Australian Executive of the Year, Catherine DeVrye, wrote a short essay titled, “The Seven Most Expensive Words In Business.”

The seven words are: “We have always done it that way.”

When young workers ask, “Why?” they usually get a consistent reply from the more experienced workers. “We’ve always done it that way” is usually uttered by someone who has been doing the job a long time, and who therefore has either more experience, or more authority, or both, leading the more inexperienced person who asked the question to acquiesce and “do it the way it’s always been done.”

The more experienced worker will reinforce this argument by saying “I’ve been doing it this way for 30 years and I’m still alive.”

The problem is there are a lot of “experts” out there passing on their flawed logic to younger workers and justifying it in this kind of way, but they should ask themselves, “Have I just been one of the lucky ones?”

When they are sharing their “flawed wisdom” with trainees and younger workers they should ask themselves a simple question, “Am I passing on my luck to the trainee? or should I make sure they learn to do it the right way?”

Kevin O’Shea
Director Of Safety and Training
AGF Access Group, Inc.