A Guide to 10 common org smells

As the former COO of a scaling startup in the developer tools space, I’ve spent a great deal of time with software engineers. One of my favorite concepts I learned from them is code smells. Here’s how Martin Fowler describes it, “A code smell is a surface indication that usually corresponds to a deeper problem in the system. The term was first coined by Kent Beck while helping me with my Refactoring book.” I see something akin to this in my field — the human systems operating inside a business. 

Human systems have surface indications too. I call them org smells.

These smells indicate a problem in the org side of the business. 

Org smells often arise as leaders navigate organizational friction. A leader wonders what they’re doing wrong. Other times they feel out of step with their peers. They know something is wrong but can’t identify where the problem lies: with themselves, a peer, or at a system level.

The problem can be with an individual leader. I know plenty of stories of execs who left a company because they weren’t up for the challenge. Sometimes though, organizational issues masquerade as individual leader failure. Sometimes the problem is at the system level. The entity has troublesome org patterns or emerging needs that need attention. When the problem goes beyond one leader or isolated situations, they permeate the org. Once this happens it's harder to accomplish goals and retain great folks. The culture begins to contort and can even become toxic. Recognizing org smells helps us keep a healthy culture while moving us toward our objectives.

Leadership is complex — there is so much uncertainty and ambiguity, not to mention so many moving parts. Sometimes we get a whiff of a problem but struggle to identify the root. We tend to look to individuals as the cause. This is sometimes the case but just as often it’s organizational. These can be tougher to solve, it’s no wonder we hope the issue just resides in one person. If we don’t find the right root cause, we all suffer and put our objectives at risk. Identifying and resolving org smells is some of the most important leadership work there is. 

There will always be obstacles and messes to clean up. Pain points are unavoidable, they’re a natural part of leading any entity. The key is identifying the root of the issue -- is it individual or organizational? When we confuse the latter for the former the problems feel like whack-a-mole. We experience extended pain. Recognizing system-wide concerns allows us to isolate and resolve them, creating a better work environment and better allows us to reach business goals. 

10 COMMON ORG SMELLS AND THEIR ANTIDOTES

1) A LEADERSHIP TEAM THAT HAS PLEASANT CONVERSATIONS 

Everything looks good from the outside. We don’t fight. We look like we get along. We’re pleasant with each other. While this may seem desired, it’s actually a sign of an organization that isn’t functioning well. It’s artificial harmony. We’re not talking about the hard stuff. This pleasant tone can come from a lack of trust, a leadership team that hasn’t gelled, a prominent leader who instills fear, or unintentional favoritism. This tends to happen when leadership teams are forming, there’s loads of organizational changes or big shifts in business. 

In a false harmony culture, the real issues remain hidden, where they stay unresolved. Afraid to speak up leaders stay silent during hard conversations. We miss out on valuable well-rounded perspectives during decision making. Lacking full context, our decisions might miss the mark in helping us meet business goals. 

Antidote: Building trust and repairing it when broken is essential for a well-functioning leadership team. An offsite designed to build a more cohesive unit is your first priority. Giving them the chance to be more real with each other starts building trust. Then, build trust inside this unit through: clear guidelines about expected behavior and modeling desired behavior.

2) PERPETUAL FRICTION BETWEEN AREAS 

Friction develops as a natural course of business as the various parts of the business work to solve problems and reach goals. Sometimes friction turns into a hardened pattern making collaboration painful. We might chalk this up to individual leaders who are jerks or only focused on their own goals. Friction does develop because of rigid behavior and leaders who want to win above all. 

Sometimes there’s an underlying org issue causing an us vs them mentality. There might be conflicting goals where people feel forced to choose the thing they’re measured on over collaboration. Rather than a cohesive overall strategy, we have many mini strategies based on area. Dysfunctional friction can also be caused by a leadership team that’s splintered or siloed. We focus on our own goals rather than the whole system. Collaboration grinds to a halt. Goals become out of reach. Whatever the cause, when an us vs them mentality is brewing, we’ve stopped seeing each other as on the same team, moving towards the same goal. Unless addressed, it will decimate not only the cultures but the company.

Antidote: We have to take an organizational perspective, prioritizing its well-being over any one person or area. We have to remember that we’re in this together — that when they win, we win. We have to find our way back to each other. We have to restore trust. Starting with an offsite that helps us become more cohesive and first team oriented can give us the momentum we need to move forward together. 

