Some workplace problems are called complex because a simple explanation would make someone responsible.

A team is underperforming. Trust is collapsing. Decisions keep getting delayed. So, leadership begins expanding the explanation.

It’s cultural. It’s structural. It’s communication. It’s competing priorities.

Some of that may be true, but all of the reasons are useful because once the problem becomes broad enough, no one has to own it. Responsibility gets spread across so many factors that the organization can keep studying the issue without requiring anyone specific to fix it.

That’s how complexity becomes protection. A problem can be systemic and still be maintained by people. It can have multiple causes and still have a primary one.

The useful question isn’t whether the problem is complicated. It’s whether the complexity is helping the organization act or helping it avoid the conclusion.

References: Weakland J. Myths about brief therapy; myths of brief therapy. In: Brief Therapy: Myths, Methods, and Metaphors. Routledge; 1990:100-108.

Post Title: Some workplace problems are called complex because a simple explanation would make someone responsible.

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