In a 2014 Deloitte Access Economics report on red tape they reported:
"…self-imposed rules cost $21 billion a year to administer, and generate a stunning $134 billion a year in compliance costs. When combined, the costs of administering and complying with public and private sector rules equate to a quarter of a trillion dollars a year.”
Do you think that cost would have tracked with inflation? My bet is it has beat inflation. And for industries reeling from royal commissions (religious, education, banks, insurers) or about to be (aged care), it is likely to get worse.
Deloitte offer the 5 Cs for tackling the red tape caused by rules: Cleanse the most ridiculous ones, Challenge all of them, Create a culture of performance while complying, Change the way you go about creating rules and the final one is to Capitalise on all your good work.
All good advice. But what is the underlying cause of self-imposed red tape?
Well it’s not just one cause. The most common cause is the rules creators not understanding the business. So often it is back office staff creating the rules. They have not done a good job of standing in the shoes of the business and either don’t appreciate the impact or can’t see how the rules could be designed a better way.
The other big cause is “best practice”. Support function staff from functions like Finance, HR, Risk, Compliance, and Procurement go to industry conferences and seminars and come back with “best practice ideas”. The problem is, these ideas are often only good for the support function, not for the business. Or what might be best practice somewhere else simply won’t work in your organisation.
So do yourself a favour and wage war on self-imposed red tape by ensuring your support functions truly understand the business. You can start by using the two tools I gave you in my last two blogs. My Persuasion Pyramid and the Empathy Map.
Enjoy!
__________________________________________________________________________________
Bryan's new book teaches you practical methods to cut through with your advice and make the impact you want to make. Available on Amazon or order here now.
YOUR DECISIONS DEFINE YOU.
Available on Amazon or order here now.
Bryan Whitefield works with strategic leaders across all sectors to help organisations harness uncertainty – uncertainty is the strategic leader’s best friend. He is the author of DECIDE: How to Manage the Risk in Your Decision Making and Winning Conversations: How to turn red tape into blue ribbon. He is the designer of the Risk Culture: Build Your Tribe of Advocates Program for support functions and the Persuasive Adviser Program for internal advisers. Both can be booked individually or in-house. For more information about Bryan, please click here.
Comments