Get rid of inefficiencies and morale downers hiding in plain sight.
Breaking the Rules (When it’s Called For)
Rules and processes can be like your junk drawer at home.
There are things in there you absolutely need.
There are things in there you absolutely to not need.
There are things in there that are broken or need replacing.
But like a junk drawer, they often need cleaning out. Unfortunately, you can't toss workplace processes in the trashcan like a purple marker.
They might connect to a process in a different part of the organization.
They might uncover a particular insight or data point needed to make decisions.
They might be in place to eliminate decision errors.
They might be in place because there wasn't an alternate solution.
If you think some of your "rules" or processes need a cleaning up, I guarantee your team does too. And what an opportunity to teach them how. Teach them how so next time, they learn how to break and re-build the rules.
EXPERIMENT
This particular experiment is one of my favorite experiments to run with a team. I call it the "Process Toss," The goal is to get your crew comfortable with questioning processes and increasing organizational empathy. It's often enlightening and ultimately a product hack for all concerned.
Have everyone on your team submit to a shared 2-3 "rules" or processes they think need "tossing out like a purple pen."
Have them collectively vote on the top rules.
As a group, workshop the process toss.
Why should it be tossed?
Will this change impact other people (teams, customers, vendors)?
How will they be affected? What information do they need?
Is there another solution for them?
Is the other solution better for them?
How can we make it easy for the other team to opt into our change?
What are the next steps?
Who's going to own it.
When are we going to implement the change?
Repeat as needed.
AMPLIFY
Make your Process Toss cross-functional.
If you've run a hackathon in your organization, you'll know the benefits, ideas, and camaraderie that come from them.
This destructive version leads to similar results with the added benefit of increased productivity and often data cleanliness. How's that for exciting stuff?
INVEST
Want information about running a destructathon in your organization?