Put five people into a room
with chairs and before long they'll have divided that space up
into personal territories. You can prove that by asking
them to leave the room and then return. The best bet is
that they will all return to the same seats. In fact, if
you doubt that, try moving the seats or worse yet, try sitting
in someone else's place. We make our territories quickly
and then defend them against all comers.
In business, government, and
other offices this territoriality shows up in the 'ownership'
of everything from offices to restrooms and drinking
fountains. The bigger you are the bigger and better your
personal territory. There is a strong tendency in
organizational life as well as in social life to make a
territory and then never stray from it.
The problem with this
territoriality is that the information we need to be effective
in our organizations almost always lies outside our own
territory in other people's territory. We get nervous
out there and so we tend to stay 'home' in our safe ignorance.
Management specialists are
now finding that the most creative managers are those who
wander around, out of their home territory, with their ears
and eyes open. To learn about others, to listen to
others, we do best by creative wandering.
