In 1994 when I was working for the National Park Service I wrote an article for Ranger: The Journal of the Association of National Park Rangers, entitled The Top 10 List: Reasons Why You Can’t Do That. It was noticed by Secretary of Interior Bruce Babbitt who *quoted several parts of it in an article he later wrote for Viewpoint, a newsletter that was distributed to all employees in the Department of Interior.
Here is the original article that I wrote for Ranger magazine:
The Top 10 List: Reasons Why You Can’t Do That
Bill Gabbert
Have you ever approached co-workers about an idea and they responded with one of these reasons? 
Of course you have. What did you do? Attempt to persuade them, argue, go to their supervisor, look for another more helpful person, or did you give up on your idea?
I am convinced that a huge amount of productivity is lost, expecially in the federal government, to people unwilling to take initiative. Unfortunately, in some work situations there are forces that discourage or even punish workers who occasionally would like to try something different.
Let’s take the Top Ten Reasons one at a time:
- We have never done it that way. People usually will not express it this way. I have known people who automatically said no to almost every suggestion, no matter how trivial. Saying yes meant they had to make a decision. If their policy was to say no to everything, that meant they didn’t have to make decisions. They took the lazy and safe way out.
- NPS-99, (the Manual) says we can’t. If you look hard enough, you can find 13.4 reasons in National Park Service Manuals to not do everything. Those who are scared to make decisions can sometimes find solace in rules that someone else wrote. Now don’t get me wrong! I am not advocating the overthrow of the government by violating the Rules! Besides, we all know that if we violate the Rules it goes into our Permanent Record; the one they started on us in preschool. We need to — no, we have to — follow the regulations, but we should not go to them in search of reasons not to get something done.
- I might get in trouble, and,
- My supervisor won’t let me make a decision like that. Maybe this person has a supervisor who is not secure enough to delegate authority. If you allow your people to use their abilities, you may be astounded by what they can do. A person shouldn’t be crucified for making an occasional honest mistake. At times it may be appropriate to follow the old axiom: “It is is easier to beg forgiveness than to ask permission.”
- I don’t have time. Usually this is an excuse. However, if you are one of those people (like me) who want instant gratification, you may have to settle for a later completion date. But if someone constantly “doesn’t have time”, something needs to be fixed — the workload, the position description, the person’s work habits, their skills, or their attitude. If it is all of the above, they are in deep E. Coli.
- We tried it 87 years ago and it didn’t work. Will this be a slightly different approach? Have conditions changed that will result in it working now? When it was tried earlier, was it done correctly? Who evaluated the results? Maybe it actually did work but someone was too resistant to change to accept the new idea.
- We don’t have the money. Recently someone with a “can’t-do” attitude tried to torpedo an idea by producing a cost estimate 10 times more than the actual cost. Remember, sometimes you have to spend money to save money. Investing in a new idea may increase productivity.
- The public won’t like it. The public’s perception of what we do shouldn’t be downplayed, but neither should it be used as an excuse. We should do the right thing even if it is a tough choice. Will the public oppose it because they don’t understand the issue? Is a press release or public meeting appropriate? Davy Crockett said, “Be sure you are right, then go ahead”. Taking the easy way out is not always the best stewardship of our public lands. Just be prepared with your ducks lined up.
- I don’t know how. So find out! Don’t be afraid to ask questions. If you don’t, you won’t learn nearly as much as the person who does. Search for the person who knows. Make telephone calls, network. Keep records of people who can be used as resources. Use the trial-and-error method if it is appropriate. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes. The person who sits at a desk all day and pretends to be busy won’t make mistakes, but he won’t get much done either.
- You will need to fill out a form first. Just think what would happen if everybody in the agency identified only one form that could be eliminated.
When Rick Gale’s All-Hazard Incident Management Team was given the delegation of authority to take over the recovery after Hurricane Andrew hit the three south Florida parks, Gale told the superintendents of the parks something like this:
The people on this team have a can-do attitude. That’s one of the reasons they were chosen. If you present them with a problem, they will find a way to solve it. If they don’t, let me know.
That philosophy is the only one that works in a situation like a hurricane. But do we have to wait for an emergency to adopt a “can-do” attitude? We can do it every day, every hour.
Who would you rather work with — someone who says “We can’t do that,” or the person who says, “That is an unusual challenge. Let’s figure out how to get it done!”
Many obstacles are holograms — you can walk right through them. Ask yourself these questions:
- Am I proactive or reactive?
- Am I a stepping stone or a stumbling block?
- Am I part of the solution or a part of the problem?
Excellent Bill, I try to find a way around each one daily!
Thanks Mark. And, good luck with that!
Your reasons and comments on why you can’t do something are right on target. No matter if it was a co-worker, first line supervisior or at the Washington level over my career with them I would allwas hear your listed reasons. In bringing one new idea foward the administrative officer, he told me, ” If there is not a rule againsed doing it, then we need to make one”. After a while employees would stop suggesting new ideas out of pure frustration.
Rick Gale’s team worked wonders after Andrew. He had some very skilled and talented people who got the park recovery going quickly and correctly. We faced some very unusual and difficult situations. No excuses, just direct effective action.
Interesting that 1994 was the same year the Forest Service pulled back from the “can-do attitude” after the South Canyon Fire.
If you always want the same result, always do the same thing! Now if we had no unwanted fires I would have nothing to say but we, all over the world , keep doing the same things and we expect a different result ! It is past time that all wildland fire folk accept that we have to think out of the box and be prepard to inovate and try new things. There are many things that we can do today that we could not do 20yrs ago , times change , technology changes we just need to convince the powers that be to test theories on a small controllable scale to see what works and what doesnt.
With me, it was pretty much only “I might get caught.”