Dumb rules gotta go: h/t Lolly Daskal

In a really great article for Inc., Lolly Daskal, president & ceo of Lead from Within, gives us 10 Dumb Rules that Make Your Best People Want to Quit. It's a gem and reading it should give us all (unless you work for the perfect organization with perfect people) a few twinges here and there.

Some of us have worked in organizations that ascribed to all ten of these dumb rules. And the atmosphere was heavy and stifling. "Operating from a hermeneutics of distrust", a colleague once called it, and I think that nails it.

If our motivations are to check the boxes, follow the rules, and stay out of trouble -- well, that's a bit of a full time job. Making sure your backside is covered takes a lot of energy that can be better used elsewhere. Without so many parameters (often overlapping, dissecting, and contradicting), our teams have more space to be brilliant, brave, and forward-thinking.

Great organizations take time to examine "the rules" to see which are no longer necessary, which are impeding great production and creativity, which signal distrust and or a parental attitude, and which make our best people go looking for less box-checking and more free-flying.

Check out Lolly's 10 Dumb Rules and then check out your own.