I had an interesting conversation with my friend and colleague George Bull a few weeks ago.
Lucky for us, George hit the record button and posted it online in his first podcast episode of his series called The Field Debrief.
We talked about a 2010 plane crash in Pakistan, where two qualified pilots flew a perfectly good airplane into a mountain outside Islamabad. We chatted about the case study and what similarities and lessons can be applied to our world, experiential and adventure education programs.
The captain spent the first hour of that flight quizzing and belittling his first officer. Later, on the approach, the first officer raised a problem with the descent, and the captain dismissed it. The first officer kept his mouth shut until the last minute, when the cockpit lit up with warnings of impending doom.
It’s interesting, to me, that the official investigation said he obviously must have felt comfortable speaking up, because he did it once, much earlier in the flight. But I read it a different way. To me, it seemed obvious that he spoke up once, got shut down, and didn’t try it again until it was too late.
Unfortunately, I’m guilty of this too. This case study reminded me of a story from when I was a new program director. A few of my staff approached me to tell me that the way I was responding to a specific instructor was off-putting, and that I was shutting him down in front of everyone. I was clueless and embarrassed. They were right, and I didn’t even realize I was doing it.
They felt safe enough to come and tell me, and I’m grateful they did. Their feedback gave me a chance to change how I worked with him.
We have deeply embedded assumptions that you must speak up if you are uncomfortable, and when you do, people will correct, and issues will be avoided. We tell ourselves it’s part of the social contract we make with our colleagues in the name of safety. In fact, we even expect the same of our staff and students.
Researchers call this “safety voice,” but our common version is incomplete. In fact, when they went back through hundreds of accidents and the cockpit recordings, they found plenty of crews who raised concerns that nobody acted on.
Who brought you something recently, and what did you do with it? Reach out to that person and ask how it went for them. Would they do it again? As a safety leader, how can you make it even safer for people to use their safety voice?
Stu
P.S. If George isn't on your radar yet, he's worth following. He's building Field Risk OS, a program management platform for expedition programs, and The Field Debrief is his new podcast and blog. Spend a few clicks on his site. I'm glad he's putting this stuff out into our field.