Your team stopped telling you what's broken. Here's why.
Every workaround in your business is information about something that isn't working. Most of it never gets reported.
The shadow spreadsheet. The phone call made because the notification can't be trusted. The colleague who just remembers which customers need special handling, because the system has nowhere to put it. These are workarounds, and they're the clearest signal you'll ever get that a process is broken.
So why doesn't anyone mention them? It's rarely about loyalty or effort. It's usually one of three things.
1. It stopped feeling like a problem
A workaround done every day for two years becomes part of the job. Ask people what slows them down and they won't list it, because to them it's simply how things are done.
2. Reporting it never changed anything
If someone raised an issue before and nothing happened, they learned from it. Building their own fix felt quicker than asking again. The silence often comes from good people trying to be helpful.
3. The workaround became theirs
Whoever built the workaround is now the only one who understands it. That can feel like security, and nobody wants to hand over the thing that makes them needed.
How to find them
- Watch someone do a real task from start to finish, without helping.
- Count how many apps, files and screens they switch between.
- Listen for "I just...". It almost always comes right before a workaround.
- Ask what happens when they're off.
- Ask what they'd fix if they had a free afternoon.
What to do when you find one
Treat it as evidence, not a confession. Every workaround fills a gap the official process left open. Ask what the gap is, then fix the gap properly so the workaround isn't needed any more.
And say thank you. When people see that pointing out a problem leads to a fix and not a telling-off, they'll show you the rest.