The Unregulatable

Interestingly, in organisations, little reflection takes place about what should not be regulated, because it cannot be regulated: the unregulatable! Which processes should be left unregulated can be recognised by the fact that decision-makers in these areas cannot call upon instructions, logic or the ‘if – then’ approach. The reasoning: “I/we have decided this way because we consider it to be right (with good reason) is insufficient in many or most cases, because it hinders or undermines communication (What on earth can you say against that?).

However, regulations cannot help where innovation, creativity, surprises, social dynamics, difficult life situations by employees or crises with suppliers, to name only the most important, must be processed. Such matters can be prepared favourably and cleverly, sustaining framework conditions can be created and opportunities used, one can train in advance for robust skills and the readiness to act, but all of that cannot ‘dictate’ how one responds in the situation.

Those things, which have been tried and tested in the past never, therefore, cover the opportunities of the present with regard to the future. Thus, an organisation requires the ‘unregulated’, in order to train competences for dealing appropriately with the unregulatable.