The Hidden Cost of Organisational Friction

When “the way we’ve always done it” starts costing the business

“This is the way we’ve always done things” could be a familiar phrase in your business. It can also be revealing. When established ways of working go unquestioned, businesses can gradually become accustomed to processes and systems that are no longer the most effective way of getting things done.

Inefficiency rarely looks significant in the moment. It might be a few extra minutes spent searching for information, duplicating a task, waiting for a decision or working around a process. But repeated across a team, these small losses can consume capacity, productivity and profit.

We tend to focus on the obvious costs of running a business: wages, suppliers, technology and overheads. Yet another cost can be more difficult to see: organisational friction.

The opportunity is not to change processes simply for the sake of change. It is to make these hidden costs visible, question whether established ways of working are still serving the business, and identify where relatively small changes could make a meaningful difference.

We’ve created a practical checklist to help you do just that.

1. Duplicated Work

☐ Are different people completing similar tasks or recreating information?

☐ Are there reports, spreadsheets or processes that could be simplified?

☐ Do teams have easy access to the information they need?

☐ Are they sharing the work they’ve completed with those who may duplicate it?

Potential improvement: Identify one repeated task and look for ways to simplify, automate, or remove unnecessary steps.

2. Decision-Making

☐ Are decisions sometimes delayed because ownership is unclear?

☐ Do too many decisions need senior approval?

☐ Does your team feel confident making decisions within their role?

☐ Can you empower them to make more decisions without your input?

☐ Are they scared to make choices due to punishment, unfair or otherwise?

Potential improvement: Clarify who owns which decisions and what authority they have, as well as what the consequences really are for making the wrong decisions.

3. Handover and Communication

☐ Do projects or customers move smoothly between people or teams?

☐ Are important details sometimes missed during handovers?

☐ Are expectations and responsibilities clear?

Potential improvement: Create simple checklists or templates for key handover points and add a notes section to include any extraneous but necessary inclusions.

4. Key Person Dependency

☐ Is important knowledge held by only one or two people?

☐ Would the business struggle if a key person was unavailable?

☐ Are important processes documented?

Potential improvement: Capture critical knowledge and create repeatable processes that everyone can access.

5. Recurring Problems

☐ Are the same issues appearing repeatedly?

☐ Are you solving the problem or only dealing with the symptom?

☐ Do people know how to prevent the issue happening again?

☐ Is there overly negative recourse when these problems occur without logical ways to avoid them?

Potential improvement: Spend time understanding the root cause and improve the processes behind it. Talk to your team to see if there are any miscommunications.

Organisational friction is rarely created by one big problem. As they say, the devil is in the details. Often, it builds through small inefficiencies that gradually become accepted as “just the way we work”. The opportunity is not to change everything at once, but to identify the areas where a small improvement could create greater clarity, capacity, and consistency.

After completing the checklist, take a moment to reflect:

Which area would create the biggest positive impact if improved in your business?