Brain Based Reliability
We all know that our people are our greatest asset, but sometimes even our greatest assets are not as reliable as we would hope. A typical response is to moralize about the need to pay attention, be more committed, care more, etc., but maybe we should be asking a different question?
· Is this actually something a human can do for a sustained period of time?
· Are we helping them combat fatigue effectively so they can do this work?
· Are there things in the design of the work or the workplace that we can change to help people perform more reliably?
Complacency
The reality is that common challenges like complacency or error making have a lot more to do with the way the brain functions than with the individual’s level of skill, motivation, care, or commitment.
Recent functional MRI experiments that allow us to watch people’s brains in action while they work have given us fascinating insights. We learned that the “thinking” part of the brain (PFC) works less than half of the time! The rest is spent operating out of habit, muscle memory, or reflex, and the brain makes this decision for us without our knowledge or consent!
Most of us can remember a time when were shocked to find that we were at our exit while driving. The miles that we had missed were not a moral failing, and it didn’t occur because we decided to be complacent. Complacency is a physiological, not behavioral experience, so we need to battle it in ways we can win, not by telling people to pay attention, care more, etc..
Errors, slips and omissions.
Frese’s Law of Error Frequency tell us that under normal circumstances, adults make 3-4 errors per hour. A DOD study with navy air-traffic controllers found that under stressful conditions that rate rises to 11-15! The reality is that the human brain is fallible. That does not mean we shouldn’t try to address these issues, but it does mean we should try something different.
· We can often make environmental and procedural changes that help keep us out of typical error traps.
· We can teach people about the common biases that influence our thinking and decision making.
· We can identify those areas where we expect people to perform reliably, but their brain won’t play along.
· We can better prepare people to operate under “upset conditions” where our fight or flight response hinders clear thinking.
Understanding the brain-based limitations of human performance is the starting place. Once identified, we can create systems, strategies, and process that produce reliable and resilient operations.
