5 Outdated Workplace Rules that You’ll Want to Break

We know finance professionals love rules. But sometimes, in a workplace fraught with old-school ways that just don’t work anymore, you just have to break the rules.

It’s likely you have some outdated rules and practices.

And, there’s good news about breaking the rules: In some proven cases, it helps an organization do better. For instance, one UBC Sauder School of Business study found that when employees broke the script to help customers, they felt better about their work, made customers happier and created more goodwill — which turned into more dollars spent and more dollars made!

Anecdotally, we’ll mention the names of a few rulebreakers to remind you that counter-thinking and acting can lead to greater good: Albert Einstein, Rosa Parks, Barbara Walters, and Mark Zuckerberg.

Caveat to ‘Let’s Break the Rules’

Now, before you and your finance team decide to drop every rule in the book, there is an important part about breaking the rules: It needs to be done with the right intent. That’s the only way it can lead to surprising results and breakthroughs.

Being a rebel without a cause is essentially fruitless. When you break rules, drop procedures or quit things just for the sake of breaking rules, you likely create chaos instead of progress.

So break the rules with intent. But which ones?

Here are some of the most outdated workplace rules that are worth bending, if not breaking, with the intent to become better.

Rule #1: That’s the Way We’ve Always Done It

Let’s say someone dares to ask — and it’s often the new person — “Why do I have to do that?” If the answer is, “Because that’s the way we’ve always done it,” there’s a problem.

“That’s the way we’ve always done it” could account for about 75% of the rules in most organizations — and that makes them all ripe for the changing.

With respect to tradition and the times when the rule made sense, if you’re going to make a positive disruption, these rules are likely the starting point.

Keys to breaking the rule: Be respectful to the creators and circumstances behind the outdated rule. Acknowledge their efforts. Then offer a new, practical way to handle the situation. Focus on how the new way can save or make money or improve work. And offer to do a trial before rolling it out to others.

Rule #2: Assign Work by Strengths

Most companies put employees and leaders in place because they excel in particular areas. Then we continue to play up to and improve on those strengths. Eventually, people might end up pigeonholed in those areas.

Meanwhile, hidden talents and interests get buried under the “Strengths Rule.”

Keys to breaking the rule: As a leader, you have a dual role in breaking this rule. First, speak up. If you don’t like what you’re doing, tell your boss about opportunities you’d like to pursue, talents you’d like to explore and initiatives outside your norms you’d like to try. Secondly, as a finance leader, ask employees to share talents, interests and hidden strengths they’d like to grow. Then find opportunities for them to hone those skills and use them on the job.

Rule #3: Get Approval for Everything

In many organizations, people still jump through hoops to get things done. And the fear of repercussions from moving forward without the stamp of approval stops talented, smart and ambitious people from being innovative. It also limits creativity and progress.

Outside of protocols that are in place to keep people and property safe, break some barriers by leaning into the authority you’ve been given. As the saying goes, “It’s better to beg for forgiveness than ask for permission.”

Keys to breaking the rule: This tip is less about breaking rules and more about taking charge. Even when you aren’t a formal leader of a group or project, you can step forward informally with ideas, suggestions and best practices to get to the common goal faster.

Rule #4: Work in Your Group

Companies have long bemoaned workplace silos, yet those silos still exist. Remote and hybrid work cause employees to work almost exclusively with their teammates. That’s where they share and gain the most knowledge too, furthering the silo buildup.

It’s time to break down the walls.

Keys to breaking the rule: When you’re in charge, ask people outside of your group to participate in projects or meetings. Get their insight and share yours so you can build knowledge across the organization and streamline more processes.

Rule #5: Follow the Rules

The premise of this whole story is breaking rules that need to be reexamined. So the last rule to break — and perhaps the overriding one — is the general follow-the-standard-approach-to-everything rule. Instead, question the standard in a thoughtful and curious way — not in a disruptive way.

Keys to breaking the rule: What’s important here — and with every rule-breaking move — is that you remain professional, ethical and moral when you counter the established rules.