How To: Navigate Bureaucracy

How To: Navigate Bureaucracy

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All the technology that’s targeted to simplify and streamline our lives has yet to put a dent in the convoluted system of bureaucracy. If anything, red tape is on the rise as corporate conglomerations demand more and more tracking systems, policies and paperwork — all of which is cresting into a pernicious wave of procedural hierarchy that makes it difficult to navigate bureaucracy.

The term bureaucracy comes from the French and the Greek and loosely means “the power of the workplace” or “rule by office.” It is hard to argue with the monopoly that those civilizations have on bureaucracy, but it’s harder to hope things will ever get any better. Broadly speaking, bureaucracies provide goods and services, yet, at least with regard to government agencies, they have no competition the way most such providers do.

Without a healthy dose of competition, bureaucracies lack the incentive to increase their efficiency. This is even true in the private sector, where banks, insurance companies, and ISPs are notorious for almost as much bureaucratic nonsense as their public counterparts. When all is said and done, it is difficult for the common man to navigate bureaucracy.

They all may lack a reason to be more efficient, but you certainly don’t, and the faster you can get through this tangled web, the better. The following tips are aimed to help you instill that missing sense of efficiency and better navigate bureaucracy — whether you’re clearing up a benefits issue, obtaining a passport or careening through a dozen extensions trying to file an insurance claim.

Obtain paperwork ahead of time

Even in our paperless age, if you peek inside the bureaucratic body, you will find paperwork pumping through the blood vessels. Bureaucrats seem to have a pressing need to hand, pass, check, approve, and file sheets of paper — they can’t function without their forms.

So, the first thing you can do to navigate bureaucracy more easily is to accept that paperwork is their game. If you’re trying to go from A to D, accept the fact that this will require forms B and C. Odds are good that, no matter what the agency does or represents, they have their forms available online. Print and fill out as many of the necessary forms as you can find; this will accelerate the process and help you navigate bureaucracy down the road.

If the forms are not available online, plan to swing by the office or the agency with the primary purpose of picking up the proper forms. While you’re there, take note of the time and day you arrived, and how busy or crowded it was for future reference.

Write legibly on forms

It seems simple, but poor penmanship is more than just frustrating, it can seriously disable the process and it’s a tremendous waste of everyone’s time. The bureaucrat will lose precious time trying to decipher it, and worse still, he may enter the information incorrectly or reject it altogether, which is a poor way to navigate bureaucracy. If the information that he enters is incorrect or if he throws it out, you’ll have to repeat the step.

Furthermore, you do not want to reach the front of a long line and be the one handing the bureaucrat an illegible mess. This will assuredly tick him off and you’ll need a rabbit's foot to get him to help you out.

Target agency downtime

Even the most notorious bureaucracies, such as government agencies that issue permits and licenses, have times during the day when the lines aren’t out the door. If possible, navigate bureaucracy and call ahead to ask someone when the slowest times of the day are.

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