Starting a business is challenging enough, but steering the ship back on course is an entirely different story. No company is perfect, but organizational problems left unchecked will devastate a firm’s day-to-day operations. These administrative problems may stem from many sources, but it’s essential to repair any rifts sooner rather than later.
Why Management is the Root of the Problem
At the heart of every organizational problem in a business is bad management. It doesn’t mean you have bad managers, but management can unknowingly cause costly problems.
Fixing administrative problems can feel like an impossible task, but improving your management will have a ripple effect on most of them.
Organizational Problem #1: Lack of Direction
Imagine going on vacation to a country you’ve never read about and have no idea where it even is. You’ve either been given no directions or vague and incomplete ones. How frustrating would that be?
Now imagine this is a company team facing the same difficulties. They have no goal or no instructions on how to get there. It may be that the project lead only assigned some responsibilities and a vague plan, leaving the employees to their own devices. This scenario never helps the business. Without clear direction for the group, the employees are left to scatter. Their talents go unused and don’t benefit the company.
It is essential for your team’s lead to clearly and transparently define the business’ goals. Apps like Agile Zen let users organize tasks and monitor project progress, keeping the team on track with its plans and capable of communicating with each other more easily.
Organizational Problem #2: No Communication or Feedback
Communication is crucial in effective collaboration. That means all channels, including written and oral, should be efficient and effective for all team members. Simultaneously, it’s essential to have feedback in the mix because it helps team members stay motivated and be more effective.
Feedback is just as important as communication in every respect. Yelling at employees for mistakes or to “make an example” is not useful feedback; no matter how unsatisfactory the result was, be sure to construct your message in an encouraging way that lets the recipient know you’re looking out for their excellence.
Organizational Problem #3: Disjointed Teams
It can be a significant challenge blending multiple personalities into a cohesive team, whether members are part of the executive suite, an operating unit in a production facility, or a research and development team. People’s personalities vary considerably, and a diverse range of backgrounds, views, experiences, and opinions can cause clashes within groups, leading to unique difficulties — and opportunities.
If you can get your employees to support a common objective, a diverse team can produce incredible results, match competitor threats, and handle any customer demand. If leaders stay back, don’t get involved, fail to deliver information, cannot think with a managerial mindset, or don’t collaborate on problems, any business will struggle to produce anything worthwhile.
Organizational Problem #4: Lack of Awareness
Putting together a cohesive, organized plan takes hard work and a keen awareness of its environment and culture. Most executives have many responsibilities that keep them busy, so many things are competing for their attention. Market conditions change all the time in an uncertain world, and leaders need to be aware of these trends. This kind of goal tends to something of a magnet, though, as managers slowly start taking on more tasks related to monitoring changes and fewer functions on the business itself.
Once the managers take their eye off the teamwork ball, communication suffers, and the machine breaks down. Leaders become too preoccupied to recognize their team members, celebrate progress, invest time reviewing the quality, and encourage better working across each function. Disengaged management leads to a disengaged team that feels marginalized, loses focuses, and fails to commit.
There is never a one-size-fits-all solution to organizational problems. Still, some simple, actionable steps any business can take today to improve company culture, both right away and in the long run. Trust is necessary for good company culture; if you want to develop an open and transparent company, your first step must be making sure your team has the right tools to do so.