The Kueh Lapis Syndrome

Last week (9-11 Nov 2017) Heraeus Asia Pacific Holding (HSL) had our teambuilding and KAIZEN convention at Grand Lagoi Village, Bintan, Indonesia. On the last day, many of our employees bought boxes of Kueh Lapis! Kueh Lapis (or “spekoek” in Indonesian) is a Malay cake that is made up of thin alternating layers of flour, butter, eggs and sugar, piled on top of each other.

Each layer is made by pouring a small amount of batter into a baking tin, which is then put into an oven and grilled from above until the layer has turned golden from the heat. The tin is then removed from the oven and the process repeated to build up the remaining layers. Baking it requires patience and is a very labor-intensive process. (source: Wikipedia). It is very similar to the French version of gateau mille crepes.

We love to bake kueh lapis at work as well! At the organizational level, we create layers of “checks and balances” in order to give ourselves a sense of security which ultimately looks like a kueh lapis! Sometimes a simple approval needs more than four signatures. Alternatively, we try to solve “world hunger” by coming up with all kinds of features until we inadvertently created a monster system.

In the fast paced global economy today, organization needs to have the agility to take advantage of the slightest opportunity. If an organization is buried under layers of protocol, it may run the risk of not being able to quickly react to disruptive environmental changes.

The focus then must be to remove “layers” of policies, steps, etc to make it simple for our people. You can almost gauge the age of an organization by the layers of policies/procedures that lies on top of one another. Sometimes it feels like looking at the rings of a tree to determine the age! We need to find ways of making our processes more efficient.

One of the root causes of waste (or “muda” in Japanese) in the human resource organization is often due to the kueh lapis syndrome. This happens when we add a layer of policy on top of an existing policy. This is usually because we don’t have the courage to carry out the first layer of policy. Over time, we inadvertently add more and more policies on top of one another.

Common sense tells us that adding more layers would require more resources and make us less efficient but this is usually attributed to some very “logical” reasons at that point in time.

Case-in-Point: Locking the Gym Door

Some years ago, I was involved in a leadership discussion where we were informed that our employees are found to be sneaking into our in-house gym to take a snooze. The suggestion was lock the gym room. Thereafter, any employee who wants to use the gym will have to go to the security guard house to check out the keys and fill out the logbook.

What was going through my mind was:

Layer (Level) 1: Employees should not be caught sleeping during office hours.

Layer (Level) 2: Lock the Gym Door

Layer (Level) 3: Keys needs to be checked out of the security office

Layer (Level) 4: Employees need to fill out the gym log book

Layer (Level) 5: Security personnel needs to manage the management of the gym keys

The problem with these layers of policy is that 99.99% of our employees do not have the freedom to access the gym at all times. The inconveniences of going down to the guard house as well as returning the keys. What is more important is to work on Layer (Level) 1. There is already a code of conduct that is clear to all employees. If any employees chooses to sleep in the gym during their work hours, then they are taking a huge risk of getting caught. 

Key Points

1. We must first to review the first layer of policy. Ask why it was not effective rather than rushing off to create another layer of policy. Sometimes the first layer could also mean that we accept the fact that we will never get a “perfect” system but one that will undergo progressive changes.
2. There are times when a simple visual reminder to the employees is sufficient and not go down the path of creating another layer of policy.
3. Review all the existing HR policies and identify opportunities to make it simpler for our people.
4. Take the opportunity to find a solution that will enhance user experience as an outcome of the improvement.
5. Take your time in ensuring that you have recruited the right people in leadership position. Those that remove “layers” and not add more!

Raymund Chua is the Managing Director for Heraeus Materials Singapore Pte Ltd, Head of Regional Center for Heraeus Asia Pacific Holding as well as Head of HR, Asia Pacific for Heraeus Asia Pacific Holding.  His experiences spans across multiple disciplines: business strategy, culture, leadership, organizational design, human resource, and HR. Ray is an advocate of “communities of practices”. Ray is also the inventor of the HRGame as well as a coach. Ray can be contacted via Linkedin or [email protected]

Disclaimer: This is a personal linkedin blog. The opinions expressed here represent my own and not those of my employer.