Posted on 14 January 2005 under General, Management

Sometimes people are so used to artificial constraints that they come to see them as part of the natural order of things. Hang on while I try to illustrate this with a cat story/parable…

I once lived in a group house with a couple of other people (including my brother) and a cat called Camus (my brother had a Cure obsession at the time he named the cat). Unfortunately Camus was a needy cat in a household of people who weren’t home very much. So each day when I got home from work I made sure to give him some “quality time”.

One day I arrived home early. Camus was delighted - he didn’t have to wait as long as normal for some attention. I heard him coming before he got into the loungroom - patter…patter…flop…patter…patter…flop…patter…patter…flop… . This noise was accompanied by the normal extravagant purring he made when someone was around. Once he rounded the corner it was clear that he was moving a little strangely. As he got closer I worked out that one of his front paws was stuck in his collar. This made walking quite difficult for him and he compensated by taking a few quick steps before flopping onto his belly and then starting again. Despite his temporary handicap he was perfectly happy.

I’ve seem similar things happen in the workplace. Dodgey processes, too many bosses, not enough leaders, dictatorial attitudes, etc. Some of the time people are aware of the problems and can tell you. The rest of the time people know something is wrong but can’t quite put their fingers on it…until the constraint is lifted.

Have you guys seen this effect before? What’s your favourite war story? Are you suffering under an invisible constraint you haven’t been able to identify?