#222 evolution

The Secret Service was not established until 1865 -- nearly a century after the country was founded.  Initially, its primary purpose was not protection, but instead it developed out of a need to reduce counterfeit money.  At the time, money was printed individually by the nation's 1600 state banks, and it was estimated that one-third of the nation's currency was counterfeit.  Even though printing was antiquated compared to today, there was such variety that many people did not know what money was supposed to look like!

What started as a component of the Division of the Treasury evolved into presidential protection duties and eventually became a portion of the Department of Justice where it is housed today.

How many areas are in your organization that are like that?  Departments start out with one purpose and instead of being eliminated, somehow morph into doing an entirely different task.  The new job may be legitimate and necessary, but are the same skills required for both?  Would you expect a top notch counterfeit investigator to be the same type of person who would take a bullet for the president?  Is your best teller the one who can lead the computerized division that oversees ATMs?  Would Socrates and his questioning model of teaching been a star in an on-line module?

Before you allow/force/cajole people into acquiring wholesale new responsibilities, stop and think of whether or not you would be better stopping one and starting another.  Sometimes evolution is not the best way.

-- beth triplett
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