THE BROKEN WINDOW THEORY

It was a week of broken windows. It seems that at every turn something was broken and someone had a “couldn’t care less” attitude towards it. For those who don’t know what this means;

The broken window theory is where visible signs of neglect and small acts of misconduct tend to invite more of the same, leading to a cycle of escalating problems.

Ask yourself:

• Who is always late for work?
• Are there minor ethical breaches?
• Are missing deadlines skirted over?
• Do you have unresolved team conflicts?
• Is there regular unclear communication?
• Any outdated technology pirated or outdated?
• Are your financial reports presented with errors?
• Do you have inconsistent branding across the org?
• Are your OKRs and KPIs being taken too lightly?
• Are there maintenance issues being ignored?
• Do you have a poor onboarding experience?
• Is there a lax in dress code enforcement?
• Are there unaddressed policy violations?
• Is there a lack of follow-up on tasks?
• Are there cluttered workspaces?

How are things in your world?

Any broken windows?

The devil is in the detail and so suggest you make the time to focus on fixing broken windows department by department. Meeting by meeting. Person by person.

Be ruthless. Be decisive. Be direct.

Accepting mediocrity should not be an option, if you do, excellence will cease to exist. Windows will break. Cultural issues will abound.