In the videos below, two very different situations are shown: In the first video a crossroad with a traffic light is shown. The movement of the cars is quite well organized and a clear standard, traffic rules, is in place.

In the second video another crossroad is shown. In this crossroad no traffic light or any other rule has been established. The drivers and pedestrians organize themself to be able to cross the road within the shortest possible time. Everyone takes care not to cause an accident, but that’s about all rules there are.

For an outsider it looks quite dangerous to cross that road without a traffic light, and it certainly is. However, if we think about the needed time to cross the road, there are some fundamental differences between the two situations. Even without any deeper analysis it is visible that the waiting time of the unorganized crossroad is way lower than the one with the traffic light.

How does this relate to the organization of a company?
In our working environment many fixed processes are in place. Take the approval process for a purchase order for example. In many bigger companies, a workflow management system is used to make sure the approval gets done by the responsible persons. A reminder email is sent by the system to each responsible person for the approval. That would be our traffic light situation. The whole process is well defined and rules are in place. Different persons and departments are involved in such process and as result the waiting times increases.

Other approach would be to just get things done. That means, if you really need to purchase something, then you directly talk to the vendor and order it immediately by yourself. The shortest and easiest possible way is chosen. Lead times are drastically reduced but, the same way as a crossroad without traffic light, there are additional risks.

Often we believe that we should have a standardized process for everything in our work, but how many standards do we really need? Safety, quality are certainly things that can not be put at risk. But for many other matters isn’t it better to just get things done instead of following a rigid complex procedure? How many times we cought ourselves thinking, do I really have to follow all this process to get this little thing done? How much trust do we give our employees to take their own decisions?

As the example of the crossroad without traffic light shows, people are able to organize themselfes and get things done. Skilled and commited employees are able to evaluate a multiple of different situations. By allowing the employee to evaluate the situation, take decisions and assume responsibility, many processes can speed up, creating a decisive competitive advantage.