In my last two posts, I shared my view on how CEO’s and managers discuss mistakes in their executive coaching sessions with me.  I pointed out how much the discussions focused on the emotional consequences of the mistake and not the underlying cognitive process.  This got me thinking about how my professional of psychology handles mistakes – not too well, since errors are rarely recognized.  Medicine is doing better by changing professional attitudes and teaching about the cognitive biases and traps that often blind a physician’s thinking.

In today’s post, I point to a high-flying example that we can all emulate.

Aviation Industry; a model

There are many admirable aspects about the aviation industry concerning the management of errors, perhaps because the consequences are obvious and dramatic.

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Mistakes · Problem-solving

In my previous post, I shared my view on how CEO’s and managers discuss mistakes in their executive coaching sessions with me.  I pointed out how much the discussions focused on the emotional consequences of the mistake and not the underlying cognitive process.  I offered that my own profession of clinical psychology didn’t do a particularly good job either in handling mistakes. In today’s comments, I’ll examine some of the changes that are reducing medical mistakes before I present a model for us all.

Errors in medicine; torts and traps

In contrast to Psychology, there is more consistence about what interventions will cure or kill a medical patient.  However, the variability in each patient’s presentation with only partial overlap with group-based diagnostic criteria makes the environment ripe for mistaking the condition and providing the wrong treatment. Even the right treatment can initiate a chain of side effects that becomes as serious as the original problem.  Given this inherent complexity plus the fact medical decisions are often split-second decisions made by stressed and tired medical professionals, it is not surprising that errors occur.  We have documented evidence for the magnitude of the problem; the US Institute of Medicine estimated that 44,000 to 98,000 patients succumb to medical errors each year in the US.

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Mistakes · Reacting to errors

We all make mistakes. Lawyers sometimes accept cases that they know they shouldn’t; teachers get into battles with kids that are unwinnable; and executives fail to consider all the variables in their strategic planning analysis. The question is; do we learn from our mistakes?  Regrettably, our current culture stresses apology over analysis.

In my practice of executive coaching I hear about business blunders all the time.  Actually, I don’t often hear about the mistake itself, more likely, I hear about the emotional consequences. I see people berate themselves or reach out for consolation after making a mistake that leads to the unleashing of a tirade from an aggressive boss. I hear people resolve never to do it again or vow to do better in the future.

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Mistakes · Problem-solving

Like most Canadians, I was glued to the screen last night following Canada’s Olympic team on its march to gold against the team from Slovakia. Our national level of comfort was jolted by the Slovaks second goal to close the margin in the third period to a nail-biting 3-2 with minutes to play. Watching our team lose their composure, as they frantically tried to prevent that tying goal was described by one hockey commentator as panic. As everyone knows, we ended-up with the victory, but we also panicked.

As a psychologist who has treated hundreds to patients with panic attacks I wondered about what advice I might give Team Canada following their collective panic.

As good clinicians are aware, I would not suggest the seemingly easy answer of “forget about it, there’s another game to play.”

Panic is an unpleasant experience. By definition, panic is a self-propagating process where specific thinking leads to greater arousal and greater fear. Panic patients narrow their attention to focus on the catastrophic. Their decision-making shifts to reducing harm and consciousness moves to a point of external observation rather than being integrated in the flow of current reality. The problem with “forgetting about it,” is that panic patients don’t; they silently worry about it and live in terror that it will happen again.

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Hockey · Panic · Team Canada

Just say: “good job!” It’s simple, certainly brief and surprisingly effective.

As an occupational psychologist listening to stories of workplace stress and discontentment, I frequently wish that I had a communication pipeline to my clients’ bosses to whom I could whisper the above advice.

For the hard working but often harassed administrative assistants who receive requests, or rather, order after order from bosses with little consideration of the existing to-do lists, such whispered advice would provide obvious relief. However, I also see C-level executives – people with great organizational power and responsibility who arduously strive to accomplish a myriad of tasks often not to their own level of satisfaction or ideals. These people often let it slip that they would feel much better about themselves and their own job performance if the CEO would say: “good job,” even infrequently. (more…)

Employee recognition