“Company lines” you may have heard that serve as the corporate obstacle course “block”  designed to protect the status quo:

The “pass the buck” hurdle: “Have your run this through the normal channels?”

The “tried and true” block: “We don’t do things like that here.”

The “clock’s running out” barrier: “It’s too late to consider other ideas now.”

The razzle-dazzle: “No one’s ever done it that way before.” Immediately followed by, “Someone must have already done that.”

The storage locker strategy: “Maybe we’ll consider that at a later time.”

The “not really wiser, but we’ll make them think I am” bluff: “When you’ve been around a little longer, you’ll understand why we can’t go that way.”

The teamwork scapegoat: “I’m not sure the other departments will be comfortable with that.”

Or the team podiatry ploy: “Let’s make sure the other departments are on board before we consider that. We don’t want to step on each other’s toes.”