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ARTICLE
MANAGING YOURSELF
Break Through Your
Mental Bureaucracy
by Ron Ashkenas

This document is authorized for use only in Prof. Promila Agarwal's PGP II (Term : 4) Games People Play: Psychology of Human Resource Management (GPP) 2023 - 24 at Indian Institute of
Management - Ahmedabad from May 2023 to Sep 2023.
 MANAGING YOURSELF

Break Through Your

Mental Bureaucracy
by Ron Ashkenas
FEBRUARY 28, 2012

To what extent do you compartmentalize? Or rather, do you ever put things into categories to
understand them? Psychologists define compartmentalization as a defense mechanism that we use to
avoid the anxiety that arises from the clash of contradictory values or emotions. For example, a
manager can think of himself as nurturing and sensitive at home, but a hard-nosed tough guy at
work. These two self-images can coincide because the manager compartmentalizes his life, creating
what I call a “mental bureaucracy.”

We all compartmentalize as a way of organizing our lives and thought processes. We’re inundated
with so much data that it’s often easier to mentally file information as “work,” “home,” or “family,”
rather than try to see how it might apply to more than one of those categories. Similarly, we
compartmentalize our behavior and unconsciously act in certain ways when we’re in different
settings. This thought pattern also allows us focus on getting a task done at work even when we’re
worried about something in our personal lives.

But compartmentalization can also narrow our thinking so that we don’t mix behaviors between
compartments and make connections. Recently I was helping a training manager design a senior
executive program: We discovered that he had invited three different experts to conduct sessions on
what were essentially communications skills, and there was a great deal of overlap between them. He
later explained that each came from a unique discipline (public relations, politics, academia) so he
assumed that they would have different messages. Essentially, he compartmentalized the experts. In
another case, I was coaching a manager who had publicly berated a subordinate who was now
demoralized and insecure. I asked whether she would do this to someone in her family. Naturally she
was aghast at the suggestion, but then began to realize how much she compartmentalized some of
her interpersonal behaviors.

COPYRIGHT © 2012 HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL PUBLISHING CORPORATION. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 2

This document is authorized for use only in Prof. Promila Agarwal's PGP II (Term : 4) Games People Play: Psychology of Human Resource Management (GPP) 2023 - 24 at Indian Institute of
Management - Ahmedabad from May 2023 to Sep 2023.
 Obviously, most dysfunctional compartmentalization is unconscious. We don’t intentionally act
differently in different settings or try to pigeonhole people. But the bad news is it happens all the
same. The good news is if we can find ways to foster mental flexibility and allow the boundaries
between compartments to become permeable, we can develop more creative solutions and leverage
better information. In the cases above, the training manager eventually challenged his three experts
to develop a more integrated module on communications. And in the second case, the manager
consciously identified positive behaviors from her family interactions that she could bring into the
workplace.

There are two approaches that might promote this kind of “thought versatility”:

First, engage unusual suspects in your problem-solving process. Intentionally bring together people
from different disciplines, levels, or cultures to help you identify possible solutions. Encourage them
to not only list ideas, but also put them together in unique or even crazy ways. Eventually, you may
start to see opportunities that would not usually emerge. In our example above, the training manager
might have begun his design thinking by bringing together a team of experts from different
disciplines to brainstorm what should be in the curriculum, thus avoiding duplication right from the
beginning.

Next, think about how you respond to similar challenges in different settings. For example, do you
share your goals with your friends in the same way that you share your goals with work colleagues?
Do you react the same when someone challenges your authority at work compared to when it
happens on a non-profit community board? Are there differences in how you express disappointment
at home versus at the office? Becoming aware of these differences may help you to develop a richer
and more effective array of responses to situations.

We all deal with the world by putting information and behaviors into different compartments. But
loosening the boundaries between those compartments can often be a powerful way to get things
done.

What’s your experience with compartmentalization, and your suggestions for getting beyond it?

Ron Ashkenas is a coauthor of the Harvard Business Review Leader’s Handbook and a Partner Emeritus at Schaffer
Consulting. His previous books include The Boundaryless Organization, The GE Work-Out, and Simply Effective.

COPYRIGHT © 2012 HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL PUBLISHING CORPORATION. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 3

This document is authorized for use only in Prof. Promila Agarwal's PGP II (Term : 4) Games People Play: Psychology of Human Resource Management (GPP) 2023 - 24 at Indian Institute of
Management - Ahmedabad from May 2023 to Sep 2023.