When we tell someone to “stay in their lane.”
When we say to a group of people, “your people have never done that before.”
When we tell an individual that, “people like you don’t do things like that.”
When we say, “we don’t want that idea here.”
When we assert, “that will never work.”
When we give the old comeback of, “we’ve always done it this way.”
When we say, “who are you to come over here and tell us differently.”
We take the organizational and individual, posture, of disbelief, distrust, and even disapproval. When we take that posture, we create a place of expectation that leads to people doing exactly what it is that we want them to do:
Preserve the status quo.
Stay in their lane.
Don’t rock the boat.
Be safe and compliant.
Go along to get along.
Avoid (or surrender) in the face of conflict that might lead to change.
Expectations and assumptions are the fuel of success. They are also the fuel of failure. What we give language too, what we encourage more of through our social cueing, we get more of. What we give lip service too, what we don’t talk about; what we let live in silence, we get less of.
Until the organization, individual, or society, gives up, returns to stasis and stops making waves.
Leave your lane.
