The phrase “because that’s the way we’ve always done it” is a red flag when analyzing business processes.
Here’s a classic story about monkeys that explains why.
As part of an experiment, researchers placed five monkeys in a large cage. A ladder stood in the middle of the cage, and a banana hung from the ceiling, floating just above the ladder.
When one monkey attempted to climb up, the researchers sprayed all the monkeys with ice-cold water. This discouraged the monkeys, but one of them would try to climb after a few minutes.
Again, the researchers would spray all of them to prevent them from reaching the banana.
After a few attempts, the researchers started noticing that every time a monkey would climb up, the other four monkeys would physically pull it down to avoid getting sprayed. Eventually, all five monkeys would stop climbing.
The researchers then stopped spraying the monkeys and replaced one with a new monkey that was never sprayed before. Naturally, the new monkey tried climbing up the ladder, but the others pulled it down.
The new monkey eventually stopped climbing and started joining in this new norm of pulling other monkeys down, although it had no idea why it was doing so.
The researchers gradually replaced all the old monkeys with new ones until they were left with five monkeys pulling each other down (even though none of them had ever been sprayed with cold water).
Why?
“Because that’s the way we’ve always done it.”
How to use this mental model
The first takeaway is to always question why relevant business processes are done a certain way within your organization. The second takeaway is: don’t fear the ladder.
Note: This anecdote is loosely based on research by G.R. Stephenson [Stephenson, G. R. (1967). Cultural acquisition of a specific learned response among rhesus monkeys. In: Starek, D., Schneider, R., and Kuhn, H. J. (eds.), Progress in Primatology, Stuttgart: Fischer, pp. 279-288.]. This article elaborates on the study and the takeaways from it.
This is an excerpt from “Mental Models for Effective Managers.”
