Rites of passage are an important feature of many organizations. At many educational institutions, there are usually unpleasant rituals that new students are subjected to. These are intended to build confidence and build teamwork, as long as they are applied uniformly and equally. They also can serve to improve the quality of students. They can even extend beyond schools.
Military schools generally have numerous rights of passage – time-honored traditions that are designed to build up the kid to become a man. These are processes or rules that generations of students have all gone through. Examples of what new cadets were subjected to at the military school in Virginia that I attended include, but were not limited to:
- Additional physical training (PT)
- Limited personal electronics (computers and alarm clocks, for instance, were allowed, but video games and televisions were not)
- Requirements to memorize school rules and school song
These were important features of the school, and everyone had to go through them. This led to a great equalizing effect: once you became an “old man” (the term for an individual that has successfully completed the new cadet program), you were one of the team. Most importantly, these could be considered productive restrictions, in that they all assisted in improving the student’s performance, whether by improving physical fitness or reducing distractions. Not everyone made it, but it was not a zero sum game: it was heavily encouraged to help your fellow students. No one was graded on a curve (there was no fitting of student performance to any probability distributions, normal or otherwise); instead – everyone was encouraged to live up to their own potential.
I think about this often, even as I am over 20 years removed from when I first stepped foot on a military school. Mostly I think about how this can be applied at work. Now, this is a white collar job for adults, so it is a completely different environment. But, some of the lessons I learned can definitely be applied.
At work, there are certain tasks that we all have the new hires do. They are not difficult tasks, but they are also not glamorous. That does not make them any less important, but it does make it less enjoyable/rewarding. Examples include filling out annual required government forms for our clients, performing straightforward calculations, writing reports using results that have already been signed off on, and so forth. There is merit to each of these, as, while they may be tedious, they are absolutely required for our clients, so this provides the new workers a real sense of accomplishment. Furthermore, these provide some insight into the nature of our work. Most importantly, though, everyone has to start somewhere, and generally all of us did the same tasks when we entered our career. Nothing makes me happier than when I see the new hires, that I helped train, helped show them the ropes at work, got them going on all those projects, and so on, start to become accomplished professionals.
