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[...]
> One of the lessons that came through loud and clear to me was that
> people can be trained and tested and drilled, and still lose
> their cool
> when it comes to an emergency. Because nobody believes it will really
> happen.
[...]
Back when I poked into this thread, I was not talking
about people reading (or remembering and following)
instructions about "what to do in an emergency".
I was talking about people reacting to improper
requests/instructions/directions during the quiet
time before the emergency happens... in fact the
quiet time and the improper demand that made the
event into an emergency and a disaster, rather
than an annoyance or a non-event.
Some organizations provide instructions about
what to do in an emergency.
More, I think, provide instructions dedicated to
what to do to prevent an emergency. Standing procedures.
Policies. Job descriptions. Checklists.
It's history-that-everybody-should-know...
actually, history that everybody should have difficulty
NOT knowing... that should inform people's actions and
decisions during the calm times.
Once the emergency blows up and the disaster gets
into full swing, it's too late for that kind of
thing.
But then, since the disasters and emergencies are a
statistically tiny sample of all-that-happens, then
it's equally true that the bulk of the time and
situations are quiet, not panic time, and therefore
are the time for people to question fishy commands
and either resist doing them (if that's their nature)
or take names (my nature, anyway).
I think we all know what it means if somebody won't
put their name to a request that you do something.
The culture change that I mentioned earlier in the
thread is to encourage/remind people to ASK for that
name on a piece of paper when something sets their
Spidey-sense tingling.
Most North Americans won't haggle. It's just not our
culture. But that doesn't mean haggling is foreign
to human nature. In many cultures, it's practically
insulting to NOT haggle.
Same idea with politely questioning authority when
something just doesn't sound/smell right.
I don't like bureaucracies and the do-nothing, punish-
initiative attitude. But I do think it's worthwhile
to encourage people to at least question something that
doesn't seem right, and to demand either an explanation
that corrects their assumptions or a signature on a
piece of paper if their assumptions are correct (but
being violated). That kinda entails a shift in culture
toward reading the manuals, so that people have some
clue as to what the company, the organization, the
law actually intends.
So policy and procedure manuals should perhaps include
end-of-chapter test questions to see if the employee
really did "get" it. Did they have their eyes open
while the pages were turning, or the video was playing?
- K
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