In many organisations, dedicated employees often go above and beyond to keep processes running smoothly. They patch gaps in flawed processes, navigate unclear direction, and take responsibility for the parts of the process that need to happen but aren’t well structured or supported. While this kind of individual commitment is admirable, it can also mask deeper problems, and often issues that are only recognised when these good employees depart the business.

These “quiet fixes” create the illusion that the management systems are working effectively, when actually it’s being propped up by human effort and is in fact failing quietly in the background.

And usually, no news of this failure reaches management to facilitate them spotting what’s broken, let alone fix it. In some organisations, the situation is even worse, where good workers are relaying system flaws to management but for one reason or another, the warnings fall on deaf ears and are not prioritised for action. Sometimes, restricted financial or human resources may prevent effective redress of the flaws.

Over time, this dynamic creates a dangerous feedback loop. There’s an overreliance on key personnel, and broken systems remain unaddressed. For leaders, this presents a serious blind spot. Performance metrics may look fine on the surface, but without digging deeper, organisations can miss the warning signs of systemic failure. For workers, this reliance on human and manual fixes leads to process inconsistencies, worker fatigue and frustration, and eventually cynicism and organisational disengagement. The goal should be to build systems that support sustainable performance for everyone.

In the Safety sphere, by over-relying on one person – be that the HSR, the Safety Advisor or the Engineering Manager – there is a concentrated risk of failure inherent to your safety processes. The obvious outcomes of that are worker injury (or worse) and an increase in associated costs when these risks are realised. This is not to say that all points of weakness will fail when put to the test, but rather that the system and process will certainly fail at some point in time because they are not functioning properly.

To break this cycle, organisations must stop patching and start re-building—beginning with the management system itself. We need to ask: Is our management structure designed to support sustainable success? and Do management system processes actually detail what is being done or do they just articulate what management thinks should be done?

In redeveloping a management system to solve this problem, key considerations include:

  • how decisions are made,
  • how communication flows,
  • how accountability is shared, and
  • how feedback is acted upon.

In addition to this, Leaders must foster a culture where:

  • honest feedback is welcomed, and blame does not figure,
  • system flaws are addressed proactively,
  • system improvements are rewarded, and
  • management systems and processes are continually promoted and improved.

Strong people deserve strong systems. And it’s the responsibility of leadership to build them.

Please contact QRMC for more information or assistance.