The first time I heard that was in 1997. At the time, Navy Medicine was pursuing a Total Quality journey (referred to as TQL – Total Quality Leadership. It was one of the few things I had seen in the Navy that made actual sense to me. Because of this, I volunteered to be on the quality training team. It fit nicely with my off-duty pursuit of my master’s degree in organizational leadership.
Thinking “outside the box” was a requirement of TQL. It aligned with my natural creativity and curiosity, but I discovered “box thinking” was the standard operating procedure.
Whenever we came up with a creative idea, our Commanding Officer would always ask, “what are the other Commands doing?”
This drove me crazy. In my mind, being the FIRST to do something was better than copying someone else. But the Navy “box” was all about safety and risk mitigation.
What creates that “box” that everyone seems hell-bent on thinking outside of?
Unfortunately, it’s success.
When we succeed, we repeat what we did. Soon it becomes our way of approaching every challenge. When someone challenges it, we rush to defend it.
When I started teaching workshops, I was usually the youngest one of the bunch. I found most managers were forced to come to my workshops and had one goal in mind: getting OUT of my workshop. Role playing was off the table. People wanted to get information as quickly as possible and get back to work. This created my workshop “box.”
As the years went on however, the audiences changed. Boomers retired and Gen-X became the “old” group. Millennials made up most of my audience and they WANTED to be there. They WANTED to role play. I very quickly learned to think “outside the box.”
While we often create our “boxes,” sometimes others create them for us. Last week I read an article that blew up the “box” young workers are often put into: they understand I.T. As offices reopen, younger workers are summoned to fix printers, copy machines, and archaic office desk phone systems.
“You’re a Gen-Z. Can you fix the jammed copy machine?”
“Ah good, a Millennial. I forgot the password for my voicemail. How do I recover it?”
Young workers don’t want to be put in a “box” any more than you want to. Just because it plugs into something doesn’t mean young people know how to use it.
Conversely, not every adult over the age of 50 downloads viruses, prints out emails, or forgets their passwords.
What boxes are you putting others in? Which box fits you best?
Maybe it’s time to think in, out, and about “the box.” Your success “box” today may become the anchor that holds you back tomorrow.