Twenty years or so ago, when I was swimming daily at my local public swimming pool, I managed to change the rules to allow the use of training fins.
Prior to this, the pool had a blanket ban on the grounds of “safety”, whilst also allowing the use of hand paddles. Hand paddles are often made of hard plastic, and people use them ahead of them as they thrust forward, therefore they are, in my opinion, much more likely to cause a potential injury to another swimmer, than short training fins, which are made of soft silicone rubber, and trail behind a swimmer.
Keen to start improving my swim training drills by using fins, I discussed it with one of the managers by the pool side and he agreed to change the rules. That’s all it took, and I guess that not many people who use fins to train in this pool know how it got changed.
Fast forward to today: about a month ago I joined a new gym/pool place nearer to my home. I went in as a guest of a friend who is a member and used my fins without issues. I decided to join because the pool, though not as nice as the private gym I had been a member of for year, was nice enough, much closer to my home, and much cheaper. It was only after I joined as a member that another lifeguard told me it wasn’t allowed, citing once again the safety risk. I challenged the rule’s logic as someone was swimming in the same lane using very large hand paddles. I explained the lack of logic in terms of risks. But this lifeguard was insistent that rules are rules, and was not interested in engaging in logical debate, even inventing reasons on the spot to justify the decision (something I’ve seen happen a lot in my work as a doula-more on that later).
So I accepted that I would need to train without my beloved fins for now, since I had already joined this gym. However I also remembered my experience as the previous pool and knew that it was worth approaching the centre’s management. After all, I had nothing to lose by asking. I emailed the centre’s manager. Contrary to my 20 years ago self, I had grown in knowing that kindness often works better than bluntly pointing out the lack of logic in the rule. Instead, I expressed my surprise, explaining that I have been swimming for over 25 years in 6 different pools in Cambridge and that they all allow short fins. I also pointed out that I fully understood that not allowing the longer scuba style fins made sense in terms of safety (giving people a chance to see that I’m reasonable), but that I could not see the danger of the type of fins I used. I also made sure not to mention the hand paddles as the last thing I wanted was for them to ban them too.
Amazingly, the manager replied to me within a couple of days, agreeing with me and telling me that they’d changed the rules. This morning I took great delight in bringing my fins to the pool. The delight went further than the fins themselves. I felt proud that I’d managed to change a rule that made no sense. This also felt doubly important because the gym in question is part of my local hospital, the one in which I attended births and MVP meetings during my 10 years as a doula. I knew from experience that hospitals tend to be sticklers for rules.
Beyond the fin story, what I feel proud about and why I am sharing this, is that it take not take much to change the rules, and it has benefitted many people. It only takes one person to change silly rules that would otherwise remain. I’m allergic to rules that do not serve humanity and have no joined-up logic behind them. I’d like to encourage you to do the same.
During my ten years as a doula, I also learnt that there are techniques that work better than other when trying to change rules, in order to avoid being met by the typical responde of “I’m obligated to operate within the boundaries set by the existing rules”. Here’s what I’ve learnt from trying to change rules in my local maternity hospital:
- Find a champion
It’s much easier to change things if you can find someone who works within the system, and who shares your vision for change. This is how I got to train the NICU nurses in learning to use baby carriers, after banging my head against the system for years. The same happened when an NHS trust hired me to train their midwives in using rebozo techniques for labour.
- Use competitive pressure
What helped me convince my local hospital to allow partners to stay overnight in the induction and postnatal wards, after banging my head against it without success, was mentioning the number of other hospitals nearby who were already doing it.
- Stretch their minds
When the subject of cord ties was brought up in an patient advocacy meeting, because doula clients were often meet with plain refusal (by people misunderstanding that guidelines are not the law, and always choosing to abide by “the rules”), most of the staff looked like we were crazy. I realised that they needed to stretch their minds a bit more, so I said “and have you heard of cord burning” then spent a few minutes explaining what it was. After that they seem to think that the cord wasn’t so crazy after all. In the same way I have sometimes encouraged clients to ask for something outrageous that they had no intention of actually doing in their birth plan, in order to appear to be negotiating down. I’ll never forget the expression on the face of the consultant when my VBAC client, pregnant with twins, told him she was thinking of having them at home.
- Call their bluff
I have helped several doula clients get offered something they were told was not possible this way. I was granted access inside the hospital with a repeat birth client despite lockdown restrictions only allowing one birth partner, by my client writing to them that she’d stay at home instead of going to the birth centre if I wasn’t allowed in. I also had a client 43 weeks pregnant gain access to the birth centre by using the same strategy.
- Pretend to follow the rules
I’ve found that if a pregnant woman says something like “If I haven’t had the baby by x date I’ll have a caesarean” instantly removed the pressure of induction of labour. It doesn’t mean that you cannot change your mind again should said date comes and goes….
I haven’t always been successful. On one occasion my attempt at changing the rules backfired. I was trying to encourage the hospital to change the illogical rule that only allows one partner inside the theatre. No doula was ever allowed in with her client and their partner (this rule was only bent once by a couple who were so assertive that they told staff they wouldn’t go in without me), and they used ridiculous claims of “lack of space” (whilst allowing in students and private phlebotomists from cord banking companies), or “safety of mother and baby” (how exactly would a doula compromise this?). When I look back I could have gone about it in a more clever way (citing other hospitals doing it, and asking staff for the best person to talk to), and my discussions with the head of the delivery unit and the consultant anaesthetist resulted in not only no change to the rules, but a memo being circulated reminding everyone of the rule.
It always baffles me when people follow rules without questioning them, or wondering if they are based on solid evidence, and simply do as they are told. I guess questioning things and tenacity are my blood. I also have a very strong sense of justice and deep aversion to rules that do not serve humanity or make no sense. I really like to support others in doing the same.
With persistence, kindness and strategic approaches, we can all be change agents – questioning unreasonable rules and advocating for what makes sense and serves humanity.
Does this resonate? Have you successfully changed rules, or banged your head against systems that refuse to change? Please comment below.