We've Always Done It This Way!

What is the most dangerous phrase in business? 

• “This might be a bad idea, but…”?
• “That’s not my problem,”
• “That’s not my job,”?
• “Everyone else is doing it”?

Possibly? And you could add others. 

But according to many, the most toxic phrase of them all is: 

"Because, we have always done it that way". 

Most times it is said with the best of intentions, because it's generally synonymous with "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." In the hectic, day-to-day business world, relying on this tactic is often an innocent and safe course of action.

I recently saw this story, which whether true or not, certainly bears out the folly of this mindset. 

A management consultant was visiting a small English manufacturing company that had been around for over 100 years, to advise on improving general operating efficiency. The advisor was reviewing a particular daily report which dealt with aspects of productivity, absentee rates, machine failure, down-time, etc. The report was completed manually onto a photocopied sheet that was several generations away from the original master-copy, so its headings and descriptions were quite difficult to understand. 

The photocopied forms were particularly fuzzy at the top-right corner, where a small box had a heading that was not clear at all. The advisor was interested to note that the figure ’0′ had been written in every daily report for the past year. 

On questioning the members of staff who completed the report, they told him that they always put a zero in that box, and when he asked them why they looked at each other blankly. 

“I’m not sure about that,” they each said, “I guess we’ve just always done it that way.”

Intrigued, the consultant visited the archives to see if he could find a clearer form, to discover what was originally being reported and whether it actually held any significance. When he found the old reports, he saw that the zero return had continued uninterrupted for as far back as the records extended – at least the past thirty years – but none of the forms was any clearer than those presently in use. 

A little frustrated, he packed away the old papers and turned to leave the room, but something caught his eye. In another box he noticed a folder, promisingly titled ‘master forms’. Sure enough inside it he found the original daily report master-copy, in pristine condition. In the top right corner was the mysterious box, with the heading clearly shown …… ‘Number of Air Raids Today’.

We need to be brave and be prepared to make changes. There’s nothing worse in business than looking back and thinking “what if?” Every successful entrepreneur has, at some stage, made significant changes. They don’t always work, but when they do, the results can be transformative.

As a well-known Spanish Proverb teaches: “A wise man changes his mind. A fool never will”.