PEOPLE matters

Bureaucracy and innovation

Richard Plenty and Terri Morrissey reflect on the importance of encouraging innovation in the workplace.

Could excessive bureaucracy and red tape be slowing down your organisation’s innovation process?

It’s an important question for airports to ask themselves at a time when the need for innovation has never been greater. And it is very possible that the answer will be, yes!

We have either carried out – or been asked to review – a number of airport culture and engagement surveys over the years which evaluate how airports are faring on creating high performance culture. One of the most consistent findings has been the extent to which excessive bureaucracy in airports is a blocker to engagement and gets in the in the way of high performance and innovation.

A similar picture emerged from a session we ran on ‘Work Experience’ at an ACI World Conference in Brussels just before the pandemic. Of the 60 or so participants who attended, nearly all agreed that this was the single most important obstacle to getting their jobs done.

People find unnecessary red tape very frustrating. Many spoke of how different their working experience would be if there could be easier access to information, and more freedom to take action in their roles. They spoke of how decision making was often far too slow.

Of course, this is not a problem solely for airports. Cass Sunstein in his book, Sludge: What stops us from getting work done – and what to do about it, speaks about that treacly, sticky substance which blocks our freedom of movement and hinders us achieving certain goals. Excessive waiting times, paperwork and confusing processes all add to our frustration and inability to get things done.

Some sludge is necessary and can be called “good sludge”. For example, it is important that safety critical operational processes continue to receive due attention. And entitlement to social benefits requires some checks and balances and a certain amount of form filling. However, in Sunstein’s view, most large organisations, government departments and businesses produce far too much sludge – essentially a ‘time tax’ on our productive time – time that could be spent being innovative and creative.

It can also have a big impact on customers. How much time do all of us have to spend nowadays on the phone, directed by automated systems which do the very opposite of their stated purpose of being a ‘help’ line? The real intention often appears to be to make things so difficult that we simply give up.

So how can we free up organisations, customers and employees from the negative consequences of ‘sludge’? How can innovation be fostered?

Sunstein recommends ‘A Sludge Audit’ to find out what’s causing the buildup of sludge and how to take steps to reduce or eliminate it. The ambition should be to take stock of the processes and procedures in the system.

Ask the questions: Why do we have them? What function or purpose are they trying to serve? How accessible/inaccessible are they? How easy are they to navigate from the client/customer/employee perspective? Do they make sense? Are they helping or hindering the achievement of the goals for which they were designed? Is the technology designed to support access? Is the supporting technology itself a hindrance?

How much time is being spent fruitlessly filling in forms, waiting for phones to be answered, going around in circles and giving up in despair when that time could have been spent in productive behaviour designed to create new products and services or new ways of addressing challenges?

It is time to tackle unnecessary bureaucracy and focus on how we can unblock the logjams, improve productivity, minimise frustrations and release the innovation trapped within the system.

Arrivals and departures

Changi Airport Group (CAG) has a new CEO after Weng Kum Yam succeeded the long serving Hiang Seow Lee in the role on July 1. Paying tribute to Lee, CAG chairman, Tan Gee Paw, said: “In the last decade and a half, Seow Hiang’s vision transformed Changi into the airport it is today – a strong air hub with an extensive network of city links, providing an extraordinary experience and supporting Singapore’s economy.” Yam was formerly CAG’s executive vice president for airport development, leading the Changi East project, which includes Terminal 5.

London City (LCY) and London Southend (SEN) airports in the UK both have new bosses. LCY has confirmed the appointment of former chief operating officer, Alison FitzGerald, as its new chief executive officer after a short spell as co-CEO with Wilma Allan. While SEN has named director of operations, Marc Taylor, as acting CEO following the unexpected departure of John Upton, who has left to “pursue new opportunities”.

Mark Laroche, president and CEO of the Ottawa International Airport Authority is to retire, noting that with the airport now fully recovered from the impact of COVID and “in excellent shape”, it was time for his successor to come in and oversee a planned terminal expansion project.

Also outgoing is San Francisco International Airport director, Ivar Satero, who has announced his decision to retire at the end of 2024. San Francisco mayor, London Breed, said Satero had “steered SFO through a series of transformative infrastructure projects”, with an additional $11 billion in projects to come over the next five years.

About the authors

Terri Morrissey and Dr Richard Plenty run ACI’s Human Resources training. They received a Presidential Citation from the American Psychological Association in June 2022 for their leadership in advancing global psychology. Contact them at info@thisis.eu