Today I have the great luxury of celebrating one of our own.
Katie Meeks is a rule breaker. Not even sure she acknowledges that rules exist. Not the kind of rule breaker that will end up in front of a judge for bad driving but the kind that challenges paradigms and boundaries associated with how work is done and how value is created.
She works outside. Sometimes in a chair. Many times in a hammock. Regularly takes play breaks with her kids. Pets her dog when there is a bit of down time. Her office space looks a bit more like a personal retreat than a traditional office. Katie’s hours are when she wakes to when she is done for the night.
But beyond the methods, there is extreme value. Innovation and creativity is at an off-the-charts level. Productivity is high. Quality of work rocks. And all for the singular purpose of inspiring others and helping other people learn and grow. It is truly a scene of a rebel with a cause. A very good cause.
The point of this is not to celebrate Katie but to point out that the bounds of traditional working policies and practices don’t always fit. In fact, they rarely fit. The best leaders are those that will consistently challenge policies for the benefit of people. When they do that, engagement, production, quality, service and overall performance soar. Without it, it will be the same old and tired performance of yesterday.
For further proof, take a serious look at the organizations that embrace this philosophy. Zappos is a big rule breaker. They have corporately challenged every traditional paradigm about working policies and it has paid off in spectacular fashion. Google is the same way. Nordstrom’s was the pioneer in this area by allowing and encouraging policy breaking when a customer would benefit.
As a leader you can stir some of your inner rebel by:
- Ask about your organization’s policies that don’t make much sense or provide any benefit to people. Propose substitutes and changes.
- Use your discretion in policy enforcement to help others achieve flexibility and higher levels of satisfaction.
- Throw away the damn policy manual (or delete it from the shared drive/welcome to 2015) and trust your very talented people to do the right thing.