Avoiding Workaround Culture

When my daughter asks me for something she wants, I tend to check with her whether this is a request she has already made to my wife. At times, when she has received a well-considered ‘no’ from mom, she tests the waters with dad to see if she can swing the reply to the positive. On one hand this may be seen as sneaky behavior! In reality, its expected behaviors from children that are asking the same question to different people in authority to test for inconsistencies. Once the inconsistencies are exposed, they know who to go to reach the outcomes they seek. I may be seen to yield more power in one area. Or one of us, as the softer of the two, is prone to give in a little more easily.  Once exposed, our children have found a workaround.

Workaround culture within organisations is alive and well.  Stemming from a misaligned leadership team, employees are aware of who they need to go to get what they want. One manager will be more lenient on deadlines, whilst another will be more empathetic to the need to work from home. One manager will be more of a ‘rule breaker’ while another will be rigid and demand compliance. The result of these workarounds is the formation of subcultures that form around different leaders. The result of these subcultures could be: 

1. The values of each leader override the actual values of the organisation, further amplifying the fact that those values are simply ‘words on the wall’. 
2. Accountability diminishes as certain individuals are ‘protected’ by specific leaders. 
3. Silos are the order of the day instead of collaborative effort toward collective goals. 
4. Disengagement increases as well-meaning staff observe daily inconsistencies. 
5. Role clarity is impacted as people do what one leader asks them to do, often contrary to what their peers require of them. 
6. The ‘untouchables’ emerge given they are aligned with the most powerful in an organisation, sending clear signals that they are a law unto themselves. 
7. Strategic clarity is eroded with different paths emerging, often heading in different directions, rather than one road we are all walking together. 

So how do we mitigate workaround culture? Picture leaders within an organisation standing in separate places on a field. It would be easy for employees to walk around one leader and make their way to another. Now, picture all those leaders standing in a tight group. Their proximity and position make it near impossible for a workaround to occur. 

Leadership teams who are aligned around vision, strategy and values (with clear associated behaviors) protect their organisations from workaround culture. But aside from that there is one further differentiator. When leaders respect each other’s differences and respect one another as fellow leaders, they snuff out workaround culture before it can find traction. Just as a strong organizational culture requires a strong leadership culture, a workaround culture will incubate within a disconnected leadership culture. 

Organisations who are at most risk are those with dynamic visionary leaders. It’s one thing to cast vision. It’s an entirely different thing to galvanize a leadership team to deliver on that vision as a cohesive unit. All it takes is for one or two leaders to act independently and the foundations are laid for subcultures to form.

Regardless, the activities which are essential in mitigating workaround culture are: 

1. Regular strategic meetings which include open, candid conversations. 
2. Robust debate around organizational strategy to ensure alignment around key focus areas. 
3. Values based conversations which unpack the needed leadership behaviors which ensure the values are central to daily operations. 
4. Push back to employees who are seen to be working around their line to get what they want. Whilst I do advocate for accessible leadership and the need to avoid being over hierarchical, it is evident when someone is approaching a leader who they think will give them what they want. 
5. Informal and formal recognition mechanisms which celebrate the behaviors that align with your values, reinforcing that this is ‘the way we do things around here’. 
6. Communication moments with the next layer of leadership to promote the right behaviors, address inconsistencies and align the wider team around key strategic decisions. This sends clear messages around what is acceptable and what is not to the collective. 
7. Development of senior leaders around hard conversation skills needed to uphold firm boundaries and hold them accountable to doing just that. 

The most successful teams are the ones where everyone is working in a way that is right for the whole and not just themselves. Workaround culture is a signal that self-focus siloed behavior is setting in. To avoid frustration, disengagement and inhibited progress, tackle it now and stop it dead in its tracks. 

Travis Gale is the Founder and Managing Director of Appletree Group, a company dedicated to helping organisations shape and sustain strong, healthy cultures. 

Image: Jacob Meves