When Things Stop Working in Organisations
There’s a moment most leaders recognise —
when effort stays high, but progress slows.
The organisation hasn’t collapsed.
It just doesn’t work the way it used to.
Decisions take longer or keep getting reopened.
Good people seem less effective than before.
Growth adds pressure instead of momentum.
You know something is wrong —
but it’s not obvious what, or where to start.
Common signs when organisations stop working effectively
• Meetings happen, but the same issues keep resurfacing
• People are busy, yet execution feels inconsistent
• Responsibility blurs — things fall between roles or land back on leadership
• As the organisation grows, everything feels heavier and slower
They don’t signal failure.
They signal strain.
Why organisational performance problems are often misdiagnosed
They drift.
What worked at one size, pace, or level of complexity
quietly stops working at the next.
This is a predictable pattern as organisations grow:
complexity increases faster than clarity, behaviour, and structure adapt.
• a leadership problem
• a people or motivation problem
• a culture problem
But in most cases, it’s a system problem showing up through people.
That’s why quick fixes rarely stick.
What leaders typically say when they arrive here
“We keep hiring good people, yet issues still escalate back to us.”
“It feels like we’re busy all the time, but progress isn’t sticking.”
“We know something isn’t working — we just can’t clearly define what.”
They’re not dealing with isolated people problems.
They’re dealing with a system that has outgrown its original operating logic.
A calm place to start
It’s about making sense of what’s actually happening before deciding what to do.
For some leaders, that means starting with a short diagnostic conversation.
For others, it helps to understand the underlying operating system first.
This is a short, structured conversation to understand where friction is coming from —
not a sales pitch or a workshop.
You don’t need to prepare.
You don’t need to be certain.
Not ready to talk yet?
Read how EPOS™ explains what happens when decisions stop holding →
This article helps you see the pattern more clearly before deciding on next steps.
You’re not choosing wrong.
And you don’t need to fix everything today.
Clarity comes first.
Action follows when it’s appropriate.
If you’re not sure what the problem is, start by choosing what feels most familiar.
Clarity
Decisions keep looping. Ownership is unclear. Progress depends on who’s in the room.
Behaviour
Expectations are stated, but follow-through is inconsistent and difficult conversations are avoided.
Structure
Everything escalates upward. Bottlenecks form. The system relies on individual effort to hold.
