Most organizations have workarounds. Maybe it’s a spreadsheet someone created because the system doesn’t quite do what they need. Maybe it’s the person everyone calls because they know how to get around the bottleneck. These are the extra steps employees take when the official process doesn’t quite match the way the work actually gets done.
We tend to think of workarounds as temporary, something to clean up later. But consider recurring workarounds as organizational intelligence. They show you where employees are compensating for friction in the way work is designed. And when the same workaround keeps appearing, it is rarely random. The workaround itself usually isn’t the issue; rather it’s evidence of a problem.
See the Signal, Not Just the Shortcut
Often a workaround is simply employees trying to get the work done. They are trying to serve a member, meet a deadline, resolve an exception or move something forward when the official process makes that harder than it needs to be. That is an opportunity worth studying.
When staff repeatedly enter the same information into multiple systems, there may be a technology or integration gap. Or when employees consistently skip or modify a step, the process itself may deserve another look. Seen this way, workarounds are clues.
What looks like a shortcut from the outside may actually be a signal that the formal process no longer fits the reality of the work.
Follow the Friction
A single spreadsheet or extra handoff may not tell you much. But when the same type of workaround shows up across teams, roles or departments, it starts to reveal something about the organization itself.
Usually, the friction traces back to a few familiar places:
- Process: Too many steps, handoffs or approvals
- Ownership: It is not clear who can make a decision or resolve an issue
- Information: Employees cannot easily find, trust or access what they need
- Technology: Systems do not connect well or do not support how the work actually happens
The patterns are valuable because they make invisible friction visible.
A Few Extra Minutes Add Up Fast
Workarounds can feel small because each one may only take a few extra minutes. Multiply that across employees, transactions and days, and the impact starts to look very different.
There is hidden labor in duplicate entry. There is risk in processes that depend on one person knowing the unofficial way to get something done. There is inconsistency when different employees solve the same problem differently. And more importantly there can be a member experience consequence.
Every unnecessary handoff, manual fix or extra step takes time and attention away from the people the organization is there to serve.
That transforms operational friction from an efficiency issue to a potential mission issue.
The Workaround May Point to the Fix
There is another reason not to dismiss the workaround: employees are problem-solvers. When the formal process falls short, people can create something that works better. That does not mean every spreadsheet or shortcut should become the new standard. But it may contain something worth learning from. An informal handoff may show that two roles need to work more closely together or a shortcut may expose a step that once served a purpose but no longer adds much value.
The people closest to the work are constantly generating clues about how the organization could work better.
Fix the Friction, Not Just the Workaround
The goal is not to eliminate every workaround, but rather to understand why employees needed one in the first place.
If the unofficial way of getting work done consistently works better than the official one, the organization has something important to learn. The best leaders do not just ask whether employees are following the process. They pay attention to where employees have had to invent a better one.
