How well-intentioned processes are slowing you down — and what leaders can do about it.
The Hidden Cost of Over-Engineering
Across industries, organizations are unintentionally making themselves harder to run.
Every day, leaders are asked to move faster — to innovate, hire, and deliver results. Yet the machinery behind those ambitions can be slow, bureaucratic, and confusing. A simple decision – like approving a new hire, approving a travel request, or signing off an expense claim – can bounce between five or six layers of approval before anything happens. Each approver assumes someone else will check the details — and, ironically, no one really does.
The result? Projects stall. People disengage. Customers feel it.
This isn’t just inefficiency. It’s a failure of trust and accountability, masked by process.
As Yves Morieux and Peter Tollman argue in Six Simple Rules: How to Manage Complexity Without Getting Complicated, organizations today are trapped in a “complicatedness” of their own making. And while leaders keep adding processes to fix problems, those very processes often become the problem.
When Complexity Becomes the Default
Organizational complexity doesn’t arrive overnight. It builds quietly — a new approval here, a new committee there — until one day, the organization feels like it’s walking through wet cement.
We add new layers to “increase control.”
We create more steps to “ensure quality.”
We design new policies to “standardize behaviour.”
Each decision sounds logical. But together, they create a system where nobody feels fully accountable, and everyone feels slightly powerless.
Take a few everyday examples:
Recruitment: A manager identifies a critical vacancy. Instead of moving quickly, the role must pass through HR, finance, department heads, and regional leadership. Everyone “reviews,” but no one owns the outcome.
Project sign-offs: Great ideas lose momentum as proposals circulate endlessly for feedback and reapproval.
The problem isn’t bad intent. It’s a system that rewards caution over clarity.
Complexity Is a Culture, Not Just a Process
Research continues to show that simpler organizations perform better:
- BCG’s Complexity Index highlights that companies that reduce internal friction outperform their peers in both productivity and innovation.
- Gartner (2024) found that “organizational friction” — redundant approvals, unclear ownership, and decision bottlenecks — is now one of the top three barriers to speed and effectiveness.
- McKinsey’s Organization Design research confirms that high-performing companies make key decisions five times faster than their competitors — primarily because of simplified structures and stronger accountability.
In short: complexity slows everything down.
It drains energy, clouds accountability, and pushes talent away. And no technology investment can fix it until leadership does.
As one senior executive recently told us:
“We’ve built a process so complex that no one feels responsible for the outcome anymore — and everyone feels covered if it fails.”
That’s not resilience. That’s dysfunction disguised as diligence.
Why Organizations Overcomplicate
1. Lack of trust
Leaders worry that if they delegate authority, quality will slip. So, they add more oversight — which paradoxically makes people care less about the outcome.
2. Fear of accountability
It’s easier to pass a decision upward than to make it — especially when saying “no” is unpopular. Layers become buffers.
3. Reactive control mechanisms
When problems arise — like budget overruns or bad hires — the response is often to “add a new approval step” instead of improving judgement and ownership.
4. Overreliance on process
When culture is weak, leaders turn to policy. But process can never replace trust. It just buries the problem under more paperwork.
Frameworks for Simplicity: Structure Without Suffocation
Simplifying complexity doesn’t mean removing all controls. It means designing smarter systems that clarify ownership and build accountability.
The Six Simple Rules (Morieux & Tollman)
Morieux and Tollman’s framework remains one of the most practical guides for leaders tackling complexity:
- Understand what people really do – Not what job descriptions say, but what people do and why they do what they do.
- Reinforce integrators – Empower the roles that connect functions, not the ones that control them.
- Increase total power – Push authority closer to where work happens.
- Extend the shadow of the future – Make consequences visible; connect decisions to outcomes.
- Increase reciprocity – Encourage teams to rely on and answer to each other.
- Reward cooperation, not compliance – Recognize outcomes, not process-following.
These principles move beyond structure. They address how people relate, decide, and act inside complex systems.
Practical Guidance: How Leaders Can Simplify Now
Simplification is not a project. It’s a leadership mindset that cuts across every function — finance, operations, tech, and people.
Here’s how to begin:
1. Map your decision bottlenecks
- Choose one key process (recruitment, budget approvals, project initiation).
- Track how many people touch a single decision.
- Ask: What value does each layer add?
- If the answer isn’t clear, it’s time to simplify.
2. Redefine ownership
- Replace multi-step approvals with clear decision rights.
- Define: Who decides, who advises, and who needs to know.
- Make accountability visible — and back it up with trust.
3. Build systems of trust
Digitize where possible, but don’t automate dysfunction. Tools should enable visibility, not micromanagement. Leaders should see progress, not control every click.
4. Empower managers to say “No” — quickly and clearly
Coach leaders to give timely feedback, even when it’s uncomfortable. Avoiding decisions is worse than making the wrong one.
5. Shift from policy design to experience design
Ask your teams: What does this process feel like?
If the answer is “frustrating,” it’s already too complicated. Simplicity is often best measured by how it feels to use the system, not how it looks on paper.
Simplification Is a Strategic Advantage
Complexity feels safe. It gives the illusion of control, risk management, and fairness.
But in reality, it’s a tax on performance and engagement.
Simplifying complexity doesn’t mean removing rigour — it means restoring clarity, trust, and accountability to how work gets done.
To riff on what Spiderman taught us:
“With great responsibility comes great accountability.”
When organizations design systems that trust their people and empower managers to act, decision speed improves, motivation rises, and customers feel the difference.
Simplification is not just a process challenge — it’s a leadership act.
Partner with Degree23
At Degree23, we help organizations cut through complexity — simplifying structures, processes, decisions, and accountability to build faster, more empowered, and more human workplaces.
Let’s make simplicity your next strategic advantage: hello@degreetwentythree.com
