Navigating Organizational Debt

To avoid the pitfalls of organizational debt, we need constant and vigilant simplification. We must create agile roles, rules, and processes — built to learn and change. Org debt creates bureaucracy, and bureaucracy protects org debt. It’s a tragic love affair. Corporations want share prices to move only up and to the right. They need to move the needle now, which means revenue or earnings growth (both).

The antidote to the diminishing returns of the status quo is to think. Considering the modern world of work, the assumptions of Theory X still feel present. Our job description tells us what to do. Our manager tells us how to do it. Our office hours tell us when to come to work. Our meeting invites tell us which conversations we can take part in. Our performance review tells us how to learn and grow.

To be People Positive is to assume and expect the best of everyone. Increase autonomy, and motivation thrives. Decrease it, and motivation erodes. Treat them like all-stars, and they will become all-stars. The sense at the top is that even more compliance is needed — that everything must be specified. The default assumption is that you can do anything unless a specific policy or agreement prohibits it. We’re starting from a position of trust. More freedom leads to more learning, and more understanding leads to better performance. By focusing on execution, we limit the…