Challenging the Status Quo

During a meeting today, I asked about the possibilities of agreeing some amendments to the current methodology to remove one or two dependencies that I believed unnecessary in order to deliver change quicker. This drew much hilarity from the other two people present.

"Change the methodology?" spluttered M.

"No," said R, still laughing. "We need people like Quiller. At least he hasn't had the enthusiasm knocked out of him yet."

I could take that as a compliment or I could conclude that I am being naive.

The inference is that the longer one works in the same place, the more one becomes accustomed to the status quo; to "the way things are done around here", and the easier it is to just drift along in our day-to-day lives without rocking the boat.

It's all very well for you management consultants who have a different client every week. You never reach that point where you finally give up hitting your head against the corporate brick wall, because you simply move on to the next client.

Well, ladies and gentlemen, I intend to get a severe dent in my forehead. One of the company's cherished values is being 'Challenging', and I intend to continue to challenge every ingrained process, procedure, rule or technique which I think is wasteful, expensive, inefficient, ineffective or just downright stupid.

Or am I just being naive?