Is bureaucracy inevitable?

I was talking with an accountancy firm partner last week, an interesting man to chat with, who had a strong conviction from his experience that as businesses grow they gain more and more bureaucracy.  His experience of HR’s role in particular, was that of adding process and reducing flexibility.  All in all, it left me feeling a little flat, reminding me of the poor reputation of HR and of how much work there is to be done in demonstrating that HR can add real business insight, not just increase the list of forms to fill in.

When I need a reminder of the alternatives to bureaucracy, there are a few resources that help me to get a wider perspective, one of which is the Netflix Culture Deck.  It’s had over 13 million views so I’m not sharing anything new with you, but if you also need a reminder of an alternative way to do things, see the full pack on slideshare.

Yes, some of the ideas would be more challenging to implement in the European legislative backdrop.  And no, this is far from a recommendation of the ideal approach for all (many?) companies.  But the reminder that you don’t need policies for everything, that you should be able to trust your employees, and that there are different ways to do things, is always nice for a Monday.