No More Lost Keys

I lost my keys the other day. Actually, I knew exactly where they were. I just couldn’t reach them. I had driven to my regular running place, and as I removed the car fob, the ring with the other keys slipped from my hand and fell into the space between the driver’s seat and the console. It turns out that in my car, that’s a very narrow space that can’t be accessed by reaching under the seat. Fortunately, my wife and son were home, so they were able to let me in the house when I got back, and I was eventually able to retrieve the keys. It would have been quite a problem if no one had been home. And I certainly don’t want this to happen again. So I’m thinking about preventative steps that I might take. I’m considering:

• Building a device to cover the gap between seat and console – unsightly but hopefully effective.
• Selling my car and buying one with a better design – a rather expensive option.
• Running with all my keys – a major inconvenience.
• Switching to a different form of exercise.

If you think that all of these options are a bit extreme, you’re right. I don’t really intend to do any of them. I’m going to treat this as a fluke and try to be more careful in the future. But this incident reminds me of a quote from Jim Collins’ Good to Great: “Most companies build their bureaucratic rules to manage the small percentage of wrong people on the bus.” Collins explains that those rules drive the right people away. Rules and procedures will never build a great organization, but if you’re not careful, they can sure ruin one. Don’t get me wrong. We need some procedures in any organization, even churches and ministries that don’t like the “organization” label. They can codify how we do things and help us be more efficient. But if rules replace common sense or focus on avoiding freak accidents, it shouldn’t be surprising when creativity and effectiveness vanish. What kind of rules and procedures do you have in your organization? Ones that provide clarity or ones that only generate frustration? It’s easy to receive my blogs by email. Just sign-up on Feedburner by clicking here.]]>