I find the two phrases “In the Groove” and “In a Rut” to be particularly interesting because they reflect the dual nature of the human trait “habit.” Although they both have the connotation of being in a furrow or track that creates a path of least resistance, one is a positive condition and the other is not.
I’m too lazy to do the research right now, but I assume that these two phrases have very different origins. The concept of being “stuck in a rut” is pretty obvious. Anyone who has driven down a dirt road (or a muddy one) knows that once your wheels get into the tracks laid by those before you, it can be difficult (and bumpy!) to get out. Sometimes the easiest thing to do is to stay in those tracks. Of course, it’s easy to get stuck in one that is too deep.
I also think it’s safe to speculate that being “In the Groove” is related to that sense of focus one gets while working and listening to music (sometimes referred to as “flow”), the groove referring to the grooves in a vinyl LP.
Anyway, they both point to the tendency for people to get into repetitious cycles, whether considered positive or negative. This function of repetition is one of the basic forces of life, it’s how we learn to do most physical skills, such as walking, or throwing a ball. We make new neural pathways and then reinforce them until they become “grooves” or “ruts” from our brains to our bodies. Habits offer a similar experience. If you get used to doing the same thing, the same way, at the same time, eventually you form a groove or a rut that can be described as a habit. Again, habits can be considered good or bad.
The thing about grooves and ruts is, to get OUT of one usually takes a jarring experience. I frequently consider aspects of my life as a path in a rut or groove (depending on whether I’m happy with that aspect). This is a metaphor I’ve created for myself that helps me deal with creating CHANGE. Sometimes you just need to throw a tree across the path, so you’re forced to dig out of a rut and lay down new tracks. I’ve witnessed this kind of change happen to people out of their control many times, whether it be a brush with death or some other significant negative affect, but the problem is, most people know they need to get out of a rut long before they’re forced to. Recognizing this fact has been a powerful tool for me. It enables me to be pre-emptive and to take action to get out of a rut.
Of course, once you get around the obstacle, it can be pretty easy to just fall back into the rut. Making your own groove certainly isn’t the path of least resistance. So while throwing that tree across the tracks is a great first step, you’ve got to be prepared to commit to cutting a new path for yourself, and that takes planning and careful reinforcement.
For me, a good example of this is my eating habits and my weight. I’ve gained an inordinate amount of weight over the last five years, and while at any given time I could tell you what I’m doing wrong or what I could do to change it, I never threw an obstacle in the way to help force myself out of the rut. This year, I used the winter break as my tree across the tracks, but unbeknownst to me, my Wife Kimberly bought me a cool little gadget called the “BodyBugg.” Now, regardless of the accuracy of this device (seems to work fine so far), the powerful and important part it plays in keeping me in the groove is that it provides really interesting feedback at a reasonable timeframe, and I can ADJUST my behavior based on that input. It tells me how many calories I’m burning (approximately) and I log how many calories I take in. It’s pretty simple subtraction. So every evening I sit down, compare my food log to my calorie burn and I can see if there’s a deficit or not. It’s like a daily little game I play where I try to create the biggest deficit possible. Interesting thing so far is, I don’t feel like I’m on a diet. Even on my worst day, I spent an extra 20 minutes on the Wii Fit at the end of the day and ended up with a 200 calorie deficit. Very cool.
“So,” you ask, “What’s this got to do with Games, Start-ups, and all that? I don’t really care about your personal eating habits.” Just this, organizations have habits too, and they can either get in ruts or get in the groove. Obviously, you want to keep it in the groove. I felt like my organization got into a little bit of a rut at the end of the year. There are lots of new people, lots of new chemistry, lots of crazy things going on (moving into new space, evaluating lots of opportunities, etc…). Yet the company was trying to apply some of the same patterns of behavior that worked when we were 1/3 of the size.
I have to admit, the effort of mobilizing the the new company wore me down a little bit, and I found myself really needing the break over the Christmas holiday. During that break, I had time to get a little clarity and to formulate a plan for how to get us back in the groove. I needed to throw a log over the tracks and help us chart a new course. The company is young and the tracks are shallow, but I’m not the kind of person to sit around and watch things happen. So I decided to be pre-emptive and make a significant adjustment to make sure we were in the groove and not in a rut. Don’t let me over state this, from a casual perspective, things were fine, but fine isn’t good enough. I’m building a world class organization and my standards are very very high.
So…I called a company meeting on the first day back and showed up to work in full Cowboy gear. Black Stetson Hat, Black duster, Black boots, Black Shirt, Jeans and a BIG Ol’ Belt Buckle that says “Cowboy up!” Sorry, no spurs, it’s an HR thing.
Anthony in Cowboy Regailia
I can’t get into all the details about what followed, but suffice it to say, I got the team’s attention and I used the theme to drive home a series of positive messages about change (and I dropped the “F-bomb” way more than was probably called for but cowboys are colorful folk don’t y’all know?).
In addition, I provided the team with short term goals that they can measure against our annual and quarterly corporate goals. Finally, I matched them up with slogans that are easily memorable and attached to the Cowboy them. Everyone in Texas is a Cowboy, right?
So far, the initial reaction has been great, and with the right amount of repetition and response, I expect we’ll stay “In the Groove” from now on in. Either that, or folks just think I’m crazy so they’ll say whatever they think I need to hear to stop shoutin’ “Yeehaw!” while hog-tying programmers in the break area.
So, next time you’re looking around at the office and thinking “man, we’re in a rut!” make sure and visit your local western wear shop. That should do the trick!
