Why Your Ways of Working Aren't Working

Too many teams are working harder than ever, and still not making meaningful progress.

They’re told to follow the process (if it’s even documented), join all the ceremonies, attend quarterly planning, and track their timesheets. But the outcomes? Still flat.

Morale is down. Frustration is high. And trust? Missing.

It becomes a cycle: more pressure, less progress. Teams often feel stuck, disillusioned, and unsure about the purpose of their efforts.

Just following the steps isn’t enough anymore.

What’s broken isn’t the team (it’s the system they’re trapped in)

Think of all the “new ways of working” we’ve seen rolled out… Too often, they’re just layered on top of old, broken processes.

You’ve probably seen it too, the ‘agile refresh’ that’s really just new labels on the same old mess. With clunky tools, half-used frameworks, and teams stretched across three projects each, it’s no wonder nothing sticks!

Everyone is busy, exhausted, and stuck in a decision-making limbo.

Your "Way of Working" isn’t broken because your team doesn’t get it. It’s broken because the system it lives in doesn’t support it.

Old ways of working hinder productivity, stifle innovation, and erode engagement. I would like to challenge you to compare your annual employee satisfaction surveys and look to resolve every identified inefficiency. Sometimes, the solution starts with simply acknowledging the problem.

Identifying and addressing inefficiencies is crucial to creating an adaptable organisation capable of achieving sustained success.

Want success that lasts? It needs to scale without burning everyone out.

Your teams can’t do it alone.

3 Common Signs Your Way of Working Is Misaligned

1. You’re managing delivery, but not outcomes. Metrics are tracked, but no one’s sure if they’re tied to real customer value. One team tracked every hour of work, but no one used the data to improve anything. Another had a Scrum Master who just moved tickets between sprints in front of the team, like a ceremony with no meaning.

2. You have autonomy, but no alignment. Teams are told to be self-organising, yet leadership hasn’t clearly said why or toward what. You believe you understand what your main priorities should be, but when it’s not your boss's favourite initiative, you are requested to shift your focus.

3. You’ve standardised the process but killed learning. Rigid governance and compliance remove the very feedback loops that agility depends on. You know when you can’t ‘ship’ anything without four levels of approval and 15 slide packs.

It's Not the Teams, It's the System

At AMO, we always start with discovery. Why? Because until you name the root causes, you’ll just keep treating symptoms. We’ve walked into hundreds of planning rooms where the deck is clean but the backlog is chaos.

Here are the top 3 systemic issues we see most often:

1. Overload Without Prioritisation

• "Too much work given to people"

• "It’s chaos, we are 100% reactive"

• "Projects are thrown at employees"

• "We need to prioritise"

Organisations routinely take on more work than their capacity allows, without clear mechanisms for prioritising based on value or strategic fit. This leads to:

• Reactive, chaotic environments

• Burnout and frustration

• No room to say no or defer

• Everything is priority one

2. Lack of Visibility and Resource Management

• "No one knows who's doing what and when"

• "No real workforce management"

• "We don’t have anyone to manage the operational issues"

 A fundamental gap exists in workforce visibility, and teams don’t know:

• What’s in flight

• What’s coming

• Who’s available to do it

It leads to constant firefighting and last-minute decisions.

Most projects kick off assuming BAU resources will ‘just be available’ — even when they won’t.

The same thinking is occurring across dozens of other teams simultaneously.

3. Misaligned or Broken Intake & Governance Processes

• "Shadow IT is a concern"

• "There is no funding envelope"

• "Need one door to prioritise projects"

• "No pipeline from Senior Leadership"

Many organisations suffer from fragmented or non-existent intake and governance. Despite thinking they have something efficient in place. The consequences include:

• Rogue projects launched without oversight

• Scattered prioritisation by function, not enterprise

• Projects missing business cases or strategic rationale

• Delayed or politicised funding decisions

Your intake process isn’t just about your internal work; it affects your partners, suppliers, and everyone downstream.

The Invisible Loop Undermining Progress

These three issues are interconnected.

Without a good intake, you can’t prioritise. Without prioritisation, you overload people. Without resource visibility, you don’t know the impact.

If this sounds familiar, good. It means you’re not imagining it, and it means you can fix it.

So What Actually Works?

Executive decision-makers have the power to influence how work is actually accomplished.

Fix the real blockers, and adaptability follows.

Spot the inefficiencies. Tackle them fast.

That’s how you build momentum.

Here are three essential shifts I see working inside high-performing organisations:

• Feedback at every level: not just retros, but at the strategy table

• Alignment on outcomes: clarity on what success actually looks like

• Trust in capability: move from managing work to enabling learning

Want real-world examples of how organisations are addressing these and are closing “The Execution Gap”, not just talking about it?

I break it down in this week’s Substack Post → [Your Way of Working Isn't Working]

If this sounds like your team, you're not alone.

I’ve helped leaders and teams untangle these very problems: from overload and broken intake to invisible blockers across the org.

👉 If you're facing any of these challenges and want help closing your Execution Gap, please drop me a message or leave a comment. Let's talk.

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