Tradition concept with vintage letterpressLately my wife and daughter have been binge-watching Greys Anatomy.  Since it occupies both televisions in the house, I’ve been subjected to it as well.  As I see it, the plot revolves around a bunch of doctors, interns, and residents that see patients, get in conflicts constantly, and rendezvous regularly with each other in the on-call room.

Another observation I’ve made though is around the amount of hours the residents are required to work.  On a recent episode, the hospital decided to adhere to the rules of 80 hours per week leading to some of the old-timers complaining that the longer hours made them better doctors.  As a potential patient, that worries me.  I want my doctor to be rested if they’re making life and death decisions about me and my family.

When I was in the Navy, there were a whole lot of traditions, requirements, and customs that made little or no sense to me.  They were blanket policies that really fit better in a shipboard environment (like onboard fire watches, seabag inspections, and safety standdowns) but they were forced fleetwide, which includes shore stations.  This meant I needed to stencil my name and SSN on all of my clothing, including my underwear (yes, a 34-year-old man writing his name on his underwear).  It just didn’t make any sense.

What procedures, customs, and requirements are you using now that are arcane, outdated, and done simply for the sake of doing?  Could your policies be chasing away your customers and preventing talented employees from staying with you?  Are you doing things simply because they’ve always been done that way?

This week, take some time to view your standard operating procedures, policies, rules, and requirements.  Don’t let tradition and past regulations prevent you from future success.