The Sanford Berenberg Experience: Message of the Day: "Orders Be Damned!"

Good Morning,

Those who know me know that I have a tendency to be unconventional, out of the box…very out of the box…thinker. This different approach to life is both a blessing and curse in that I can often see things that others miss and at the same time there are things right in front of my face which I can be oblivious to. And to those of you who have often showed me what was dangling in plain sight, I thank you. (no matter how much I may have grumbled at you at the time).

One thing that I have noticed and is that when we look at rules we each see them differently. Some see rules as the unchangeable path that must be taken and there are those who look beyond the letter of the law to the spirit. That is, we look at why the rule or law was made and what would constitute the following of it, or achieving the goal.

Currently I am listening to a historical novel called ‘To Try Men’s Souls’ by Newt Gingrich and in one part Thomas Paine (if you don’t know who he was, Google him), was walking into Trenton, NJ with orders to cross into Pennsylvania and go to Philadelphia. A curmudgeon of a solder on duty stopped him and asked him for his orders, which Tom did not have, as they were given to him verbally by General Washington, and what regiment he was with. Tom’s regiment had long since disbanded months ago. The soldier on duty was going to arrest Tom Paine as a deserter without so much as thinking through the situation. For example, why would a deserter fall in with the Army? Etc.

It made me think of the folks I have encountered through my life who also sticklers for the rules. And yes, I know there are times where rules are to be followed without question, when failure to do so could cause life or limb. But, in the many cases when following the rules with blind faith actually causes more harm than good.

When people are given rules to follow, they should be allowed to understand the why the rule is in effect, or otherwise they are to work more or less like automatons. And in that case, those jobs will be going overseas as managers can train automatons in just about any country for less money than in the USA.

People thinking beyond the basic rules to the why they are important and then allowing them some wiggle room to be creative in accomplishing those goals would make a company or organization more productive and I dare say more successful.

A former boss wanted all of his staff to work like entrepreneurs where each customer was not the company’s customer, but rather that employee’s own customer. That they should work to provide satisfactory service, but yet, not so much by being a robot, but taking initiative when needed and going the extra mile. Those who embraced this methodology would consistently get better customer satisfaction scores and perform better, knowing the meaning to their job and what difference it makes.

If we are looking to improve ourselves, then we must be willing to look beyond the rules of the day and see what is truly needed and wanted. And managers, if you want a crackerjack team of top producing entrepreneurs, you need to relax your grip and allow your people some freedoms to see beyond the black and white of rules and policy, while not letting them get too loose. You will have to find your balance, but if you at least give it a try, you should see some improvement. You know, after the initial shock of shaking things up.

Please realize this is not a call for anarchy, rather a call to allow us to improve ourselves, our teams, our organizations and our world by making each of us a better person. Something that is a lot harder to outsource or offshore.

Seth Godin says it best in his book “Lynchpin: Are You Indispensible?” (http://www.amazon.com/Linchpin-Are-Indispensable-Seth-Godin/dp/1591843162) how and why to take ourselves to the next level within the organizations we work with.

Enjoy!

Sanford Berenberg

Sanford@berenberg.net
http://www.berenberg.net

http://sanfordberenberg.blogspot.com/
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