Bureaucracy. Not only is it hard to spell, but it is hard to stomach too. Forgive me as I air my frustrations a bit and seek your advice. Here's what I'd love to know: are all colleges stricken with this crippling disease?
Are all companies with over 15 employees bound to catch it? And what happens to seemingly human individuals when they become entangled in it?
If you have answers to these questions, then by all means, let me in on them, but since I haven't gotten any information yet, then let me turn to the only positive side of this that I can see: coping mechanisms.
As a student leader, I've learned about more forms and discovered more scattered offices than I had imagined in my wildest nightmares. I've never looked the Beast in the face (because no on knows for sure whether it has a face), but I have seen its footprints and smelled its fowl breath. And here is what I've learned:
- It's often (though not always) futile to try to battle bureaucracy: figure out when the fight isn't worth it and come up with some work arounds.
- Make copies of EVERYTHING because that one form that you're sure everything will be just fine with WILL get lost.
- Date EVERYTHING, for the Beast thrives on chaos and confusion.
- Make friends in low places (in a bureaucracy there are no high places). Go out of your way to learn people's names and start conversations, and if you find someone you get along with, hold on to that connection like you're holding on for dear life.
- Keep a directory for your team members of all offices and samples of all forms to avoid going to the wrong place and filling something out incorrectly. It's worth it.
- Get as much as you possibly can in writing for the Beast devours memories of the spoken word.
- When you're at your rope's end, chillax and start skipping the rope. There's only so much you can do, and only so much stress it's worth experiencing. Don't take it too seriously (because laughter is the Beast's biggest fear) and don't be afraid to get creative and have some fun with your tactics. That's right. I said chillax.
Now get this blog post signed by 6 people in order of their weight, make 3 copies, rewrite one original, and fax it to me between 12:30PM and 12:32PM on July 29th. Okay, ready, set, go!
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