You can be the subject matter expert in your field, yet be less than mediocre in another field

Have you been in cross-functional meetings, that attempts to handle crisis situations ? Well, then you know.

Supply chain professionals turn into "marketing gurus" and have advice on how the marketing campaign should be run; and sales professionals turn subject matter experts on how the shop floor operations should be optimized.

Cross functional brainstorming is a good idea , cross functional ideas are welcome to solve crisis situations. But it is best that the subject matter experts take the lead, run the show, and make the decisions.

The expertise in your field, should not be substituted or mistaken as an expertise in all fields. You can be the subject matter expert in your field, yet be less than mediocre in another field.

To prove the point, consider this classic example from"The intelligent investor" by Benjamin Graham.

"And back in the spring of 1720, Sir Isaac Newton owned shares in the South Sea Company, the hottest stock in England. Sensing that the market was getting out of hand, the great physicist muttered that he “could calculate the motions of the heavenly bodies, but not the madness of the people.” Newton dumped his South Sea shares, pocketing a 100% profit totaling £7,000. But just months later, swept up in the wild enthusiasm of the market, Newton jumped back in at a much higher price—and lost £20,000 (or more than $3 million in today’s money). For the rest of his life, he forbade anyone to speak the words“South Sea” in his presence."

The man with best IQ and the best physics knowledge : could not excel in Financial markets.

Leave it to the subject matter experts !

Bureaucracy in the way of business. The need for “Break the rules, when necessary” culture.

Take this famous scenario: A country's parliament is under attack by terrorists. The national news television’s video crew is in the same premises. But no visuals of the incident were captured by this crew (while some of the private media players were airing live visuals). The reason? The crew had to wait for formal approval from their bosses to use the cameras outside the building. This is a classic example, that happened for real, of bureaucracy coming in the way of business.

All the systems, processes, procedures in any organisation should help the business move forward and achieve its objectives. But, how often have we encountered situations in everyday worklife, that bureaucracy, systems and processes are coming in way of the business, rather than helping the business move forward ?

It is not uncommon for businesses to encounter extra-ordinary situations (say the customer has an emergency request) that cannot be fulfilled if we are to follow the existing processes and procedures. Convincing the functions in the entire value chain to break their rules/ standard processes/procedures for these emergency situations, within a short span of time can be quite a task.

Just like leaders encourage organizations to be “innovative” : encouraging the culture of putting the business requirements ahead of bureaucracy is an absolute necessity, to stay in the business. The leaders should cultivate a culture that encourages employees to break the rules, when necessary , to put the business ahead.

Encouraging the "break the bureaucracy" mindset, should begin at the hiring stage. The candidates should be screened for their ability to break rules, within applicable limits, to get things done. This is equally important as the leadership quotient, the innovation quotient.

Individuals should be encouraged to go around the bureaucracy , in the larger interest of the organization. Annual performance reviews should have provisions to reward people for going around bureaucracy, in the larger interest of the company and client. At the same time, the annual performance reviews should have a section to penalize people for being bureaucratic - and standing in the way of business, without any other valid reason.

Would be very exciting to hear from readers, on how bureaucracy have been overcome in their own organizations !