[et_pb_section fb_built=“1″ _builder_version=“4.27.4″ background_enable_color=“off“ global_colors_info=“{%22gcid-ff167076-b4c5-4e2e-a715-50d3f49d16ce%22:%91%22background_color%22%93}“ theme_builder_area=“post_content“][et_pb_row _builder_version=“4.27.4″ background_size=“initial“ background_position=“top_left“ background_repeat=“repeat“ global_colors_info=“{}“ theme_builder_area=“post_content“][et_pb_column type=“4_4″ _builder_version=“4.27.4″ background_color=“RGBA(255,255,255,0)“ background_enable_image=“off“ custom_padding=“|||“ global_colors_info=“{}“ custom_padding__hover=“|||“ theme_builder_area=“post_content“][et_pb_text _builder_version=“4.27.4″ _module_preset=“default“ hover_enabled=“0″ global_colors_info=“{}“ theme_builder_area=“post_content“ sticky_enabled=“0″]<\/p>\n
I\u2019m not afraid of bureaucracy.<\/p>\n
As a music historian, I spent years studying the network of East German state, party, and professional organizations that influenced the country\u2019s musical development during the Cold War. The East German musical bureaucracy was, in practice, as opaque as any I would ever encounter.<\/p>\n
My subsequent transition to higher education administration therefore came quite naturally. To be effective at my job, I needed to understand and interact with the various offices of a large and decentralized university.<\/p>\n
Navigating bureaucracy felt like a game. I relished learning how systems function and then determining how I could leverage those systems to get work done. I trusted institutional processes and accepted that change, though slow, would eventually happen\u2014as long as I pulled the right levers.<\/p>\n
My attitude has evolved since I shifted to consulting a few years ago. Although I still study the systems that shape my clients\u2019 projects and goals, I rarely have the opportunity to touch the controls. Consequently, I\u2019m more likely to focus on the actions themselves and the people doing the work.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve seen this most clearly with my volunteer leadership commitments to a local arts nonprofit (where I chair the board) and a community pro-democracy group that I co-founded. Both groups are trying to scale up rapidly in the face of existential challenges.<\/p>\n
In both cases, I fell back on my administrator instincts. I wanted to form committees and working groups, with transparent duties, standard operating procedures, and reporting structures.<\/p>\n
I wasn\u2019t alone in this approach. Several other volunteers\u2014especially those coming from similarly structured workplaces\u2014had also defaulted to structure over action.<\/p>\n
Yet over time, I noticed that we spent a disproportionate amount of time pondering systems-level questions. (Should we have 3 separate committees, or one committee with three charges? What decisions require a full board vote?)<\/p>\n
In practice, we began to lose sight of the very reasons we came together: our mission and our desire for real-world impact. Even worse, those volunteers who simply wanted to roll up their sleeves and do something were getting disengaged.<\/p>\n
To combat inertia, we changed course: first focus on the task at hand, and worry later about the larger organizational picture.<\/p>\n
What are some signs that this action-first approach might be most effective?<\/p>\n
Granted, there will be times when it\u2019s more important to turn your attention to structure and process before taking action. As I\u2019ve explored in previous newsletters (here<\/a> and here<\/a>), if you don\u2019t have at least a rudimentary infrastructure for communication and a clear sense of purpose driving your work, then diving into the action stage can sow confusion and duplicate efforts.<\/p>\n Yet if you are fortunate to have people power, financial resources, and a way to communicate, <\/strong>then simply taking action is probably the right call. In many cases, the structure will make itself evident along the way.<\/p>\n You might even discover that your organization will be all the stronger for having been shaped by experience rather than theory.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=“1″ _builder_version=“4.27.4″ _module_preset=“default“ height=“157px“ collapsed=“on“ global_colors_info=“{}“ theme_builder_area=“post_content“][et_pb_row _builder_version=“4.27.4″ _module_preset=“default“ global_colors_info=“{}“ theme_builder_area=“post_content“][et_pb_column type=“4_4″ _builder_version=“4.27.4″ _module_preset=“default“ global_colors_info=“{}“ theme_builder_area=“post_content“][et_pb_text _builder_version=“4.27.4″ _module_preset=“default“ text_text_color=“#FFFFFF“ global_colors_info=“{}“ theme_builder_area=“post_content“]<\/p>\n Copyright 2023 Intellerate Consulting. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" As a consultant working with organizations facing existential challenges, I’ve had to rethink some of that instinct. Here’s what I’ve learned about when structure helps \u2014 and when it just gets in the way.“<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":100811,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[18,17,11,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-100808","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-capacity-building","category-leadership","category-strategic-planning","category-taking-action"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/intellerate.net\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100808","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/intellerate.net\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/intellerate.net\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/intellerate.net\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/intellerate.net\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=100808"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/intellerate.net\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100808\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":100813,"href":"https:\/\/intellerate.net\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100808\/revisions\/100813"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/intellerate.net\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/100811"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/intellerate.net\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=100808"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/intellerate.net\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=100808"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/intellerate.net\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=100808"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}