Every organization has 5 primary goals: to produce a product [or service], safely, with quality, creating customer satisfaction, and with a profit [or within budget]. The ability to accomplish these objectives consistently and intentionally occurs because the organization is technically “smart” and socially “healthy”. [I work with organizations to develop these outcomes.] A positive culture, with community, allows for the presence of organization health. When people are working together in community there is a greater opportunity for the organization to reach its goals and objectives. In the absence of this community there is unpredictability and failure; culture eats strategy for lunch.
Without a community of people working together people can easily become cynical and disengaged. Good community allows for a safer environment where people are watching out for others. Good community creates cohesiveness and makes it easier to tackle hard tasks without getting too fatigued.
Case Example: Two operators where working together [at different times] on a single piece of equipment. The second operator was removing the cover on the equipment to access the interior compartment for maintenance.
This employee did not notice that the cover hinge had been placed in position to mesh but that both of the hinge pins for the cover were missing. As the employee lifted the cover one side of the hinge disengaged causing the cover to shift. The unexpected movement of the cover caught the employee’s hand and manipulated their body into a stressed position. This stress resulted in a lost workday injury.
Everyone wants to operate in a safe work environment. They want to feel that others are working “in community” with them. Now I cannot imagine that the second operator decided, upon arriving at work, that he was going to hurt himself that day. I am hopeful that the first employee [who left the cover replacement incomplete] did not intend to set up a situation that would injure others. The facts are that there was an injury, though. So, what should happen… [Who is at fault? What should the consequence be?]
Safety is a good place to test the honesty of your culture. Although the result of an injury is highly undesirable, the same condition of self-reporting holds for any mistake made. Honesty and a willingness to admit [and learn] from mistakes is a major characteristic of a positive community. Some would call this a “Just” culture. This means that people will readily admit their mistakes. They do this, not out of weakness, but out of confidence and care [for others]. A healthy environment is a learning environment. Self-reporting and transparency allows for this type of shared learning.
There is a reduced likelihood for self-reporting mistakes and errors when there is a culture of punishment and “gotcha”. When the response to mistakes and errors is public humiliation and punishment is it understandable when others wait to be caught, rather to bring these [indications of failure] to the attention of others. As a result of this [hidden fault in the] environment the source of problems are not identified and only become visible after a major failure. People are hurt, equipment is damaged, customers are disappointed, etc.
Yet, we do not want to let the offenders keep offending. Their failure does nothing to promote the organization’s goals. And there “getting off” may even encourage others to follow their example.
Honesty in the community culture relies on wisdom to differentiate between pure violations and innocent errors. Both can create poor results. If handled properly others may be able to learn from these undesirable actions and prevent future [and possibly] greater failure. Understandably, we should correct failures. We can rigorously address the errors without becoming ruthless. The goal is to recognize the source [of failure] and prevent repetition. Address the issue and preventing reoccurrence is really what holding people accountable is about.
There are a couple of questions to assess whether the error was in fact an error, or was an intentional violation [of rules or procedures].
One question to ask is: “Did the individual knowingly make decisions that other employees in the workforce would recognize as being likely to increase the probability of making a critical error?” If the individual’s peers respond that they would have recognized the action as promoting an error, then it is likely the individual in question should also have recognized the same thing. If the peers failed to see the connection between the action taken and increased risk, then it is reasonable to assume that the individual also did not see the connection.
Another question is “Given the circumstances that prevailed at the time, could you be sure that you would not have committed the same or a similar type of error?” If the response is “probably not,” then blame is very likely to be inappropriate. It is a “blameless” error.”
With these “blameless” error events, we need to create a safe and receptive communication environment. This is the role for leadership [both formal and informal].
Leaders create an opportunity to:
Ok, but what about an intentional violation? Ask questions like, “Was the individual intentionally defying the expectations?” and “Does this person have a history of performance problems?” A willful intention to violate expectations, create poor results, and by-pass failure defenses is totally unacceptable and should receive the most severe consequences possible. Interestingly, in many circumstances, this is exactly the response most want for the individual violator. These individuals create chaos for others.
The leader’s role is to lead. It is be the good example of listening, learning, and helping others learn [and succeed]. It is to rigorously root out the sources of failure, without being ruthless in the administration of “justice”. Effective leaders lead learning organizations and develop an honest, open environment. They develop a community to work together, and enjoy life [at least at work] together.
What kind of environment does your leadership create? Whether you lead the department, the team, or are a team member, you have an impact on the type of community you have. Create a better culture.
Mark McCatty, Leadership & Team Advisor
Leadership Results through People
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As a leadership and team advisor, I have helped numerous organizations, through speaker presentations, group training, and individual coaching, to meet the challenge of creating engaging and purposeful work environments.
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