Why Do Organisations Act As Toll Booth Boom Barriers?

At toll booths, boom barriers reflect the behaviour of most organisations out there.

Employees approach the booth with ideas, advancements, experiments, wild bets.

Someone, supposedly capable but mostly simply a checker, is siting there. Accepts some form of exchange – money in the real world; ideas, presentations, data in organisations.

And the boom barrier is raised. Allowing for the employee to get past.

Before lowering itself again for the next employee.

Day in and day out – the same “process”. Multiple booths, multiple checkers, multiple employees. But all allowed one a time.

And then someone decided to introduce tags.

Something you do (upfront payment in the real world) fetches you a badge. Where you don’t seek permission anymore. The boom barrier is never lowered on you. Till you keep paying that payment.

Unfortunately, just as in the real world, less than 5% of the universe gets this tag. 95% still go through this painful sequential process.

It’s ironical, right? The toll road was built for a speedy, unrestricted passage. And then someone, to establish importance and authority, choked the system at the toll booth.

As a founder/CEO/manager – while you constantly aim to build toll roads, ask yourself how many toll booths are you adding. And why? What will it take to give everyone a tag?

What will you give up? And what will you gain?

[This post by Ankur Warikoo first appeared on LinkedIn and has been reproduced with permission.]