Rigid Systems Become Obsolete

Systems need to be flexible. They may withstand some change and maintain their integrity but in time there will be a need to change the system.

Some people feel this is bad. If it works why change it? If it isn’t broke, why look for a fix?

But change needs to happen and it doesn’t have to be negative. In fact, I’ve heard motivational speakers state that nothing good in life happens without change. Think about it. Every positive thing that has happened to you has occurred through some change.

Where I see the clearest examples are around business. Many world class companies from 50 years ago are shells of their former self. Or they closed down years ago.

The companies that can sustain the changing times do so by adapting. Technology can make your product or service obsolete. Or technology can change how people do business. The advantages you have today might become hindrances tomorrow.

For example, when I was growing up, we looked to the phone book to find many businesses. If we needed a plumber and didn’t know any, we pulled out the phone book and started calling around.

If we wanted to get our car repaired, we thought of the places near our home that we drove past. If we needed a specialty service, we called store after store to find someone to provide this service.

Today, we can jump online and get recommendations in minutes. We can just Google what we need.

For businesses, this changes how they get new customers. The company that choose the name ABC Plumbing to be first in the phone book now has to find another way to stand out. The specialty service provider might now be competing with others around the world, instead of in your neighborhood.

These changes don’t mean that we can’t have structure. It doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t look to systems. It means that we need flexible systems, not rigid ones.

So, what do rigid systems look like versus flexible systems? Rigid systems look solid, except they cannot withstand the current of change.

In a work environment, I spot them because there are usually individuals in the organization that resist new innovations. They don’t want to try the new process because they feel they have a perfectly fine process.

Taking this and applying it to personal goals, we can spot them when WE find ourselves resisting something new. We don’t explore it. We don’t test it out. Instead we immediately dismiss it.

When I was younger I was very slow to adapt to smart phones. I liked my flip phone. One concern that I had was that I always knew when the phone was on. If I closed it, I never knew if the phone was accidentally dialing a number. Today this seems silly, but when smart phones first came out it seemed like I was getting accident calls from friends all the time.

The other concern that I had was that I could easily feel the numbers to call someone. If I was driving and needed to call a friend, I knew their speed dial number and could press and hold it without looking at my phone. Today with bluetooth technology I don't even need to touch my phone to call the person I need.

These reasons seem ludicrous today. The incredible benefit of having a smart phone dwarfs these concerns. But in the early smart phone days, prior to the iPhone and Android phones, these concerns caused me to hold on to outdated structures.

In these instances, the reason I stuck with rigid systems that were less effective, was because I was not willing to change. I was locked in and felt my current way was best.

It wasn’t until I started to explore these new technologies that I realized that I needed to adapt. I couldn’t keep going with what I had. The advantage to changing far outweighed the disadvantages.

If you are being held back but still cling to rigid systems, learn to release your grip. Learn to explore other structures for your systems and habits. You might just find something better and might realize that the imagined pain for changing your system was all in your head.