3) THE MOST SENIOR PEOPLE LEADER DOESN’T REPORT TO THE CEO 

This typically happens when a startup is moving into the scaling phase. In their earlier stages, restricted by budgets, startups tend to hire less experienced People professionals often reporting to a COO or CFO. This reporting structure makes sense until we hit scale, when People strategy becomes critical. 

We have the budget and need to hire a more experienced People leader. At this stage when the most senior People leader isn’t reporting to the CEO it’s because we haven’t hired at the right level or we haven’t taken the time to rethink how reporting structures might change in this new phase. Sometimes a CEO with too many direct reports will siphon them off to other leaders (often the CFO or COO) to free up time for other priorities. This is a smart instinct, it’s an opportunity to look at all the roles and reporting relationships on the Exec Team. The team may have grown too big and need to be whittled down. 

Nesting a senior leader like a VP of People or a Chief People Officer (CPO) under another C-Suite is a huge risk for the organization, hampering its ability to level up the human and organizational part of the business to meet the business needs. Your most senior People leader must have a seat at the table. 

Antidote: Big changes in the business, organization strategy are an important time to reflect on the leaders needed and the composition of the leadership team. Take particular care when thinking about your People leader.

4) DECISION MAKING IS CONCENTRATED IN THE MOST SENIOR LEADERS

Decision-making is likely centralized. There’s a lack of a defined process or one that is shared widely. Once they reach a wider audience, organizational decisions are met with strong resistance. The leadership team finds itself having to reverse decisions because they’ve discovered information demonstrating there’s a better choice. Mid-level leaders are unclear about what decisions they can make autonomously. 

This is common in startups that have recently hit the scaling phase. While we understand that the surface area has grown, we haven’t quite grappled with how it impacts our decision-making structures. We think it’s our job to make decisions on behalf of the organization. We stop asking for input from the people doing the work. Senior leaders get bogged down. We become blockers. Further away from the day-to-day work, we make ill-advised choices.

Antidote: Leaders are better off seeing ourselves as shepherds of decisions, guiding rather than controlling. As leaders, our job isn’t to make all the decisions or even most of them. Our role is to: 1) have a clear rubric around decision making — where they get made, how they get made and who gets to make which ones 2) disseminate the power to decide throughout the org.

5) LEADERSHIP TEAM MEETINGS ARE STATUS REPORTS

Few of us look forward to meetings, especially when they’re a glorified status report. Nothing is more boring, or useless than a status report meeting for leaders. Meetings are tricky for most companies, none more than the leadership team. These gatherings are an expensive meeting, it’s essential we use it well. 

There are better ways to communicate status than an expensive live meeting. A leadership team that’s a status update indicates a lack of robust communication methods. We’re unclear about the expectations for communication. We don’t know what to communicate to who or the best place to share context, or ask questions.. We’re unclear about the rules for decision making. We’re not clear which ones get made in the functional areas vs as a leadership team. 

Leadership team meetings are a time to discuss organizational concerns, cross-functional initiatives, and talk through business strategy. When this smell pervades the leadership team, there’s a good chance you’re either not meeting business goals or you have burned out leaders.

Antidote: Be clear about the goal of each leadership team meeting and the outcomes you want to achieve. Have clear guidelines for communication and how decision making happens. Have clear structures for where to communicate what and how. 

6) BURNT OUT LEADERS

Sometimes leader burnout is individual – they haven’t learned how to handle the responsibility of leadership. Or they don’t know how to find balance between their role and their own well-being. Sometimes leaders just need a change. Too often though, organizational causes lurk unrecognized. This org smell can happen during critical periods like when the company is looking for product/market fit, when there are significant business challenges or changes or when scaling. Leader burnout can be caused by organizational dysfunction. We might be taking on too many initiatives. Another cause is a hyper-competent leader who’s too overloaded. Single leaders doing too much can also obscure a bigger organizational issue. We might not have the right people. The expectations might be too high for our current resources. A leader might be taking up the slack from other leaders. Two or more leaders on the edge of burning out is a strong indicator something is amiss. 

Org smells happen. Just about every company has had an org smell at one time. Leading a business is hard work. We juggle so many priorities. Conditions change and it takes time for issues to surface. There’s no shame if you notice one of these occurring — it’s just a sign to take a deeper look.

Antidote: Check in with the leaders on how they’re doing. See if you notice any patterns or more than one is at risk for burning out. Ask where they feel the most pressure. Are we taking on too many initiatives? Do we have the right people at the right levels doing the right things? 

