I’ve been working at a large, monolithic, post-secondary educational institution for about five years now. When I first started, it was a shock to the system. Coming from “industry” (as it’s called within the hallowed halls of post-secondary education), the pace of things left me somewhat non-plussed. This was education — how could there not be a sense of urgency?
Over the years, I have resigned myself to the fact that things will always move at a certain pace. Indeed, I have made jokes about how things move at a “glacial” rate of speed. You can endeavour to make small changes, but the Titanic doesn’t turn on a dime. I’ve watched as new hires come in with fire and energy, only to experience the same frustration and puzzlement with the operations of the Institute. Some have stayed, others have left for more fast-paced and challenging environs. I hardly blame them.
In the last year I’ve moved into management, accepting the opportunity to be in a better position to affect change. In recent months, however, I have had the pleasure to rediscover bureaucracy at new levels of absurdity. It seems that to accomplish what are, to me, simple administrative tasks (like hiring replacements for all the disillusioned and departed workers that have abandoned your team, leaving it riddled with vacancies) takes months of back-and-forth between multiple groups that hold varying and sometimes competing interpretations of the processes required. Each week brings a new challenge or obstacle to what I thought was a straight-forward process with a clearly-articulated objective: hire people! Even now, during some much needed days off, I continue to wrangle with people so as not to delay the process further.
I recently posted a status update to my profile on Facebook as follows:
“No matter how much I push the envelope, I recognize it will always be stationery.”
An old pun, but so appropriate to my working world these days.
How do you deal with bureaucracy?