Signs of Corporate Entropy
Sep 25th, 2002 by Tony in QSM1
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One of the most important things leaders need to learn is to recognize the signals of impending deterioration. I have made a list of these signals over the years. As you read this list, remember that many people in large organizations relish apathy. They often fail to see the signs of entropy:
- a tendency toward superficiality
- a dark tension among key people
- no longer having time for celebration and ritual
- a growing feeling that rewards and goals are the same thing
- when people stop telling tribal stories or cannot understand them
- a recurring effort by some to convince others that business is, after all, quite simple
- when people begin to have different understandings of words like “responsibility” or “service” or “trust”
- when problem-makers outnumber problem-solvers
- when folks confuse heroes and celebrities
- leaders who seek to control rather than liberate
- when the pressures of day to day operations push aside our concern for vision and risk
- an orientation toward the dry rules of business school rather than a value orientation which takes into account such things as contribution, spirit, excellence, beauty and joy
- when people speak of customers as impositions on their time rather than opportunities to serve
- manuals
- a growing urge to quantify both history and one’s thoughts about the future
- the urge to establish ratios
- leaders who rely on structures instead of people
- a loss of confidence in judgement, experience, and wisdom
- a loss of grace and style and civility
- a loss of respect for the English language
— M DePree, Leadership Is An Art, quoted in Jerry Weinberg, Quality Software Management Vol 2, Chapter 1