Keys and Locks!

Have you ever thought about the purpose of keys and locks?

A key allows you to get into something you value. A home, for instance, your car.

A lock is designed to keep other people out in addition to protect your possession.

I have seen doors with multiple locks and multiple keys; the idea is that if you have more locks, you are safer. Right?

On the flip side more locks, means more keys. So what happens if you lose one key? You can open the locks with the keys you have, but you can’t get into your own home.

So more locks aren’t always the best answer.

Think about how policies and procedures are written in organizations; more rules are designed to keep the bad people out. Those who do wrong. Does it really? Perhaps think about doing this study. How many good people are kept out of organizations and professions because there are too many rules?

Be careful; right now, if you say we need rules, you have gone down the wrong path.

Back to the key and lock argument. Do you need five locks and five keys? Or perhaps two will do?

Same thing for rules. Bad things are going to happen. I do know this. If we have more people committed to doing good work, it will cancel out those committed to doing wrong.

Back to my first question. What do you think about keys and locks? Do they keep bad people out? Or do they keep good people out? What do we need more of?