Human dynamics are an interesting scenario in all company configurations. Systems are beautiful when they do not have people milling about to mess them up. We design systems to try and control the messy methods people use to do the things they want to do. We have set times we are supposed to report to work for a reason, if it was a voluntary process, most would not come early to open the business up each day. Some employees might wander in at 9 A.M., some at 10 A.M. and even others might never make it to work before noon. That is exactly why we develop systems. People need to be governed.
We place stop signs on streets we want more safety to exist. We want to make sure people do not use the voluntary method for making their decisions about stopping or not. We would prefer they stop at busy intersections and make sure it is safe to cross the intersecting roads. We use written rules of conduct also to help our stop signs do their work. We make sure every driver learns how to 'take turns' with other drivers so we can share the intersection with other drivers in a civil way. We need these systems to get us all in line with cooperation. Think deeper about this human need.
When you drive on a street with no stop signs in sight, what speed do you travel? You likely travel at the speed the posted allowance permits. If the road allows you to drive 25 miles per hour, you drive 28 miles per hour, right? I do. If the road allows you to drive 35 miles per hour, you hold it at 38 miles per hour...right? It is just enough out side of the rules to satisfy you for being 'uncontrolled' but just close enough to avoid getting a ticket and a fine. We hate rules. We hate being told how to do what we want to do. I set my speed control on my automobile at about 3 to 4 miles per hour over the freeway speed limit. Everybody passes me on that freeway. I never get a chance to pass anybody, they all drive faster than I do. That is the truth. Yet when a highway patrolman is sitting along side the road with a radar gun looking for speeders, everyone of those drivers slow down so much that I am able to pass a few of them during that stretch of road. I never touch my controls. I am not going to get a ticket for traveling three miles per hour over the speed limit. Every other driver on the road slows down below the actual speed limit to 'give the impression' that they are compliant drivers when an officer is present. It is a 100% experience.
When each of us drives on a road with no stop signs, we set our speed just above the speed limit. Not once do we slow down at all of the intersections to see if someone else going the other direction is planning to run right out in front of our path. When we have no stop signs we assume they do. We travel 38 miles per hour in a 35 mile per hour roadway. We do not slowdown at every single intersection along that road. Could you imagine what it would be like if there were no stop signs? The drivers going the other directions are doing the same as you, going 38 miles per hour in a 35 mile per hour zone...not slowing down at the intersections like you are doing? We do not permit humans to use the voluntary method for crossing through road intersections. Nobody would slow down or stop for someone else. Could you imagine what a mess our roadways would be if all intersections in the world were permitted to be traveled through on the honor system? What a nightmare! I know for me, if I have no stop signs in front of me, I am going. I don't know about you, but no stop signs mean I can go and keep my speed.
Now you see why we have rules of conduct at work. They are placed in action for a very good reason. We cheat. Everyone of us, cheats. We stretch the rules and we 'press' our luck because we know we can 'get away with' a lot of stretching efforts. If lunch is 30 minutes, and we do not have to punch a time clock, we sometimes take 33 minutes. We do not record that extra three minutes in our personal time log. We want paid for the whole time we 'must' be at work. We cheat. We have no problem with that. Our driving management proves that truth.
We also get wicked off when we get caught cheating. It sets us off in the wrong way. We develop a sour disposition with the one who caught us. We treat the ones who catch us as if they are our enemies. We really get more displeased with the people who turn us in that are not policeman or supervisors. If a fellow employee rats on us about our long lunches we are more troubled with that than if a supervisor catches us red handed. We especially do not like it when a fellow employee takes the company rules in their own hands and begins to govern how we are supposed to act. They are not our supervisor! They have no right to tell us how to follow the rules. The only person that can tell us how to follow the rules is a supervisor!
We also do not like it when other drivers take the rules in their own hands as they begin to govern how we are breaking the rules. Sometimes they close the gaps between the cars lined up in a slowing lane to refuse someone passing all of them on the right who is trying to move up to the front to get a better position in the slowing line. Many other drivers become controllers of the road when that happens. We hate them more than we hate the policemen. I have actually witnessed two truckers get side by side in both lanes blocking the cheaters in the right hand lane from driving up the open right hand lane to get ahead in the line where the traffic is coming into one lane up ahead. Those cheaters get furious at those truckers. I have watched a lot of road rage when other drivers try to control the cheaters on the road. Those cheaters do not act that foolish way in front of a policeman.
Human dynamics are an interesting scenario in all company configurations. Systems are beautiful when they do not have people milling about to mess them up. We design systems to try and control the messy methods people use to do the things they want to do. We have set rules in place to help our world get along better. If it were left up to us, instead of the governed rules...we might go astray and make a real mess of what we are trying to do.
There is a limit, however. Sometimes we govern things that do not need to be governed. Why should I get rid of my incandescent light bulbs? Why should I have safety spouts on my lawn mower gas can? Why should I have land use limits on what I can sell from my home? Why do I need someone to regulate where I can place a commercial sign? Why am I not allowed to bring in my own flavor of beer to a sporting facility? Why do I need to refrain from operating a gambling program in the basement of my home?
The reason why we have so many really stupid laws and rules is that we just cannot be trusted to govern ourselves. We cheat. Everyone of us cheats! We may not cheat as much as some do, but we all cheat. We cheat on our time cards, we cheat on our taxes, we cheat with our driving, and we cheat in our conversations with others. We cheat.
A few years ago I was working with a few business owners on some marketing developments in a large city. We devoted almost the whole day to the work we were trying to do. When we were finished planning we needed to go to another facility to wrap up the work we were doing. We car pooled our way back to the other facility. We decided to stop at a small diner to get some milkshakes as a part of our celebration for completing the first step of this project. I offered the stop as well as to buy. Everyone went to the little diner. When the milkshakes were made and the clerk totaled the bill I got my money out and paid. As I was walking away, I turned to the register clerk and asked him for the cash receipt. He had already closed the ticket down on the computer and so he handed me a blank receipt from the wooden tray on the counter next to his register. It was obvious he has done this step more than once in the past. He handed me the blank receipt and said, "Here is a blank one for you, go ahead and put any amount on it you would like so you can deduct more than what you paid!" This diner was a place noted for gathering a lot of local businessman to do business. A tray of blank receipts was sitting next to the register for the advantage of writing in a larger amount than what was really paid! The owner of this establishment obviously found a little marketing niche! I asked the register clerk, as he was walking away, to please print up "my" receipt for me. As he turned he said, "Go ahead, take one of those blank receipts, nobody will know." My face went stoned cold as my eyebrows lifted all the way up. "I would like my receipt, " I said. He seemed miffed a little bit as he came back to the register and pushed the keys on the register just a little bit stronger than before. He retrieved my original receipt. As he pulled up my original receipt I decided to bring him up to speed. He obviously did not know about the Real Boss. Not the boss he had in the back room. The Boss that governs all of us and all of our actions. I said, "Young man, the only one I care about knows I would be cheating. I could not give a rip what anyone else thinks. You better get that one in direct alignment if you expect some better results! Thank you." As I turned to walk away I noticed the shocked faces on the businessmen I was traveling with at that moment. I then continued with what I was teaching, "I see some of you practice losing, also." I moved past the small group of businessmen I was working with and headed them out of the diner to go to our next stop. Learn how to become part of the solution...not part of the problem. Develop more courage to do the right things, all of the time.
We cheat. Sometimes we have no problem becoming part of the problem and we actually work hard to refuse strongly to become part of the solution. Gain more courage in who you are and learn how to quit cheating yourselves. That is why we have stupid rules. Trust me, the stupid rules will never come to an end.
Until next time...
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