It is time to challenge the status quo when you hear something like “we’ve always done it this way”. This is a common mentality among organisations, yet it is dangerous for improvement and growth.
How to challenge the status quo
An army barrack had four (4) soldiers guarding a concrete slab in front of the barracks at all times. They changed shifts as required. And different commanders came and went, but the tradition remained.
After eighty (80) years, a new commander was assigned to the barracks. One of the things that he did was to ask why things were done they way they were.
When he asked why the soldiers were guarding the slab, he was told, “We’ve always done it this way. It’s our tradition. Our former commanders instructed us to do that.”
Then, the commander committed to finding out the reason for this practice. He went to archives to look for answers, where he came across the document that had the explanation. The old document contained instructions written by a retired commander, who had passed away.
The new commander learnt that over 80 years ago, the barracks had wanted to build a platform where events could be held. Thus, when the concrete slab was laid, wild animals would walk over it at night before the slab had dried.
Soldiers would fix it the following morning, but when night came, the same thing would happen. So the commander ordered that the slab be guarded by 4 soldiers to allow it to dry.
The following week, the commander was reassigned elsewhere, and a new commander was brought in. The new commander, and subsequent ones, found the routine and enforced the same without asking any question.
Thus, 80 years later, soldiers continued to guard the concrete slab. An assignment that was ordinarily meant to last 3 weeks, had taken up 80 years of hard labour due to ignorance.
The dominant characteristic of status quo is upholding of tradition. That is, a custom that has been passed down from one generation to another. Thus, there’s compliance with a prescribed formula from the past. There’s no need to think, whatsoever as traditions are instinctively defended. The danger is that such defenses hinder progress – innovation and invention, especially in the business world.
One sure way to challenge the status quo is to ask the right question(s). If you’ll keep asking “why” a process or course of action is being followed, then you’ll bump into something that needs to be changed or improved. Traditions are living things that obtain their life from humans, therefore, they keep changing.
Are you holding onto obsolete tradition(s)? Knowledge, skills and attitudes that were relevant to a certain people at a certain time? You might be guarding a concrete slab!
Without deviation from the norm, there can be no progress. And ignorance can greatly contribute to this.
Find out why you do what you do. Change the way you work and be creative. Do new things, try new ways and always be open to change.
Looking at the status quo in your workplace, what would you change right now? Perhaps you ve already hit on a solution to a problem that s been bugging you for ages. Or, perhaps you just want to start thinking more creatively, to encourage personal growth, or to set yourself some challenges.