Keep it Lean

I’ve spent my professional life in a large bureaucracy. The different organizations in which I’ve worked in that large bureaucracy have all been pretty fat, with a lot of “support” people. The logic behind a large support staff is that it keeps the worker’s doing the group’s primary function from spending time having to do mundane tasks, or from having to do specialized tasks that require unique skills they may not have. This makes sense…you pay your Creatives to be creative, not to configure web servers or process paychecks.

As I look down the road toward a major career change next year I’m inclined to go the independent route, and I think part of the reason is that I’ve grown tired of organizations that have grown fat with a large support structure that more often than not slows things down. I’ve realized there are things I can do myself, and even though they take up some time, in the end they’ll be done sooner and I can move on to more important things rather than waiting for someone else to “support” me. Of course, in these “fat” organizations, someone else has been given the responsibility and authority to do these things, so I’m required to wait on them.

Another option is outsourcing specific jobs rather than having in-house support. If someone is getting paid per job they have an incentive to get it done quickly (so they can move on to the next paying gig) and do it well (so they generate repeat business). If you have an in-house staff that’s going to get paid the same no matter how quickly they work, their motivation to get things done in a timely fashion is much lower.

Let me offer an example: a friend of mine is a software developer from overseas who came to the US for a few months to work. He had some immigration stuff to take care of that would lead him to spend about half a day away from the office. Rather than having him do that, his employer is sending one of their clerical workers to drop off and pick up the paperwork. So on Tuesday my friend handed his passport and paperwork to the HR person. On Wednesday the office worker headed downtown with it. Rather than picking it up again at the end of the day, she instead went back downtown on Thursday afternoon to pick it up. On Friday my friend got his passport and his employment paperwork back. During this time there were other things he needed to do – setting up a bank account, arranging the utilities for his apartment, giving some information to his apartment managers – that he couldn’t do because he was waiting for someone else for four days rather than just getting it done himself in one. Much of his “settling in” was on hold because he wasn’t able to do this simple administrative task on his own. While it was nice of the HR folks to try to spare him the hassle, and while it’s true there are plenty of people who would prefer to have someone else do such tasks for them, the truth is he would have been much happier if he’d just had the option of doing it himself.

You no doubt want to keep your Creatives focused on creative work, because that’s why you hired them. Administrivia can be a hassle and can pull them out of a creative fog just as they are about to develop a cure for cancer or come up with a slogan that gets people to buy more Red Bull. But is a bloated bureaucracy the answer?

First, consider what you as the leader can do yourself. Are there financial, personnel, or business development tasks that you can do as part of the “management” piece of your leadership job?

Second, are there things your Creatives can do themselves without spending too much time? If people know they’re responsible for something they can plan for it, minimizing the effect on their regular job performance.

Next, are there functions that can be outsourced? Things like bookkeeping, IT support, training, file management, and other functions might be better performed by an outsider who is paid by the job. It’s worth noting that if you have a full-time in-house staff performing a function that’s not needed on a continuous basis, they’re likely to come up with things to do just to keep busy, and that has the potential to slow down your operation.

Ask yourself, are all these support functions even necessary? Do you have administrative tasks that really serve no purpose? If so, get rid of them!

And finally, are there tasks that really do require in-house support? If so, then hire the right people, and make sure they do their jobs well.

Getting the right people performing your support functions can keep your organization lean, which in the end can reduce costs, improve efficiency, and increase overall effectiveness. If you’re going to hire a support staff, make sure it’s because you really need them, not just because you assume you do.