Dare to Question

Do you ever get frustrated by having to follow a system or process or rules that just don’t make sense to you?

Do you ever want to just throw out the rules and do it your own way?

I recently did a 360 feedback process for a client and as part of that I interviewed a number of stakeholders about that person and one of the respondents made an interesting comment.

He said he thought this client should throw out the rules a bit more. He felt she should really challenge and find her own way through.

I thought it was a wonderful comment because so often we just maintain the status quo. We do things the way we were trained to do them or how they’ve always been done and we often don’t stop to consider, “Is there a better way? Could I improve on this? Could I push it further? Could I be more creative, more innovative? Could I do it more authentically and therefore leverage my own strengths rather than doing it just the same way everyone else does? Could I get a better outcome by bringing my unique genius?”

The TV show, Shark Tank, is all about just that. People who have questioned the status quo, who have challenged authority or challenged the old way of doing things and found a better way through and built a business on that. And in today’s modern and fast changing, dynamic world there are so many opportunities, particularly for people willing to think outside the box, willing to challenge, to be more innovative. So that’s my challenge for you.

Find something this week that you have always done just the way you were taught and look at it differently.

Take a different perspective, ask new and better questions and see whether you can actually improve on that.

Find a new way through, find a better way to engage in that task or process, a way that allows you to bring your strengths and to actually improve on it because of your input and your contribution.

I’d love to hear what you come up with.