Are we all process monkeys now?

Do you spend your day answering emails, ticking off training objectives and signing forms, or are you pursuing organisational priorities and building valuable things?

Much of our working day appears to be mired in process and fighting off bureaucracy.  From mandated online training designed to trap the user in digital hell to endless risk assessments, commanders feel held back from investing time in learning and practising how to fight better by the very organisation which wants them to fight better.

It is too easy to blame process.  As with any large organisation, it proliferates and multiplies, until the bureaucracy becomes too much to bear.  But, it isn’t process per se that is the problem, it is our dysfunctional relationship with process that is all wrong.  As an organisation, we have erred towards a risk-averse, process-driven culture that treats process as the ends rather than the means.  Our obsession with this is prioritising convenience over imagination, and this is actively harming our ability to think and adapt.  To get back on track, we need to ask if our behaviour is aligning with our long term goals and objectives.  Purpose must drive the process, not the other way around. (…)