The 13 warning signs of ageing in organisations ( Change or disappear !! )

1- Excess personnel & too many job classifications (How do we know who is supposed to do what ?).

2- Tolerance of incompetence (We should guarantee jobs & give everybody the same pay rise, who cares about line of sight ?!!).

3- Cumbersome administrative procedures (You need ten signatures to get anything done).

4- Powerful staff who deride line managers as being too conventional & unsophisticated (The left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing, paralyzed hierarchy of authority).

5- Form over substance, Strategic planning is more important than strategic results (We have a gold plated strategy planning even though we often fail to deliver results).

6- Few clear goals & criteria for measuring org success (Any road will get you there when you don’t know where are you going).

7- Intolerance for conflict (We will all get along if it kills us).

8 – Deteriorating downward communication & excessive centralization ( The more red tape the better ).

9 – Outdated org structure (We continue to be beaten by our better organized & more responsive rivals).

10 – Independent corporate directors fail to exercise effective oversight (Our CEO was just arrested for drink driving, how could the board members not know of his drinking problem).

11- Resistance to change by vocal coalitions (Our union members want higher pay, shorter hours, free healthcare coverage for life or else we will go on strike).

12- Poor service delivered by demoralized employees (Here comes another customer, where can I hide ? ).

13- Decreased product & service innovations ( We have not created a significant new product design while our main rival launched four during the last year)