NOT HAPPY? CHANGE IT OR LEAVE IT

"It's not wise to violate rules until you know how to observe them."

T. S. Eliot (1888-1965) American-English poet/playwright.

By "observe" he means obey.

If you don't like the system, whether it be in your business or personal life, work to change it.

If you don't want to do that, leave and join a different system.

LET ME BE CLEAR ABOUT THIS

"Where the law is uncertain there is no law."

Proverb

This applies equally well to rules, requests, orders, instructions, and all other forms of communication managers use with employees.

If it's not specific it doesn't exist, and when that happens, it's the manager's, not the employee's, fault. 

HURRYING TO DISARRAY

"Order marches with weighty and measured strides. Disorder is always in a hurry."

Napoleon I (1769-1821) Napoleon Bonaparte. French general.

Establishing order takes time, being disordered does not.

Once ordered you can thoughtfully consider alternatives. Disorder forces you to run from one crisis to the next.

Which do you prefer?

Can There Be Orderly Revolution?

"Chaos often breeds life, when order breeds habit."

Henry Brooks Adams

19th century American historian

I can see that.

But too much of one at the expense of the other and you end up with nothing.

How do you balance the two, particularly in a large company?

Because You Said So? Really?

"Do you know what amazes me more than anything else?  The impotence of force to organize anything."

Napoleon Bonaparte

18th century French general

And at some point simply ordering organization is no different than attempting to force it into existence.

How dictatorial is your management style?

The Chaos of Change

"Exactness and neatness in moderation is a virtue but carried to the extremes narrows the mind."

Francois Fenelon
17th century French Roman Catholic Theologian

Probably extreme neatness as well but certainly extreme exactness will result in thwarted innovation, don't you think?

Invention, entrepreneurism, even simple evolution from "here" to "there" is a messy business with many false starts.

Marketers and salespeople are often not exact whereas engineers and accountants are.

How about you?