At one time or another, after getting snarled in some confounding internal procedure, almost every employee has muttered in frustration, “Why is it sooo hard to get anything done around here?” Even simple tasks like shipping a package, logging on to the network, getting a purchase order signed, or just reserving a meeting room can feel like falling into a giant Rube Goldberg machine with dozens or more steps that don’t seem to make sense.

The more people and departments involved in a task, the longer and more complicated the process grows—until you end up with a bewildering labyrinth of red tape, and no one knows precisely why. Productivity and morale nose dive, and it’s all so confusing and tiring that after a while fixable problems just get chalked up to “That’s just how things work around here.”   

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