Relationships
Pressures
Economic slowdown, calls for employee well-being, swings in customer appetite or society’s values, technology advances, and climate change all make work hard.
Management as usual
For over 100 years, workplaces have relied on bureaucratic systems and processes as a way to secure performance and change.
Goals tell people what to produce; rules govern behaviour. Processes connect teams and dictate how people interact.
Rules cannot cover all situations, so ’managers’ have authority to intervene on unforeseen questions.
Such methods were designed for early assembly lines, when people were expected to work without thought or feeling, as cogs in the machine of production.
Modern work is more complex and fast-moving: bureaucratic systems do not allow the autonomy or flexibility that activities demand.
People also find bureaucracy exhausting: traditional methods get in the way and are a burden to managers and their team members.
Relationships beat rules
Modern work calls us to pare down bureaucracy and connect workplaces through vibrant human relationships.
Connect the workplace
People respond better to relationships than than they do to rules and processes. Whilst a bureaucracy forces people to act in prescribed ways, relationships play out naturally.
In a culture of vibrant relationships, people receive ongoing feedback and learn at no cost. They talk readily to colleagues, and solve complex, real-life problems.
Relationships encourage shared accountability: people harness specialist skills for the benefit of the wider team.
During change, relationships allow managers to learn from, connect with, and influence stakeholders. Dialogue replaces meetings, which fosters enthusiasm and involvement.
People are energised by productive relationships with colleagues and others outside the firm: work becomes more effortless.
At Marble Brook, we enable organisations, executives, and teams to create value via relationships, the number one factor in performance and change.
In Confidence
Trade bureaucracy for vibrant human relationships, with our email In Confidence.
(We'll send a message to confirm it's really you: do check inbox tabs or other folders if you don't see it.)