Organizational development: 8 rules for total standstill

according Prof. Dr. Peter Kruse

In the context of change projects, it is legitimate to ask whether change makes sense at all. Maybe it is better to leave everything as it is?

If you come to the conclusion that a change in the company is not the right way for you, stick to the “8 rules for total standstill in the company” by Prof. Dr. Peter Kruse.

If you follow these rules of the professor for cognitive psychology of the University of Bremen, who passed away in 2015, you can be sure that nothing will change and really everything will stay as it is. That’s a promise!

1. Leadership should change constantly between the extreme poles of “micromanagement” and “laissez-faire”!

Either engage in intensive micromanagement or send this signal to your staff: “Just go ahead with whatever you want!”

If you have everyone under control, the company is as smart as the leader, so it’s necessarily limited. If you release everything and let your employees do whatever they want, people pursue your own fantasy’s and don’t come together as a team.

The best strategy for complete gridlock is this: Try to have everything under control all the time and then sporadically give complete freedom. By doing this, you are sure to completely confuse your employees.

2. Discussion about changes, strategy and goals should always be conducted only on the informal level!

Make sure to spread rumors! Get into the habit of systematically spreading rumors in your company every day. The more rumors, the better it is for total stagnation in the company. You will then experience a lot of emotions and excitement in your company without anything changing at all for sure.

3. Make sure that as many actions as possible are started at the same time!

Engage in operational hecticness. Ensure constant overload in the company. Proclaim weekly targets, daily targets, hourly targets and minute targets. But never communicate a strategic goal of the year, because then something could actually change.

4. Generate a comprehensive internal competition!

Goad your employees to maximum competition among themselves. Increase the bonus for individual goals to a maximum. Make sure that everyone thinks about himself in your company and that only the strongest survives. Then you will have a strong dynamic in the company! Your employees will try to out-maneuver and hinder each other to achieve their personal goals. It looks great, but nothing is moving forward.

5. Search permanently and accurately for the originators of problems!

Find out who is to blame! Analyze the problem deeply and extensively for years and set out to find the culprit! Set up an internal investigation commissions and open a case against the person who caused the problem. Do not, under any circumstances, simply start doing something in the direction of solving the problem. Then something might actually change.

6. Do not discuss the sense and nonsense of existing rules in public at all!

Leave everything as it is. If anything, add another pointless rule. Then you will get more stagnation and nothing will change for shure.

7. Make sure that decisions are made by consensus at the formal level, only to be extensively questioned at the informal level!

Make sure you get quick approval in meetings. The quicker you get a “yes” or a “nod of the head,” the better it is. Avoid lengthy discussions in the meeting. Send participants out of the meeting with a vague agreement, so they have the opportunity to fully question the meeting afterwards at their leisure. That way, nothing is guaranteed to move forward.

8. The speed of change at the decision-making level should always be greater than the dynamics at the implementation level!

Consistently ensure high decision dynamics with absolutely low implementation dynamics. In this way, you will definitely avoid change from taking place because employees get into the habit of the B-A-W technique. B-A-W stands for “bend and wait” and wants to express that when a new change initiative comes along, employees lean backwards, let it rush by, and then bob forward again. The more change initiatives you announce and don’t implement any of them, the better it is.

8+1 Establish irony and sarcasm in your company

Counter every serious statement with irony and sarcasm. Make sure that irony and sarcasm become permanently and completely established as a culture of conversation in your company. This way, you can be sure that there will be no conversation at all about underlying “truths”, but that all employees will use ironic and sarcastic remarks to keep each other from really having to change anything.

Are you facing a complex transformation project and looking for an experienced partner to help you avoid these mistakes and create real change? Then get in touch with us. We will be happy to support you.