Humanizing Rules

CHAPTER 3THE TRADITIONAL TOOLKIT

What We've Always Done

If there's one answer to a question that always leaves me baffled, it's this: “That's the way we do things around here.” I tend to get it when asking for an explanation of a process that makes absolutely no sense to me. As non‐explanations go, it's right up there with “because I said so”.

Usually, when I get that answer, it's a sign that the person I'm asking either doesn't know or doesn't care. I'm not sure which is worse. What intrigues me is that I hear it far more often than I would expect. I commonly hear it when I'm looking at something I call the “traditional toolkit”, i.e., the “tried and tested” techniques often deployed to deliver compliance outcomes.

It's that toolkit that I want to explore in this chapter. Because if ever there was a “way we do things around here” that we should be questioning, then it's that.

Back to Childhood

I want to unpack the toolkit to highlight some of the reasons why these tools can often be ineffective or counter‐productive. Not because the tools are inherently wrong but because we're often deploying them without thinking about how effective they might be.

The simplest way I have found to explore the components of the traditional toolkit is to reference an experience we've all had: childhood. Many techniques we use to influence adults in a work environment are ones we experienced as children. Which means you should recognise them. Either because you remember them being used on you ...