Breaking the Rules

While “Breaking the Rules” may be a challenge to the standard operating procedures of a business, we often feel a certain fondness for rule breakers. Every business has employees who consistently “break the rules”. Is this good or bad for your business? That all depends on how well you know your employees’ personalities and what their individual jobs command. When they break (or fail to break) the rules, is your response emotional or rational?

The Frustration of Working with People

Rule breaking is not just a rational matter of employees calmly deciding whether to “throw out the rules” or “do it by the book.” These decisions are linked to core personality traits. You see, people react emotionally when someone’s view of the rules is dramatically different than their own. Before we dive into rational analysis, we need to understand the emotional side of conformity.

The Tedium of Rule Followers

People who zealously follow the rules can be incredibly annoying. If you submit an expense claim only to have it rejected because you forgot to fill in the date, the fact that the accountant was following the rules does little to quell your anger. If you are struggling to meet a deadline and a peer insists on waiting for a manger to get back from vacation so they can sign off on the obvious next step, then that co-worker’s “rule following” seems plain stupid. However, their IQ test score has nothing to do with their desire to follow rules.

Rule followers tend to put “following the process” ahead of getting quick results. There is often good reason for that, but if you are a results driven person that tendency can be very frustrating and may even explain some employee turnover. Rule followers also tend to put the rules before having fun. If you have just won a major contract you may think “Let’s quit early and celebrate,” but your high conformity peer may insist the team needs to stay in the office until 5 p.m.

Working with rule followers can feel boring, restrictive and tedious sometimes and you may think you never want to work with high conformity people again—that is until you look across the fence and see what it’s like to work with rule breakers.

The Folly of Rule Breakers

People who flout the rules can be just as annoying as those who follow them. Imagine that your project team agrees to start and end meetings on time; and then at the very first meeting one critical member causally strolls in 12 minutes late. What does that do for team efficiency? What kind of example does that set for others? It’s an informal rule, but doesn’t it need to be followed?

The low conformity personality is also inclined to be bored with details. They are the one who forgets to book the taxi. They neglect to inform their peers that the meeting room has changed. They don’t worry about sticking to an agenda and may even get the client’s name wrong on the proposal (which they likely did not read through). The rule breaker can be like sand in the gears of a finely tuned machine, or at least the finely tuned processes you are working so hard to build and maintain. It can feel like their lack of diligence is sabotaging efforts.

Understanding the Science

Rule breakers think of rule followers as tedious, unimaginative, and blind to the bigger picture. Rule followers think of rule breakers as disruptive, disrespectful and dangerous. But we need to step back from these emotional reactions and look more deeply at the underlying personality trait of conformity.

Rule breakers get things done. They ask “What will work?” not “What is the normal way to do things?”

There are many sides to personality, but a lot can be learned by assessing just a few stable traits that influence a lot of on-the-job behaviors. One such trait is called conformity. People high in conformity have many positive traits. They are disciplined, committed, precise and careful. But that same trait can lead them to be rigid, unimaginative and stubborn.

People low in conformity also have many positive traits. They are independent, good at seeing shades of grey, and flexible. At the same time they are often disorganized, resistant to rules and bad with details. People who are high or low in conformity do not have a flaw; they simply have a characteristic which can have positive or negative outcomes. We must acknowledge that we have an emotional reaction to someone whose traits are at odds with our own but then replace that with a rational understanding of the trait and adapt accordingly.

Individuals with higher Emotional Intelligence (EQ) are better able to respond more rationally than emotionally.

Many companies are now using personality tests or assessments to understand the emotional intelligence (EQ) of their employees. They incorporate it into a more rational approach to managing their employees, rather than expecting them to change their personality traits at work.

Living with People at the Extremes

In Some Jobs, Rules are Not Made to Be Broken

In 2009, the pilot of a plane flying to Buffalo chose to ignore a rule requiring him to turn off the autopilot in icy conditions, a decision that may have contributed to a fatal crash that left 50 people dead.

There is no general answer as to whether being a “stickler for the rules” is good or bad. It depends on the job. Flying a plane is one profession where the rules are meant to be strictly followed.

In any group of people there will be individuals who are quite high or low on a given personality trait. There are always the extroverts and introverts, the patient and impatient, the conformists and the non-conformists. Dealing with them is partly a matter of ensuring we put people in jobs suited to their personality and partly a matter of adjusting our own behavior in light of another person’s character.

Living with Rule Breakers

We need rule breakers to get things done particularly in times of change or crisis. It is at these times that following the rules can be positively foolish. We also need rule breakers to test the boundaries. They are the ones who help keep the rules tuned to the right degree of strictness by continually testing the limits. Finally, we need rule breakers because they are fun and we sure can use more fun in the workplace.

The most important tool in dealing with rule breakers is obvious when you think about it: job analysis. There are some jobs where compliance with the rules is absolutely essential. Don’t put someone who does not care about details in charge of your conference planning. Don’t make a serial rule breaker your head of safety.

Rule breakers will test the rules, but most are smart enough to know how far they can go. Good boundary management can result in lower employee turnover. It’s management’s job to inform them when they have gone too far. Don’t try to fix someone low in conformity, try to contain them through boundary management and to channel their abilities into jobs where their flexible, creative thinking will add the most value.

Living with Rule Followers

The value of rule followers is evident in any large organization. We need people who will stay on track and help keep others on track as well. The trick to living with people who seem too bound by the rules is just a matter of putting them in the right jobs and responding appropriately to their personality traits.

Jobs with little structure are a bad fit for rule followers. Put a high conformity person in a job where you need to play fast and loose and you’ll have an unhappy person performing badly. Find jobs where process is critical and attention to detail matters and you’ll rejoice in their natural talents. Give them structure and employee turnover will go down.

It’s also good to know that people high in conformity tend to take criticism personally. They prefer information in written form. They like lists and structured environments. They don’t like to be rushed. Once you are aware of these likes and dislikes it’s not hard to adjust your own behavior to get the best from them.

Are you a Rule Breaker or Rule Follower?

If you are curious to what degree you fall on conformity, please feel free to contact Mark Brandenburg by email at markb@bartlettconsultinginc.com or by phone 608-825-3030 at Bartlett Consulting Inc. to request a complimentary personality test / assessment. Or, click here to request your personality profile assessment.

“Rule Breakers” – Can They Be Good For Your Business?