Are we getting too obsessed with rules?
Now, I’m a good girl (to start with)! I will follow rules and processes to the letter to start with and feel very guilty if I accidentally break a rule when I am first introduced to whatever rule it is.
But, as time goes by and I know the reason why the rule is there, what it’s benefit is etc, I will sometimes make an informed decision to break it if I think the rule is a detriment to progression and I can confidently defend my decision to break it.
I agree that rules and processes are important – I don’t like chaos, I like things to be ‘tidy’. They are usually there for a reason. The right rules will keep things consistent and a project without good processes will be inefficient (believe me, I have personal experience of this right now).
But sometimes, I think someone gets a bit power hungry, only seeing their own point of view so throws up rules all over the place without any real consideration. Rules for the sake of rules!
Too much time is spent on Do do this and Don’t do that instead of setting guidelines and processes for improved efficiency, Not rules, they are too black and white, but a set of guidelines be ‘guided’ by.
For example, one of my work locations has the following rules:
No straying off the dark grey path into the light grey area unless going directly to talk to someone on the light grey area.
It is an open plan office with the desk area on light grey carpet and then a dark grey path that goes around the outside.
Now I understand this rule as perhaps it is a bit distracting people treating the space between the desks like a throughway. However the space between the desks is actually pretty wide, in my opinion. Plus, I’m guessing the floor is a suspended floor or something as whenever someone walks around the dark grey path near your desk you bounce like working on a bouncy castle! Like that’s not already distracting! Seriously, if you’ve not got your sea legs, don’t work there! Anyway, I get it but if someone happens to forget, they are reprimanded pretty swiftly. This rule is not to be broken!
“Back on the dark grey path!”
“Yes ma’am” *Head up, back straight, eyes forward*
No headphones.
Again, I can understand this in theory. The use of headphones can make someone very unapproachable. I know, myself, that I’ve avoided approaching someone with headphones in as I assume they wish to focus on what they are trying to do without distractions. But doesn’t the above rule do just the same?
I believe the use of headphones, especially in an open plan environment, are invaluable. There are times you do need to focus and to cut out all other noise. The use of headphones can improve someone’s productivity.
The rule shouldn’t be a ban all approach but a sensible use approach.
I’ve heard of other techniques for telling people you are busy and not to be disturbed, like using a hat, others use toys or light systems but they don’t cut out the other noise in the office.
Maybe the use of headphones and another more obvious signal could be put in place and a restriction to using the headphones in moderation.
Again, in my opinion, I think more organisations should allow the use of Instant Messaging. If someone does not want to be disturbed, they switch their status to ‘Do Not Disturb’. If someone had headphones in and the Do Not Disturb option has not been selected, I would message them to say I was coming over or to ask if I could come and speak to them a minute.
Again, taking this ability away feels like another ‘control’ and another excuse to treat staff like children!
Like I say, I can see the reasons behind the above rules but I feel they are a bit petty and in danger of leaving people feeling despondent and untrusted. I’ll be putting my hand up to ask to go to the toilet next.
After all, too many rules are known to stifle creativity and innovation and, quite frankly, people don’t like to be made to feel like they are back at school. I expect they feel intelligent enough to make their own, grown up decisions – after all, they were clever enough to get the job!
Without some freedom to make our own sensible decisions about how we work and being courteous to our colleagues are we just becoming a pawn in the workplace rather than a creative thinker?
How would I approach open plan working? Like I approach rule setting in the classroom! As a democracy not a dictatorship. Let the people create the rules then they are much more likely to appreciate them and stick to them. They’ve created and agreed to them so they believe in them.
I’d get one of those big white boards and ask everyone to write their rule suggestions on it. If someone agreed with someone else’s rule, they’d put a tick next to it. Then once a month they’d be an office discussion somehow (online forum or in a meeting room, whatever works for the office) where the reasons for and against the rules would be discussed and whichever ones stuck would be carried forward. The whiteboard would be cleared down and then you’d start again.
And rather than calling them rules, how about “Guidelines for Office Etiquette”. After a while, the suggestions may die down, you could put a deadline of 6 months on it and whatever guidelines you have agreed on at that time can be made into posters around the office, with it clearly stating that they have been created by the employees not by Senior Management.
Having said that, I can now see the office jobsworth chasing you down because you sneezed too loudly, reminding you of Guideline No. 162 to keep volume down to a respectful level!! So maybe just a small page on the office intranet which you direct new starters to on Induction – there could be an icebreaker around it! (Forever the L&D professional, me!)
We spend so much of our life in the workplace, how about making it a place we are happy to be and welcomed for our free thought! Treat people with respect!
Thank you for reading.
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