The Cost of Doing Nothing

I'm fascinated by catastrophic failures. They are mesmerizing (ever seen a giant crane collapse?), and from an organizational standpoint, they are interesting case studies of process, systems, and leadership failures. The rarity of these events adds to the fascination. Human advancements in engineering, safety, and process management ensure that catastrophes are rare. An excellent example of the increase in safety management is the operation of civil aviation. Here is a chart of fatal airliner accidents from 1946-2017:

The airline industry continues to improve its safety systems (the 737MAX, a recent blemish, and an example of how even safety management systems are fallible, but that's another article - flying civil aviation is still very safe).

Safety management systems are a large part of the reason why industries have gotten safer. In other words, it should set policies and procedures for safe operation and ensure the workforce adheres to those policies. Here's a dramatic gif showing what can happen when someone doesn't follow the policies of safe operation:

I found this gif one night while scrolling through my Reddit feed in the appropriately titled catastrophic failures subreddit. My initial reaction was "Woah!", but upon subsequent views, it started to sink in that there were people aboard this aircraft, and I had just watched them cease to exist. Upon investigation into this incident, I learned that two of the crew member's families were present that day and watched this unfold.

How could this happen? This is a military plane, flown by military pilots, at a military base. The notion I have regarding military pilots and their training is that they're top-notch (I grew up watching "Top Gun"). In this sad but preventable incident, the pilot, Bud Holland, had a history of pushing aircraft over their limits and testing his piloting skills in unsafe ways. You can find an excellent summary of all the incidents leading up to this notorious crash on Wikipedia HERE. I highly suggest you click that link and read the stunts this guy pulled - I left it out of this write-up for brevity's sake (it's only a 3-minute read). If you do read it, you should be left feeling angry that this accident ever took place. I've summarized some of these incidents below. 

Since this is a behavioral science blog, let's analyze Holland's behavior by looking at the consequences of his actions. Let's start with his first incident on a military base where leadership observed his flying on 5/19/91.

Next incident was 2 months later on 7/12/91.

This time leadership did something: they orally reprimanded him. Perhaps they thought this would do the trick. Ten months later, 5/7/92, Holland again flies the B-52 at the airbase for demonstration purposes.

Another verbal warning, but given a week later, this time with the threat of grounding. 

Almost a year later, 4/14-15/93, on a bombing exercise in Guam:

Not only were no consequences delivered, but leadership actively tried to avoid dealing with Holland’s behavior.  

This pattern of behavior continues, and either nothing happens to Holland, or he's orally reprimanded. Failing to provide consequences for these actions looks like a tacit acceptance of the behavior. My guess is that the immediate thrill of pushing the limits, and the reputation that followed, were maintaining his reckless behavior. If this were true, grounding him would have been an effective consequence, basically a time-out - he no longer has the opportunity to engage in reckless behavior. Safety management systems work if all the factors are in place. In this instance, leadership failed to enforce safe operating procedures. It was ultimately a major contributing factor in the fatal crash.

It is worth mentioning that one of Holland's superiors, Lieutenant Colonel Mark McGeehan, put himself in harm's way to protect other crew members' lives. After another incident involving Holland, this time with a civilian film crew, McGeehan recommended to his superior that Holland be grounded. His superior, Colonel Pellerin, reprimanded and warned Holland but did not document the interaction or remove his flying privileges. After this failed attempt at discipline, McGeehan decided that anytime Holland flew, he would be the co-pilot to protect other aircrew. McGeehan was the co-pilot of the fatal flight and tried to save himself moments before the crash by activating the ejection seat (you can see the hatch from the ejection seat near the vertical stabilizer in the picture below).

This case is an unusually dire example of management without consequences. Chances are you're not the commander of an Air Force wing with out-of-control pilots. But chances are that you have come across scenarios in your work and life where consequence to actions should have been applied but weren't. The following are three suggestions on how to approach and rectify these types of situations:

1. Take data and use data

Measure the behavior you are trying to change. Through data collection, you can establish a baseline of the behavior and see if anything you do as a consequence has an effect. There are two ways you can measure behavior, either through direct observation or through permanent product results of actions. For example, your employee has been submitting their weekly reports a day late. You don't have to observe them hitting the "send" button the day after because there is a permanent record of delay (the date in your inbox). However, some behaviors need to be directly observed to be measured, such as inappropriate verbal behavior, or unsafe and unethical behavior. Make an attempt to be present when these behaviors might occur. You could also enlist a trusted peer to help monitor the behavior, as long as care is taken not to make the measurement obvious or to start rumors in the workplace.

You can also use this data, presented professionally and dispassionately, in your discussions with the person. This strategy helps minimize defensiveness by focusing on the behavior itself, not the person as a whole.

2. Make an attempt to understand why the behavior is occurring

Engage with your employees to understand their perspective. Sometimes people don't know what they're doing is wrong or may have a valid reason why they're acting a certain way. Perhaps your employee, who is frequently tardy, needs a bit of extra time getting his kids to school. If you're only thinking about it through your perspective, you may be missing out on essential reasons for their behavior. Once you understand all the variables, you can problem-solve or provide them with appropriate consequences.

For example, I had a coaching client who received low ratings from his direct reports on providing recognition and rewarding excellent performance. After debriefing his 360 assessment findings, we spent time discussing his own personal history with this subject. Turns out that the last organization he was with used recognition and rewards in the wrong way, which pitted peers against each other. We discussed some common pitfalls of delivering recognition and rewards. We developed a simple strategy to recognize his employees in genuine ways that were tied to performance and/or personal accomplishments. We were able to make dramatic increases in how he provided recognition to his teams by understanding his perception of rewards and correcting common myths.

3. Don’t put off difficult discussions

Problems caused by bad behavior aren't going to fix themselves. The best thing to do is to deal with it as soon as possible. Consequences work best when they are immediate, and tied to specific behavior of an individual. Leaving it to a later date makes the conversation more awkward. It allows the person to forget or deny. These private conversations will be difficult, but the longer you wait, the more it will seem like you're giving a pass. Check with HR policies and HR personnel if the situation warrants—plan and practice how you will provide your feedback and consequences. Ask peers or your manager for guidance on how to navigate a given situation; perhaps they have dealt with similar cases in the past.

It takes guts to stick your neck out and put your foot down, especially if you're new to an organization, role, or function. By providing appropriate consequences at the right time, you'll prevent unsafe or unethical behaviors from persisting or getting worse. Additionally, you will establish yourself as an effective and trusted leader by addressing issues swiftly.