Here in the southern U.S. Where I live, we've ultimately thawed out from a week of solid (pun intended) ice outside the roads and sidewalks, virtually shutting everybody in for approximately a week. The freakishly strong storm and continuing arctic chill seemed to give habitancy permission to break some rules - or at least originate new ones - to help them both work and live best despite harsh conditions.
People were walking a lot - cars were a exact disadvantage. Kids were playing in the middle of the street - no traffic and unplowed roads made it safer than icy sidewalks. Even organizations adapted to the storm, with corporate leaders switching meetings to argument calls, or canceling events that seemed important but in reality, they could do without.
Publix
For the median person, there are no rules for events like this. What is a rule, anyway? At its heart, a rule is "a principle or regulation, governing conduct, action, procedure, arrangement, etc." To get through the storm and sort through the aftermath, habitancy learned to play without rules.
Now that the ice has melted, I wonder which rules we're following that no longer need to exist? We are experiencing storms every day in our workplaces and lives. Sometimes the storm is good in the long run, bringing down branches that needed to fall anyway. Sometimes the storm hurts, cutting off careers and livelihoods in its wake. The consequent is clear: to weather the storms, we must learn how to play without rules.
So the inquire is "how?" Here are the three things I learned about how my neighbors and friends dealt with the storm and learned to play without rules:
1. They let themselves be creative.
Why did the ten-year-old have cardboard strapped to his feet like skis? "Because it was the best way to voyage over the ice," he said. On the third day of no classes, why did my working mom friend Linda surf a home-schooling website she'd never seen before? "Because I needed fresh ideas to keep the kids away from becoming vegetables."
No judgment, no apologies, just creative thinking and action. Maybe it works, maybe it doesn't (Linda says her kids still got a microscopic potato-like), but at least letting yourself be creative gets you bright forward - instead of waiting forever until person tells you the new rules.
2. They evaluated priorities - and chose wisely.
When all's going well, we think we can do it all. Our back-to-back agenda will run as planned, our life will be smooth and effortless. And then the storm hits.
When this storm hit, habitancy re-evaluated quickly. Even when it was questionable what would happen Monday morning, habitancy voted with their values Sunday night and realigned their priorities, canceling or rescheduling once seemingly-important commitments. Meetings that didn't have to happen, didn't. And the world prolonged to turn.
3. They trusted themselves.
Later in the week, many habitancy struggled with their offices chance for business, but their local roads still treacherous and communal converyance nonexistent. I heard stories of habitancy trusting themselves to make the right decision, whether it was the Publix store owner who re-opened the done supermarket for my friend Martha, or the dry cleaner who called his employees and told them to take a day off rather than risk their lives - and others' - on the roads. Some habitancy took extra vacation days, trusting it to be the right decision even though it meant fewer fun days-off later in the year.
(As a side note, Reed Hastings, Ceo of Netflix, has one rule about tracking vacation days at his fast-growing movie distribution company. The rule is that there are no rules. In fact, Netflix does not track or limit vacation days; if you need some, you tell your manager. Hastings believes that you don't need detailed policies for everything, especially if you trust your habitancy and they trust themselves. Netflix Hr lead Patty McCord is quoted as saying, "There is also no clothing policy at Netflix, but no one has come to work naked lately.")
What are the rules you're still following? Are they the right ones - or has the game changed? Don't wait for the next storm to hit - learn to play without rules, and start winning more.
January 2011
see post How to Play Without Rules
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