An All-Too-Real Story of Bureaucracy and Its Impact on Productivity
In numerous organizations, I’ve witnessed this scenario repeat itself time and again. Teams brimming with talent start strong, only to lose their momentum. Not due to a lack of ability, but because of the burden imposed by poorly designed structures, unnecessary rules, or decisions made far from where the real work takes place.
Well-Intentioned Efforts Gone Awry
Sometimes, what begins as a well-intentioned improvement—organizing processes, following up, or measuring better—ends up distancing us from the original purpose. In an attempt to professionalize, many organizations accumulate structures that don’t add value, controls that go unquestioned, and reports existing merely to justify their existence.
The Consequences: Loss of Agility and Confidence
As a result, agility is lost, but more importantly, confidence is. What once advanced due to commitment now stalls because everything needs validation and must pass through filters that can erode purpose and, consequently, motivation of those who truly make things happen.
A Familiar Tale: The Ant, the Beetle, and the Owl
Imagine a story that’s not a fairy tale, but all too real:
- Once upon a time, there was a happy ant. It arrived early, worked silently, and completed all tasks without needing supervision or applause. It did its job well.
- Then, someone in management said, “Let’s organize this better.”
- They brought in a beetle as a supervisor. The beetle didn’t know what to do, so it requested reports. These reports became longer and more unnecessary.
- A firefly then arrived to coordinate efficiency. It added processes, authorizations, and emails with carbon copies.
- To top it off, they included an owl, an expert in data. It wanted more tables, graphs, and colors, even though no one used them.
- Since all this became too costly without visible results, they hired a consulting owl.
- The owl looked at everything from above and said, “This isn’t profitable. We need to cut costs.”
- And who got fired? The ant, the only one genuinely working.
What truly happened? Each new insect not only added tasks to the ant’s workload but also took something away. First, time: filling out reports instead of working; then energy: attending countless meetings to explain the same things. Next, voice: decisions were no longer made on the field but in distant committees. Finally, purpose: what mattered most was aligning everything, not doing things right.
The ant went from being happy to feeling drained, frustrated, and invisible until the day came when it was surplus to requirements.
It sounds like a joke, but it mirrors what happens in many companies. The story repeats: someone works, others request reports about the work, no one truly understands what’s happening… and ultimately, the one holding everything together is the first to fall.
Lessons Learned
Behind every goal achieved, each crisis resolved, and every satisfied customer lies a Laura—or a Luis or a Mariana—who doesn’t appear in the photos but keeps the work going. Each time a company exhausts its mid-level management instead of supporting them, it not only loses talent but also loses its soul, affecting the environment.
This tale leaves us with three uncomfortable truths:
- Over-organizing kills productivity. More levels don’t mean better work; sometimes, they just create more excuses.
- Requesting information isn’t leadership. If you don’t use data to improve, you’re just wasting the time of those who do work.
- The people keeping operations running don’t ask for praise. They just want to avoid being crushed.
Surviving companies aren’t those that submit the most reports. They’re the ones who protect their ants before they burn out or leave. In this era—where one day you’re selling high-tech products and the next fighting to survive by selling tomatoes—you can’t afford to lose the talent that sustains, executes, and resolves.
And yes, it needs to be said: the ant wasn’t perfect, but without it, there was no company.
