Ryan Deiss explains how to build organizational systems that stay flexible instead of becoming bureaucratic. Three practices work: make sure people understand the why behind changes, not just follow tradition; show them how their work fits the whole value chain; and allow systems to evolve rather than treating them as fixed rules.
How do I build systems that don't just turn into bureaucracy? Yeah, you got to make sure that the people who are implementing those systems understand the why behind them. If somebody asks, hey, why are we doing it this way? And the only response is because that's how we've always done it, then you don't really have systems. What you do have is bureaucracy. So anytime you're rolling out a new system, make sure that people understand this is what we're doing and this is why we're doing it. They understand the entirety of the value chain that they're doing. Also, once the systems have been rolled out, allow for some change within in the systems. If every single system is chiseled in stone and nobody's ever allowed to change anything, then what you're basically modeling and signaling is that your systems are gospel and that nobody's allowed to do anything. And yeah, of course bureaucracy is going to develop around this.
