I think one of Jason Fried’s recent Tweets couldn’t have been more timely for our company.

At The Ready, we are in the early days of our company and under 10 people. We’re well aware how significant the effects of early company habits are on long-term culture. With that in mind, we have been deliberately practicing which habits we want in place now that’ll hopefully serve us well in the future. One of our strategy statements for this trimester serves us this reminder:

Deliberate rituals even over organic culture.

One of the worst habits organizations adopt is creating a new policy or rule every time there’s any kind of tension. This habit can seem innocuous, but it creates something incredibly dangerous. Organizational Debt.

“Organizational Debt is the interest companies pay when their structure and policies 1) stay fixed and/or 2) accumulate as the world changes.”

Last week, Aaron wrote about Organizational Debt. If you haven’t read his piece yet, I would stop right here and read his first. I think he’s made crystal clear its dangers and what we could do on an organizational level to get rid of it. As such, I’d like us to look at how Organizational Debt affects the thing that all organizations are comprised of: people.

Fixed & Accumulating Structure on the Individual

One consequence of Organizational Debt is that the organization’s structure stays fixed. As its structure says fixed, so do its people’s job titles and responsibilities.

The thing is, having static job titles and responsibilities is the worst thing you can do for your employees. Static jobs rid people of job satisfaction, engagement, resilience, and finding meaning in their work. Yet when employees join a company their job titles and responsibilities tend to not change.

In a job that doesn’t change, people don’t have any control over how their work gets done and aren’t using their skills and passions. When this happens, they’re 1) not going to do their best work, 2) going to feel stagnant, and 3) are likely looking for a job elsewhere.

Although most companies have pretty static structures overall, they do tend to build up additional structure as demands and markets shift. When this happens, more responsibilities are added onto people’s jobs. Structure accumulates. People’s plates are constantly full. And if their jobs have been static for years, they’re less likely to be adaptive enough to own their new responsibilities since they’ve been stuck with the same ones for years. Additional structure that isn’t necessary could lead to people burning out, being stressed out, and again, wanting to work somewhere else.

Fixed & Accumulating Policies on the Individual

Another result of Organizational Debt is that a company’s policies accumulate and/or stay fixed.

What’s insane is that many policies are created because of a mistake someone made that they aren’t likely to make again. For example, an “All tweets and replies from the company Twitter must be approved by the Director of Marketing” policy was established years ago because a former social media employee, Billy, got into a huge Twitter argument with a dissatisfied customer. Of course, what should’ve been done was give Billy feedback on the incident. The policy was well-intended, but now the company can’t respond in a timely manner to customers on Twitter — something that really helps with customer satisfaction. In addition to lack of customer responsiveness and the extra work that the Director of Marketing now has Organizational Debt also comes in the form of distrust. This policy might not explicitly say, “We don’t trust anyone responding to people with our Twitter account”, but to an extent the social media team may now feel less trusted to do their jobs.

In addition to not feeling trusted, people might feel silenced, devalued, and risk-averse because of excessive policies. How much value is the organization missing out on if its people feel they can’t contribute their ideas, perspectives, and skills because of so many rules and regulations? How many of us would actually be able to bring our whole selves to work in an environment rife with arbitrary policies?

I think what’s riskier to an organization than its people trying new things and consequently breaking a few policies here and there is its people not taking any risks at all. Sure, policies can keep the organization’s risk in check. And of course an organization shouldn’t be policy-less. Buried in the stack of mostly useless policies must be some very useful ones, such as rules about vacation days or reimbursing business expenses. It’s just the trade-off between a voluminous amount of policies and people constantly under fear of violating any rules isn’t worth it.

So what can we as human beings do to eradicate and prevent Organizational Debt?

1. Craft your job.

We all have a certain amount of influence over how we do our jobs. Job crafting is simply working within the structure you’re in to better align your work with your passions and strengths. The basic idea is to assess what your job is currently comprised of, optimize the parts of your job you enjoy doing, add any tasks/projects that you want to start doing, and take out any parts that are inessential. You can do job crafting expert Amy Wrzesniewski’s exercise, or try your own version of it.

If you’re looking to win support from others for your job crafting, follow what Amy Wrzesniewski suggests: “Focus on creating value for others, building trust, and identifying the people who will accommodate you.” You’ll likely gain support if you emphasize that this is beneficial to your manager, team, and organization.

If you are a manager, let those you manage craft their own jobs (you most likely don’t have time to do this anyway), and offer them support and help if they need it. They know their job best. This gives you time to focus on crafting your own job as well.

2. Know when it’s better to give feedback instead of create a new policy.

The next time you feel inclined to propose a new policy after finding out a colleague of yours is doing something wrong, don’t overreact. Assess whether you can deal with it just by talking to them instead of having to make a policy about it. If it can, ask them if they’d be up to hear any feedback from you, then be humble yet assertive when you give that feedback. If you are the colleague that did something wrong, resist any urge to be defensive and openly hear them out.

3. Question the assumptions behind the policies.

Unearth the underlying assumptions behind your company’s policies. If a policy confuses or frustrates you, don’t completely dismiss it. Instead, ask why it exists in the first place. What was the rationale behind the policy when it was created? Doing this will confront the beliefs behind the policy and can start a dialogue that could change or take out the policy if needed.

4. Maintain a holistic view of your organization.

Reducing Organizational Debt is a lot easier when you have a clear understanding of your organization’s purpose. Be curious about what your colleagues are up to, what the different functions around you do, and how it all fits in the organization’s larger picture. You’ll then be more aware of where the Organizational Debt exists and can be the one to eliminate it before it gets any worse.

If you’re in the early stages of your company like us, you have the privilege to shape the habits that your company would benefit from in the long run. But Organizational Debt isn’t unique to early-stage startups. Reduced decision-making speed, ability to innovate, and adaptability can happen to any company no matter how old it is.

And removing Organizational Debt isn’t limited to the C-suite, the organizational development function, or the People Analytics department. It can start with any human being. Because we all deserve the job and the workplace that entitles us to do our best work.

Thanks Oday, Alison, and Sam for your brains and feedback on this post.