Successful organizations all have well-established routines for getting things done. The task may be as lofty as acquiring a competitor or as prosaic as filling out a time sheet, but if you look closely, you’ll find a reliable process to guide you through it. These routines are often taken for granted in stable periods. However, they tend to break down when a company faces high levels of uncertainty or needs to move quickly in a crisis. Organizations scramble to make adjustments on the fly—with varying degrees of success. Before the next crisis hits, it’s wise to spend time thinking systematically about the granular nuts-and-bolts processes you use—and to experiment with alternatives.
A version of this article appeared in the November–December 2020 issue of Harvard Business Review.
