Systems and traditions, policies, and rules are only as rigid as those enforcing them.
TL;DR - Discover the cause of your organization's rules, then assess if they are still valid to you your organization. Adjust as necessary
Often we forget that the systems, procedures, and rules we follow were written by people at a specific point in time, that we all agree to abide by them, and if need be they can all be rewritten.
I’ve had a lot of jobs over the years and one of my favorites was in a bakery attached to a craft brewery. I learned a ton about myself, my work ethic, my creative process, and working with others and on my own. I ended up creating an awarding winning donut recipe with a colleague. The head of the bakery was Pat the baker man, Pat is still baking but that particular bakery is no more.
One of the stories Pat would tell to new hires was about his mom’s roast recipe. It began with “cut the ends off the roast…” For years he would follow that recipe to make his roast and would start by cutting the ends off the roast. One day he had company over for a dinner party. He and one of his coworkers were chatting while he got dinner ready and they asked why he was cutting the ends off the roast. He didn’t have an answer other than “that’s how I always do it.” His coworker's question stuck with him and eventually, he called his mom to see if she could remember the reason they always cut the ends off the roast. “Yeah I remember, I always did our roast in an 8-inch pan but the butcher sold them 12 inches long. I cut the ends off so it would fit in the pan.” he had been cutting good meat off of roasts for years without ever knowing the reason. He used this story to let new employees know that asking questions was good. He expected us to ask why certain things were the way they were and to come up with better solutions.
Every organization has these kinds of rules. Ones that served a purpose when they were implemented but are no longer useful.
When we take the time to look at the systems, procedures, and rules in our organizations and find out why they were created, evaluate if they are still useful, and implement changes where necessary our people are freed from miles of pointless red tape.
‘But,’ you might ask, ‘we can’t take the time to go through ALL of our rules.’
I would argue that you really can’t afford to not. Maybe set a pattern where things are evaluated once every couple of years. However, an incredibly good indicator that some change is necessary is your emotions. If you have a negative internal reaction to having to enforce a rule it is a good sign that something needs to change.
It was commonplace in business to divorce people from their emotions in the name of corporate practice. It framed emotions as weakness and stoicism as logical strength. Since then we have learned that our emotions are an important part of who we are as whole beings. They are our body's way of communicating with us. The work we need to do is to figure out what is evoking the emotions we are feeling and address the core issue. Not to silence a crucial part of our identity. If a system, procedure, or rule causes anxiety, sadness, or anger it is time to take a closer look and make some adjustments.
These rules were written by people, and are enforced by people. They can also be changed by people.
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