. Poor quality2. Missed deadlines and windows of opportunity3. Angry customers4. Failures to develop new business5. Time spent firefighting vs. implementing strategic initiatives6. Time wasted in unproductive conflicts and meetings7. Recurrent problems8. Outmoded systems and processes9. Health costs 10.Turnover


Which of the following consequences of not changing is most costly to your organization?

Make the Case for Change:Benefits of Change

1. Implement most important projects quickly – related to innovation and streamlining

2. Ensure high quality the first time3. Build reliability and customer satisfaction 4. Increase people’s emotional and cognitive availability5. Improve conversations, meetings, problem-solving, and

decision-making6. Retain high performers7. Eliminate non value-added work8. Create a sustainable organization


Poll 4

1. Implement most important projects quickly – related to innovation and streamlining

2. Ensure high quality the first time3. Build reliability and customer satisfaction 4. Increase people’s emotional and cognitive availability5. Improve conversations, meetings, problem-solving, and

decision-making6. Retain high performers7. Eliminate non value-added work8. Create a sustainable organization


Which of the following benefits of change would be most valuable to your organization?

Engage Senior Management

• Make the case for change – focus on business as well as personal costs and benefits

• Note that the “Can-Do” and “Results and Renewal” Cultures are distinct choices with their own consequences

• Emphasize that success as a senior executive often requires different strengths than the ones which led to their promotion

• Engage other opinion leaders to articulate the case for change and demonstrate benefits of a “Results and Renewal” culture in their own organizations


How do you engage members of the senior management team who may themselves be exemplars of a “Can-Do” culture?

Retail Case: Breathing Life Into a New Strategy

• Highly operational retail chain• Need for new strategy• Concern that senior management could not

agree on and implement new strategy


2. Face Current Reality

• Unbounded customer responsiveness reduces staff quality, increases management rework, and reduces business development time

• Over-commitment leads to delivery shortfalls, customer complaints, and reduced credibility

• Allowing new product releases to move forward without adequate specs and resources increases problems with current releases


Understand why you are not getting the results you want.For example,


Retail Case: Uncovering Obstacles to Managing Strategic Change

Dependence onInner Network

Performance Problems

Clarity ofStrategy

Quality of Cross- Functional Teamwork

Firefighting

Clarity ofDirection

3. Make an Explicit Choice

• Surface benefits of not changing– For example, people work hard, pull off many projects against

great odds, and operate in exciting environment• Acknowledge costs of changing

– For example, making hard decisions about what not to do creates conflicts and losers; people must question ingrained beliefs and habits

• Ask if benefits of change and costs of not changing exceed benefits of not changing and costs of change


Retail Case: Making and Re-making a Choice

• Initial choice to create and implement new strategy despite previous successes with firefighting and depending on a few key executives

• Recommitment to implementing strategic initiatives in the face of weak operating performance


4. Bridge the Gap

A. Approach individual overload problems systemicallyB. Concentrate resources on fewer priorities over

shorter time framesC. Support people to make conscious agreementsD. Cultivate sustainable organizational energyE. Increase email and meeting productivityF. Reinforce the “Results and Renewal” culture


A. Approach Individual Overload Problems Systemically

• Begin by assessing structural inadequacies underlying poor individual performance

• Coach selected individuals where appropriate


B. Concentrate Resources on Fewer Priorities

• Limit number of goals and time frames for completion• Ensure goals are aligned with resource capacity• Sequence vs. prioritize• Include developmental goals


C. Support People to Make Conscious Agreements

• Reframe what it means to be a good team player• Teach skills in making reliable agreements• Weed out old projects


D. Cultivate Sustainable Organizational Energy

• Connect people with a meaningful purpose• Support self-renewal• Structure organizational time-outs


E. Increase Email and Meeting Productivity

• Manage these forms of communication collectively: examine their purposes, what is/isn’t working about each, and ways to increase their productive use

• Introduce tips within a context of organizational-wide productivity improvement


F. Reinforce the “Results and Renewal” Culture

• Make the business case• Engage senior executives as role models• Invite employee participation• Set new expectations• Strengthen processes for strategic planning and execution,

problem solving, and human resource management• Reward problem prevention, reliability, resource rebalancing,

and personal health• Fire managers who oppose the new culture


Retail Case: Bridging the Gap

• New mission developed – and all 30,000 employees engaged in 6 months

• Five strategic initiatives established • Accountabilities with authority distributed consensually

across senior team• Cross-functional teams sponsored• Senior executives receive individual and team coaching

on leading strategic change • They stay the course on strategy implementation in face

of weak operating performance


Additional Resources

• Contact [email protected] for:– Free organizational assessment of overload – Pre-publication copy of “Is Moving Too Fast Slowing You Down?”

which includes references to additional resources– Published “Managing Your Time as a Leader” article– Blog on reframing and resolving intractable problems– Workshops and organizational consulting

• To increase personal focus and productivity:– It’s Hard to Make a Difference When You Can’t Find Your Keys, Marilyn

Paul, Ph.D. (Penguin Compass, 2004) – 165,000 books sold– Download the first chapter at www.marilynpaul.com


mailto:[email protected]

http://www.marilynpaul.com/

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