Sometimes the furrows we plough at work get very deep. We stick to the familiar for so long that doing otherwise just doesn’t occur to us. Processes steer our days and straying from them causes enervation at best, fear at worst. The familiar feels safe even though it may prove our undoing.
There is lack of curiosity in many of our workplaces, an absence of tinkering. In these places the web is a distraction. “What’s in it for me?” “Does it make my processes more efficient or less onerous?” “I’ll get involved with it if someone tells me to but otherwise why would I bother?”
Opportunism ceases to exist, showing initiative would be breaking ranks. There’s a whiff of death. A slow death. A willing death.
But if we are to change it is a question of having the funds and confidence to wait to see the change has worked. To many people go to work where they do a job rather than want to do the best.
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It’s often a death brought on by fear … fear to be different, fear to speak out, fear to act – largely as a result of a risk-averse culture – one that rewards conformism and frowns upon initiative.
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Sadly pervasive Julie
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I agree with you Euan, Alot of folk in organisations reach a stage of complacency without even knowing it which is the scariest bit. They feel they have exhausted the oppourtunity to do or say something. I wonder who takes responsibilty for this though. Folk or is there something organisations are doing wrong or not paying attention to?
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