We are sabotaging our own workplaces (accidentally)

Editor’s Note: In 1944, the Office of Strategic Services published a manual on how ordinary citizens could quietly sabotage organisations. Eighty years later, many of its tactics have become standard corporate practice — often unintentionally. This essay explores what that manual reveals about modern work, and how organisations can begin releasing the friction that slows them down.

How to Accidentally Sabotage a Company (and What It Teaches Us About Work)

I have a tendency to wander down rabbit holes on Friday evenings. Newsletters, obscure resources, random PDFs — curiosity tends to pull me in.

Last Friday was no different.
Somewhere between scrolling and half-hearted productivity, I stumbled across something remarkable: The Simple Sabotage Field Manual, published by the Office of Strategic Services (later to become the CIA) in 1944 and declassified in 2008.

It is, quite literally, a guide to quietly sabotaging organisations.

And as I read it, I couldn’t help but think: this reads like a modern corporate ways-of-working handbook.

Not because organisations are malicious.
But because many everyday practices — well-intentioned — produce the same outcomes as deliberate sabotage.

As you read this, think about your own organisation.
How many of these behaviours feel familiar?

Cultivated Notes are short visual companions to the work.
Some are reflective, others are practical.
You can watch the note below, or read on to explore this idea.

Use Channels. Never Shortcuts.

“Insist on doing everything through ‘channels.’ Never permit shortcuts to be taken.”

The bureaucracy trap.
RACIs, RAPIDs, operating models, decision frameworks — until nobody can actually decide anything.

One person technically has the “D”, but cannot use it because someone senior might disagree.

Decision-making becomes drama.

Talk Endlessly

“Make speeches. Talk as frequently as possible and at great length.”

Communication masquerading as productivity.

Meetings, updates, town halls, decks — activity everywhere, clarity nowhere.
Talking is not communication.

Sometimes, it’s sabotage with a human voice.

Refer Everything to Committees

“Refer all matters to committees… make the committees as large as possible.”

Committees are where good ideas go to be neutralised.
The larger the group, the safer everyone feels
— and the slower everything moves.

Haggle Over Words

“Haggle over precise wordings of communications.”

Minor edits. Endless opinions. Death by comments.
Precision matters — but perfectionism on trivialities kills momentum.

Keep Reopening Decisions

“Refer back to matters decided upon at the last meeting.”

Re-litigation as a management style.
Nothing ever finishes.
Everything is provisional.
Progress becomes optional.

Advocate Caution at All Costs

“Urge your fellow-conferees to avoid haste.”

Risk avoidance framed as professionalism.
Speed framed as recklessness.
Slow becomes virtuous.
Competitors rarely agree.

Insist on Perfection in Low-Value Work

“Insist on perfect work in relatively unimportant products.”

Perfection is noble — when it matters.
When applied everywhere, it becomes a sophisticated way to avoid shipping.

Reward Mediocrity

“Be pleasant to inefficient workers; give them undeserved promotions.”

Few things sabotage morale faster.
High performers notice.

They either disengage — or leave.

Demand Written Orders

“Demand written orders.”

No initiative. No judgement. No responsibility.
Work becomes a permission economy.

Ask Endless Questions

“Ask endless questions.”

Questions create clarity — until they create paralysis.
Some people specialise in freezing organisations with endless questions.

Ensure Multiple Approvals

“See that three people have to approve everything where one would do.”

Three approvals, zero progress.
Governance as a brake pedal.

We Are Doing This to Ourselves

What struck me most is how normal these sabotage tactics feel.
None are malicious. Most are framed as best practice.

Caution. Inclusion. Governance. Thoroughness.
All reasonable in isolation.

Catastrophic in aggregate.

Old Tactics. Modern Consequences

Organisations that institutionalise these behaviours tend to:

• Overvalue process over outcome
• Reward activity over impact
• Mistake caution for competence
• Believe slowness equals safety

In reality, they slow themselves out of relevance.

Sabotage Without Intent

The most unsettling lesson is this:
You don’t need malicious actors to sabotage an organisation.
You just need enough well-meaning people following poorly designed systems.

What To Do Instead

1. Notice where work slows for no strategic reason.
2. Challenge committees, approvals, perfectionism, and pseudo-roles.
3. Act by simplifying, empowering, clarifying, and shipping sooner.

Every organisation ships value or ships sabotage.
Most do both.

A Cultivated View

The 1944 sabotage manual is not a historical curiosity.
It is a mirror.

It shows how easily organisations drift from purpose into performance acting and going through the motions.
How easily good intentions become friction.
And how business agility is not about frameworks — it is about removing invisible brakes.

Once you see sabotage patterns, you cannot unsee them.
And once you see them, you can begin releasing them.