“Has my request to attend the conference been approved?” asked an employee.

“Not yet,” replied a member of the talent development team.

“I submitted it six weeks ago. I know budget is available. Why the delay?”

“It needs approval from your manager, the training committee, the budgeting office, strategic planning, and legal. Legal is busy with a complex litigation.”

This exchange reveals a common dysfunction in large organizations: treating every process as fragile and high-risk. Kyle Pretsch, writing for the Forbes Technology Council, says that 25% of processes are like rubber balls.  If you drop them, they will bounce. Bureaucracies assume that all processes are glass balls, and managers worry excessively about breaking unimportant balls. The results are mind-numbing tasks that drive costs while contributing little value. 

To distinguish between rubber and glass balls, leaders should:

1 Focus on what is urgent and important, not what is merely procedural.

2. Identify where approvals pile up and eliminate unnecessary ones.

3. Track approval cycle times and use data to spotlight bottlenecks.

4. Clarify decision rights. Define who decides, who advises, and who executes.

5. Automate routine tasks. Free up human judgment for high-impact decisions.

6. Encourage front-and second-line managers to act and evaluate them on results.