Why many transformation problems are decision problems first
Before you redraw the process, find the choice nobody has made. It’s usually hiding in plain sight.
When a transformation stalls, the diagnosis is almost always the same: the process is broken. So a team maps the process, redesigns it, adds a tool, trains people. Six months later, the new process behaves exactly like the old one.
Because the process was never the problem.
Many process problems are decision problems in disguise.
What it looks like
You’ll recognise the symptoms:
- Work bounces between teams because nobody is sure who has the final say
- Every exception gets escalated, because the rule was never really agreed
- Two priorities are both “number one” and each team picks its own
- Meetings end with alignment, not with a decision
- Steering committees review progress on things that were never chosen
Why it happens
Decisions are uncomfortable. They create winners and losers, and they make someone accountable. It’s much easier to launch a programme, write another deck, or buy a system. Those feel like action. They postpone the hard part.
You don’t need another 80-slide deck. You need a decision.
Where to start
Before redesigning anything, list the three to five choices the organisation keeps circling around. Write each one as a real question with real options. Name who decides, by when, and what it will cost to choose. Then make the choice.
Once that’s done, most process redesigns get a lot smaller. Some disappear entirely.