If one looks at society over the past few years, it is evident that the number of rules for simply navigating life have expanded exponentially. This includes everything from suspending second graders for wearing plastic soldiers on a hat to banning cupcakes in New York City schools.
While some claim that this so-called social engineering is good for those in the affected groups, I have to wonder about why we seem to be removing reasoning from everyday life. The more rules we put in place, the more rules we seem to need to clarify the rules we’ve put in place.
Philip Howard, author of The Death of Common Sense, maintains that the framers of our constitution made it intentionally vague to force citizens to use reasoning and consensus to work things out. Has society evolved since revolutionary times? Yes.
But have these changes required all the rules, regulations and policies currently in place? I don’t believe it for a minute, especially when most of them are not enforced consistently in the first place.
Over the years, many workplaces as well have succumbed to this same practice. Organizations no longer tell employees to do what they think is best. Now’s there’s set of rules and regulations for every task, major and minor. It’s as if we don’t trust anyone to use their common sense.
Here’s the problem. . . IF WE TELL THEM NOT TO, THEY WON’T! But then we can’t complain that they’re not using their common sense. While this obviously has an impact on those who remember a different time, I wonder about the development of those who have entered a workplace already filled with regulations that guide their every move.
Managers comment me all the time that “these kids” have no common sense, yet they continue to imbue those they supervise with a belief that doing something not listed in the manual is a no-no. How can we expect young people to develop critical thinking skills if we don’t force them to do so? So what to do?
First, stop and think before you issue more rules and regs. If you set an expectation that the people who report to you should think for themselves, most will, if they feel that they can trust your word and rely on you for support. A few will have to be pushed out of the nest, but over time they will get it as well or they’ll find a more rulesy place to work. You didn’t need them anyway. They are sand in the gears of productivity.
Second, ask your people to go on a search-and-destroy mission to route out unnecessary policies and practices. You might even hold a ceremony, as some companies have done, and burn these policies in a can behind the building. If you’re in charge, it all comes down to you. So, what’s your choice. . . reasoning or rules?