Years ago, I read about a village in Asia where the residents used short brooms that required people to hunch over to sweep and which produced back problems. When an outsider asked why they didn't use longer broom handles, their response boiled down to "These are the brooms we've always used."
The story illustrates several things, including the importance of asking the right questions. Matters were handled a certain way because no one questioned the practice and people assumed there was a good reason behind it. I saw this recently with an organization that was carefully following a course of action that had no rational basis to exist. It was just sort of "there" and by being there it gained automatic deference.
How many short brooms are in your organization?
1 comment:
That reminds me of a verse from the old song, "Big Rock Candy Mountain."
The song sings, "There ain't no short-handled shovels, No axes, saws nor picks," and it's clear that assignment to operate a short-handled shovel was a punishment. Maybe we should send over all the old lefty folk songs to those folks, so they can get educated.
Post a Comment