Management Tactic #13: The Freedom of Limitations

Whenever I go home to Virginia, I play pickup soccer with my father.

His pickup game is played on a real soccer field with marked sidelines and goals. We play 11 or 12 people per side, and people generally spread out across the field.

I always walk away from the Virginia pickup game feeling like I played on a huge field. But I played on that size of field every day growing up; it hasn’t changed in size. What has changed, I wondered recently.

Comparing the Virginia game with my regular St. Louis game, I’ve figured out the difference. In my local pickup game, we usually end up with about 8 or 9 people per side on a field that’s 60-70 yards long. The ratio is about the same as the Virginia game.

But the biggest difference is that we don’t play on a marked field. The sidelines are…well, they’re not there. We just play until we hit the parking lot or the next game over. There’s no defined line.

As a result, the game ends up being much tighter. Our brains can’t calculate the amount of free room that we have, so we tend to err on the side of caution and gravitate toward the middle of the field. As a result, the game feels much smaller.

Without the limitations of the marked field, the St. Louis game is tighter. We’re less free in that game.

This oxymoron is so interesting to me, so I’ve been looking for examples in the business world. Today I stumbled upon one during a meeting. Someone mentioned their frustrations about the budget at the CSC where we work. Namely, that we don’t have budgets. So if you’re running a program, the general rule is that you keep frugality in mind and buy what you need to make it happen. But there are no specific limits for programs or events or ministries.

The person’s frustration was that she wanted those limitations. She wanted to know how much money she had left so that she could have the freedom to spend it if necessary.

This may seem counterintuitive, but I see her point. If you’re not given a budgetary limitation, you have to create imaginary restrictions instead. As a result, you feel less free to do what you need to make a certain program or event a success.

The lesson? Mark your fields and define your budgets!

Where have you experienced this phenomenon?

Daily Quickie: The photo above is Biddy examining a box of Stegmaier beer that my best friend Trev brought me back from Kentucky. It’s very difficult to get Stegmaier beer (and yes, I’m distantly related) because few states are authorized to import it from Pennsylvania where it’s made. But Trev went out of his way to find out that Kentucky didn’t have those import regulations (apparently they like to drink awesome beer in Kentucky) and ordered some for me while he was there. If you’ve never gotten a box of beer with your name on it, you’re missing out. It’s the best thing ever.

6 thoughts on “Management Tactic #13: The Freedom of Limitations”

  1. Interesting analogy with budgets. When we were first married we had no budget for food because we felt that food brings friends and we didn’t want to limit the possibility of friends. But I know we spent less then than we do now, less beer and wine and less fancy cheese, but we still had food and friends. I think not having a budget can be risky but it is an opportunity for personal growth and challenges.

    Could this analogy be related to diets and any sorts – low cholesterol diet, low calorie diet, high protein diet??? just another thought.

    and as for the beer — how great to have a beer named after you, even if you are not totally related !!

    Reply
    • That’s an interesting point about diets–although it’s counterintuitive to the way most diets work. Like, a normal diet may put you on a limited calorie count of 2,000 calories a day. I’d presume that it makes people count their calories so they add up to almost exactly 2,000 a day.

      But what if your doctor just said, “Restrict your calorie intake.” With that in mind–but without a firm goal–maybe you’d end up eating fewer than 2,000 calories a day. But I wonder how long that would last.

      Reply
  2. My company recently sunk THOUSANDS of dollars on creating and executing innovation training for 7,000 end users. To boil it down for you, when you have the original idea, estimate your costs, and present it for approval. If the importance of the initiative is deemed worth the outlined costs, the plan gets approved.

    I’ve seen the flip side of this several times at end of business year. If you have an annual goal or budget, and the end of year is approaching, NO ONE wants to really knock the ball out of the park. IE, I’ve seen companies LIMIT their shipments for the end of the year, because they don’t want to blow their goals out of the water. They’re afraid if they do, their goals for next year will be too tough. Or bosses who are about to come up under budget for the year. So they BLOW MONEY to be sure that they get at least that much budget next year. That drives me crazy!

    Reply
    • I’ve heard of that flip side as well. But I think it depends on how you set the precedent for the following budgetary year. Like, what if you didn’t base the 2011 budget on the 2010 spending? What if you based it instead on inflation or profitability or some other metric?

      Reply
  3. I was bored. Clicked for random post and this popped up! Cute Biddy and big box of beer. 🙂

    I like this post and posts like this, Jamey. I don’t know if I told you that before. They remind me to do things and now budgets. Wish me luck on my goals. 🙂

    Reply
    • Thanks Jasmin! It was nice to go back and revisit this post. I’ll have to write more leadership posts. 🙂 Good luck on your goals!

      Reply

Leave a Reply to Jamey StegmaierCancel reply

Discover more from jameystegmaier.com

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue Reading