The Leaders Vault

Decisions can be very difficult to manage in settings where people aren’t used to accepting responsibility – or where the structure works against it. The accountability of position (i.e., what the position is accounatable for) and responsibilty (what the person can actually do) can wildly go astray. This occurs often in public agencies, and often is due to what we call "nichifying."

For botanists, biologists, and other scientists, the idea of “nichifying” is central to understanding how evolution works. Members of the plant and animal kingdom struggle constantly to find and occupy the safest, easiest niche for their survival. As the climate changes, for example, plants move to wetter or drier ground. As predators become more prevalent, animals move to less dangerous territory.

People within organizations "nichify" as well. When its positive, individuals seek out niches which value their talent, where they feel productive and that they can best contribute. In these scenarios, nichifying serves the organization's purpose positively.

But nichifying has a negative side. It shows up in bureaucracies in the form of “workarounds” – instances where people do the work someone else is responsible for, typically because they do it better or enjoy it more. The word will get out that, "Hey, if you really want to get that done, you'd better see Dorothy in Accounting. Even though she’s not in charge of Procurement, everything passes through her.”

Public agencies are prone to “nichifying” because civil service rules prevent people from moving easily to find their best niche. Work responsibilities flow toward people with the skills to do the work, not necessarily the people in the appropriate roles. Workarounds result in “shadow organizations” – an informal organization on top of the formal one you see on paper. By allowing "shadow organizations" to flourish, confusion about roles and responsibilities crops up, as well as convoluted decision making.

For instance, one California state agency divided financial decisions between three departments.. The Finance Department covers both Accounts Receivable and Payable.. The Operations Department handled capital expenditures. And the Department of Planning dealt with budgets, planning and sophisticated financing. People within the organization understood who did what - but the area of financial performance held no one accountable. No surprise, then, that this agency had very poor financial performance overall.

In such a setting, what can you do to manage decisions? For example, you can take extra time with people, which builds trust and support for making changes to the work process. You can champion the placement of people by the alignment of their talents with their true job responsibilities. You can also continually look for opportunities to recruit and promote talented people in the organization. If not, the talented individuals are likely to leave - creating a bigger tangle of bureaucracy.

Discover how well your organization measures up to the 10 Quantum Leaps with this free work survey.

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