The report from the Columbia Accident Investigation Board was delivered, and it wasn't pretty. NASA concluded that the Columbia Space Shuttle tragedy had as much to do with failed management practices and a work environment that discouraged upward feedback and open communication, as the foam that hit the shuttle's side. This should be a wake up call for all businesses. Even years later, the accident remains a testimony to bad management practices.
Why? Because the report pointed out that the mistakes leading to the disaster were not random functions of physics and faulty mechanics; they were human, and therefore, preventable. The report indicated that organizational barriers prevented effective communication of critical safety information and stifled professional differences of opinions.
"Within NASA, the cultural impediments to safe, effective shuttle operations are real and substantial ... Such factors interfere with open communication, impede the sharing of lessons learned, cause duplication and unnecessary expenditures of resources, prompt resistance to external advice and create a burden for managers, among other undesirable outcomes. Collectively, these undesirable characteristics threaten safety."
Most companies are not dealing with life and death scenarios, but when you experience "group think" - group decision-making characterized by uncritical acceptance and conformity to a prevailing point of view - there exists a real opportunity for organizations to be less productive, and therefore less profitable. An intimidating work environment and lack of open communication can and will cause missed new business opportunities and failed projects. At a time when many organizations are struggling because of the economic slowdown, you need to tap into the total intellectual power within our organizations.
Take, for example, the merger frenzy underway in many industries for the last decade. When two company cultures marry, the creative atmosphere can become hostile as new management exerts tight control and everyone from senior staff on down are vying for stature as they figure out the new company's internal political structure. We've all seen even the best professional mentally drop out and follow weak group decisions, sacrificing good work to job security.
That said, there are a number of traditional organizational development approaches businesses can use to stifle an arrogant work culture and discourage group think. Some of these include:
- implementing 360° leadership assessments (a feedback instrument used to assess reporting staff, peers and supervisor perceptions of a manager's leadership effectiveness and style),
- annual employee attitude surveys,
- exit interviews with departing staff, and
- expanded leadership retreats, wherein cross sections of employees contribute in strategic planning sessions.
How to Encourage Upward Communication
There are several outside resources a company can utilize. Any of the leadership books that cover GE's management practices, including Jack Welch's autobiography, Jack, Straight from the Gut (compare prices), are excellent resources. In this autobiography, Jack Welch describes, in detail, some of the successful programs GE implemented.
He talks about transforming the company culture with the implementation of his, now famous, Work-Out sessions and town meetings (groups of 40 to 100 employees were brought together to share their views on the business and the bureaucracy that got in the way). He shares some of his thinking behind his boundaryless behavior philosophy and upward mentoring program, as well as some of the breakthrough thinking generated from outside the company.
But, if all of this sounds too academic, businesses can turn to one of America's favorite mediums - media - for great examples of open communication and effective management. Looking at another space flight example (this time, a successful one), the Oscar winning Apollo 13 demonstrates successful leadership and the absence of group think.
In a particularly critical scene, the entire control room staff looks to Clint Howard's character to report his findings on fuel cells. He recommends the unpopular answer: the shuttle crew should shut down the reactive valves for two of the fuel cells, which ultimately means the crew will not be landing on the moon and the mission will not be completed.
But, when Howard's character tells the Director of Flight Operations, "The Odyssey is dying. From my chair here, this is the last option," there is no long debate. There is no yelling, no, "There's got to be another option," or, "Find a way!" Instead, there is a very brief back and forth discussion before the Flight Director tells the Odyssey crew the directive.
Senior management did not pull rank over an expert they had hired, in order to justify a wrong decision. Although Clint Howard's character was nervous reporting the news, he still knew it was safe to do so in a work environment in which it was commonplace to share strong viewpoints without retribution. Businesses need to be at this point, too: ready to abort bad projects and act upon only the very best ideas.
Although we are not at mortal risk over group think, our profits and long-term success are. Daniel Goleman, noted author of Emotional Intelligence (compare prices) and Primal Leadership (compare prices), says that, "People in power live in an information vacuum - the higher you go in an organization, the less people you have to tell you you're screwing up." Well, allow me. If businesses don't use the lessons learned from NASA as an opportunity to stop and examine their own cultural barriers, we're screwing up.
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Michael Slade is the Human Resources Director for Eric Mower and Associates, a top 100 marketing communications agency with offices in Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, and Albany, New York; Portsmouth, New Hampshire; and Atlanta, Georgia. Slade is a member of the Human Resource Committee for the American Association of Advertising Agencies (AAAAs). You can reach Mike at: Phone: 315-466-1014 x3214 or via email at: mslade@eric.mower.com.