If you know me, you probably have realized that I’m a rather chaotic person. I don’t believe that much in rules to help myself, and others, keep things in their right place. Whenever somebody tries to impose a rule on me, I reject it at once (even though I might consider following it later). This behavior has got me into trouble many times, especially with my parents, teachers and bosses.
However, I’ve never felt this is a wrong attitude towards life. Quite the opposite, I have always listened this inner voice telling me “Accept no rules!”
If you don’t know me, maybe you’re starting to think I’m an anarchic punk going around doing whatever I want. Nonetheless, you wouldn’t be more mistaken.
I just feel that following rules imply that I’m stupid.
This morning, I was watching one of those TED Talks that just made too much sense. This time, it was Barry Schwartz, a professor who studies the link between economics and psychology, offering startling insights into modern life. At the time, he is studying wisdom.
During the presentation, he describes practical wisdom as the ability to “not follow” the rules.
Voilá! I might be wiser than I thought.
Professor Schwartz talks through a very simple yet powerful concept. Very often, in situations where human beings are involved, rules are not enough in order to perform correctly. Especially at unexpected deviations from the usual path, people needs the ability to act either against the rules or in spite to the lack of any. Wise people are the ones who make good decisions when there’s no precedent rule to follow. Furthermore, wise people are the ones that are able to break the rules whenever they think it’s for the best.
But it seems most traditional organizations don’t quite get it.
A smart organization has little to no rules. People in the organization are hired not only because they’re talented, but because they are good decision makers. On a daily basis, they are encouraged to make decisions, and either they win or fail, they are encouraged to learn from the process in order to improve their “decision making algorithm”. In the long run, this sort of players perform better than their “overruled peers”. People that makes decision becomes wiser by the minute, while people that follow rules become dumber in the same way.
Why?
Because rules are a way to keep people off thinking. Rules, in essence are a set of pre-defined decisions in the fashion of “If A happens, do B” or “Every time you see F, stop, F is a sign of danger”. Hence, people that follow rules are told that they are not intelligent enough to figure things out by themselves. As if that wasn’t bad enough, that thought is reinforced over and over again by their lack of decision making per se.
If you want to have a team that performs better day after day, rule against rules. Just write on stone that the only rule of the team is that there are no rules. Instead of making complex mechanisms to control people’s decisions, empower them to build upon their decision engine.
This is done through a couple of things:
Number one. Do whatever you need to teach, practice, preach, live, breath and eat morale. Morale is the most important virtue in life. Morale drives people to make things not just because there’s a profit after, but because it’s right. Morale helps every single individual, not to know, but to decide whether something is right or wrong. If people learn to make this decision, the rest of the way if a newly-paved six-lane downhill road.
Number two. Do whatever you need to let your peers decide and learn. Failure will be all around, especially at the beginning. But, trust me on this one. If people are let free to make their own decisions and learn from them, they will improve their algorithm until they’re as wise as Confucius (or at least close).
Does it work only with teams? No. I actually works with every kind of human form of organization. It’s even valid for society in the broadest sense. The education system should be more comprehensive in terms of “wisdom enhancement”. Let’s just assume that the younger the people are exposed to this sort of learning, the wiser they’ll be in life.
Interesting to know.
Rules are good, but common sense is a million times better.