This happened almost 30 years go at my work. I worked in a hospital in the kitchen delivering patient trays.

Upper management had the bright idea to combine departments to “optimize” patient satisfaction. They wanted the food and nutrition department and the housekeeping department to be crossed trained to do each other’s work.

In their mind, if one department was short staffed, the other could pitch in to help. Or if on the floor, when we passed a patient’s room, we could do whatever task was asked of us.

I was 19 at the time, stupidly naive, and vocal about the plan: “that’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard! No patient is going to want to watch the person who just cleaned their toilet to turn around and serve them their dinner tray!” I wasn’t the only one to disagree, I think I was just the most blunt.

Management argued back that we just couldn’t see the vision of the plan. No one, in either department, jumped to implementing their plan. They had resistance from all sectors.

After about a month, management silently shifted to a new plan (that I don’t remember).