Last week my 9 – year old created a news magazine. Designed for her friends, little did I know that she intended to sell the magazine in her school. I was secretly worried about her failing and me having to prep her up again with confidence. However, being the new age mom that I am supposed to be, I supported her – got photocopies done, neatly cut it into the required sizes, analysed whether it should be stapled or punched, and a whole host of things. She showed the sample copy to her friends, noted down the names of interested buyers, figured the ability to pay etc. So, while the cute eyes dreamt of all the money she would make and the tiny hands designed the magazine, there was one aspect which she didn’t anticipate till the day of sale.

She figured on the day the magazine was to be distributed in school that no child was allowed to sell anything in school. That sounded very logical and wise to me. And I was curious to see what she would do. Here are a set of regulations and rules made with the best of intent. Most of us would follow these rules majority of the time. My elder daughter was vehement. She said, “A rule is a rule and is not meant to be broken”.

What my younger one did in order to achieve her goals was a revelation into her personality. She asked her friends to come by the bus (which is technically beyond school limits) to pick up the magazine. This got me thinking.

There are many rules and regulations that we follow – some we should and some we may (if we choose to). Rationality, intelligence and wisdom comes in when we have the ability to choose the rule that makes sense. A person in the factory is required to follow rules for safety and quality, while an entrepreneur needs to break away from certain rules to be successful. A bank employee needs to follow the rules and regulations, while the branch manager should know which of these rules have a possibility of deviation. To be successful, a creative person at an ad agency should think beyond processes while a coder should abide by the rules of coding.

Being rule compliant can be a predictor of job success along with intelligence and rational thinking. Which of your team members have the ability to abide by rules or go beyond them? Do they take every rule as a “lakshman rekha” and use it as an excuse to say ‘no’? It takes courage to challenge existing practices. But in some areas of work, following standard operating procedures is the best option. The question is “do you have the right person in the right job”?

Our game based assessments help you in identifying this trait amongst your existing team members and the new candidates you hire. Difficult to assess in traditional psychometrics, our app can measure the candidate/ employee’s capability to follow rules and guidelines. Its time you did this assessment before the next audit kicks in and question your team’s ability. Write to me to know more smita@ableventures.in