It is said that bureaucratic programs are easy to create but impossible to destroy. It is said that they develop a life of their own. There is some truth to this. As I have written before, when decision making becomes ‘policy,’ it becomes unowned—no one has responsibility for the decisions and their consequences anymore, they are ‘just following procedure.’
This also occurs because egos of those involved can feel failure if the program they created, manage or are part of is no longer needed, so they seek to justify its existence.
Paradoxically, programs and policies live on because no one wants to risk sticking their neck out to take responsibility for a potentially unpopular decision or other display of true leadership. Sometimes it happens out of a desire to save their careers because they don’t want to expend the energy to search for a new opportunity or are fearful of losing the security they have in their current position.
In both cases, the root cause is fear. Fear of losing prestige, a job, authority, influence and so on. Fear of taking a risk and making a mistake. Fear of making others angry or unhappy.
The motivation has switched from achieving a goal to self-preservation. This results in innovation becoming stagnation, and leadership degenerating into management.