7) SHUFFLING POOR PERFORMERS FROM TEAM TO TEAM 

Not every person hired will end up being a fit for the role or the company. Despite our best efforts, it happens. Someone’s performance or attitude may turn negative as they change roles or as the company shifts. This happens, especially in scaling companies. In companies with this org smell, rather than have the difficult performance conversations, team members are shuffled around. Sometimes moving someone to a different team does resolve a problem. Often it’s a form of avoidance, a game of hot potato. People missing the mark go to one team, then another.

Cultures with this particular org smell tend to be conflict avoidant. The standards for performance and behavior tends to be implicit rather than explicit. Lack of clear expectations makes managers and leaders struggle to deal with poor performers directly. They might doubt themselves or fear that if they manage others out they’ll be labeled as an ineffective leader or bad manager. Passing “performance problems” to other managers or leaders hides organizational problems — a lack of performance management at an organizational level or a highly conflict-avoidant culture.

Antidote: Strengthen performance management. Spending time on areas like role descriptions, standards of behavior. annual assessments, management training (effective 1:1s, giving feedback, conflict resolution, etc) will help the team stop playing “pass the performance problem” and resolve the situation much faster. 

8) A RISE IN NEGATIVE BEHAVIOR 

Sometimes we mis-hire or someone turns negative. This happens. We won’t always hire right. Sometimes as the business changes, a person who was the right fit isn’t any longer. Someone might struggle with the changes and become negative. It’s tempting to see poor behavior as only an individual problem. A rise in negative behavior may hint at underlying org issues. During a big push, the company may have taken on too much. The team is burning out. If they don’t know how to ask for help or feel like they’ll get it, negative behavior results. There’s less compassion, more blame, becoming more controlling. Or, the company has gone through a rapid scaling phase. We’re so busy hiring and reaching objectives, we’re stretched beyond our capacity. With so many new folks, we haven’t quite transmitted our values to them. We’re stressed so we’re extra snippy with each other. Once isolated negative behavior became contagious, it spreads across the organization shifting our culture. 

Antidote: When you see a rise in negative behavior (more than a couple of individuals), take a closer look. There’s likely a culture issue looming. The leaders may be too removed or not have enough context for what the team is experiencing. Recognizing that our culture has morphed allows us to begin to reset and rebuild.

9) MANAGERS…WHO DON’T WANT TO BE MANAGERS

We’ve likely all had a bad manager. While they bear responsibility for their behavior, organizational issues can exacerbate the problem. There may be an assumption baked into the culture that to grow or succeed, folks have to become a manager. This indicates organizational needs like developing career paths for experienced folks who don’t want to be managers. Along with it, compensation plans and promotion criteria. This surface indication can also point to a pipeline problem. Companies that are rapidly scaling can fall into this trap. Leaders were so focused on results they haven’t identified and built capacity in people who actually do want to become managers.

By the way, a culture of poor management is also an org smell. An over-emphasis on results, or an under-investment in the management layer likely causes. This reveals a need for better training, modeling desired behavior, and clear expectations for what good management looks like. If we’re over-emphasizing results we need to look at company priorities. There’s also an opportunity to review our culture.

Antidote: Stepping up performance management across the org will help address this smell. Creating clear managerial and non-managerial career tracks will give folks a chance to progress without feeling the need to take an ill-suited role. Make sure to review your compensation strategies for both types of roles. Make it culturally ok for managers to switch back to IC roles. 

10) “PRODUCTIVITY” PROBLEMS

The team isn’t shipping fast enough — features, campaigns, projects. We put in place new processes and productivity tools. This might improve productivity. It’s just as likely there’s a problem at the org level. We may be prioritizing short-term wins over long-term sustainability. For example, prioritizing short-term wins over and over results in technical debt. The team slogs through a brittle system that's ready to break at any moment. This smell might also be covering up a lack of prioritization. We’re taking on too much in too short a time frame. The team feels like a factory constantly working on overdrive. They become stretched and unable to deliver. Constant overwhelm is draining. High rates of turnover are sure to follow. Processes and tools are important, they won’t resolve a prioritization issue at the leadership layer. Saying yes to something means saying no to something else. When we forget this or don’t work together as a team to set priorities, productivity problems arise. When we aren’t achieving goals, rather than calling out individual performance, we need to look at our business and org strategies.

Antidote: Huddle with the leadership team to review the business strategy. Do you have the right goals at the right timeframe? How do this strategy match up with the organizational strategy? Do you have the right people in the right roles? What org structures need to change? 

Want to learn how Constellary can help your company address org smells? Schedule a complimentary call.