Should You Follow the Rules?
Humans have rules for a lot of reasons: to keep public order, to show people how to play a game, to install a governance system, and to keep a family living in something similar to harmony. These are a few of the reasons that come to my mind when considering rules and why we have them.
When it comes to membership associations, we have a lot of rules that affect who can be a member, who can hold volunteer positions, which staff members can make decisions, when (or if) you can get a refund for a meeting registration, and who can participate in meetings or events. For example, if you are a consultant, you are often told “No you can’t participate or post or pay the same fee as others because those are the rules.”
We also like to think that rules keep things fair and equal, but that is a misnomer because fair and equal are two completely different concepts.
Fair is a judgment call and equal is a mathematical equation. Another way to look at it is that fair is subjective or qualitative, while equal is objective or quantitative. Rules might provide guidelines for making judgments but they don’t provide the wisdom of Solomon when doing what is right for the people involved in the situation. And rules certainly don’t help if they just measure how many of a thing each person has, whether it’s years of experience, dollars, or the type of title.
A good thing about rules is that they make it clear to everyone what is expected. The bad thing about rules is that they can be used – and often are – to deny opportunities to some groups of people. Following the rules is also a cover for providing – usually NOT providing – good customer service. How many times have you tried to resolve a consumer complaint and been told “I’m sorry but those are the rules. I can’t do anything.”
Seriously? While I’ve been distracted by the invasion of artificial intelligence (AI) into my life, fearing that Skynet will launch nuclear missiles at any moment, I should be worried about the RULES, our true enemy. They are obviously cold-hearted and vindictive dictators, yet we seem to acquiesce every time they want something. Like AI, we created the rules and let them loose, but then we step back and say, “There’s nothing we can do; the RULES are in charge.”
Rules are an excuse to abdicate responsibility. If you don’t provide member or customer service because of the rules, what you are doing is saying I’m not going to take ownership of this problem; you use following the rules as cover for not taking action. It’s very similar to the truism that just because something is legal doesn’t make it right. While it’s legal for a bank to repossess a home if the mortgage isn’t paid, is it right if the family that lives there has nowhere to go? But those are the rules; pay your mortgage or get out.
Where does compassion and empathy come in when applying the rules? And since when are rules so strict and powerful that the very people who created them become their slaves? Hiding behind the rules in order to avoid getting involved is just plain wrong. Like AI, rules are a tool. Rules provide guidance and set expectations. Rules may not be made to be broken, but they are also not made to wreak havoc on our lives. The tool being used is only as good as the person wielding it and this requires thoughtfulness and responsibility. When it comes to rules, remember the Golden One: treat others the way you would like to be treated.
