As a leader of change, I often find myself thinking and writing about the human side of continuous improvement. After thirty plus years working in the business of making things better, I have learned that what is most difficult about change has little to do with the tools, the techniques, the technologies employed.
The success or failure of any initiative comes down to one thing: how readily people accept change.
Let’s face it - changing things is messy. It is difficult. And frankly, it is often a thankless task. But worse than that, is the simple fact that for many people, leading change is fraught with risk.
Why?
Because when things go wrong - as they inevitably will no matter how well you have planned or executed - folks will start looking for someone to blame.
“Create a Blameless Environment”
I cannot begin to count the number of times I have read, “We believe in a Blameless Environment” (or one of many similar sentiments) in the “values” statements of organizations I have worked with. The idea behind a blameless environment is that by creating one, you can stop pointing fingers at people as the cause of all your woes, and start digging in to find the system failures that enabled problems to exist. A blameless environment encourages people to speak up, without fear of repercussions, so that issues can be identified and resolved.
Early in my career, I worked in a very heavy industry, where one false move could cause severe injury or death to a worker. You might think that in such an environment fear would thrive.
It didn’t. I never have felt so safe at work, physically, mentally or emotionally before or since.
This got me thinking… Why?
That organization remains the one and only true “blameless” environment I have ever worked in. I suspect that the reason had much to do with the danger - when you can get seriously hurt, maimed or killed, you tend to watch out for your fellow human beings, just as you want them to watch out for you. Because the stakes are so high, you want to make sure things cannot go wrong. The alternative is not acceptable.
So, I believe that blame is simply not an option in such a situation. You have to get to the true root cause of issues to make sure everyone stays safe and goes home whole each day.
What was interesting in this organization was that the zest for creating a safe physical environment - translated into other benefits as well. Collaboration, teamwork, good communication and improvement were more the norm than the exception. This company had a truly great culture.
Yet… despite the fact that creating a blameless environment sounds desirable, it seems quite hard to achieve.
Why is it so easy to blame others? Is it our nature, or something else? Let’s explore this a bit.
Blame is Easy
Blaming someone else is simple. When you blame someone else, you remove the accountability from yourself and place it squarely on the shoulders of the person you are blaming. You can deflect attention from yourself and redirect it to another target. For this reason, many people get into the habit of looking for a scapegoat to assign blame to. This “smoke and mirrors” tactic won’t work forever in most organizations, but it can often work long enough that doing it is an attractive option for someone who does not want to be held accountable.
Surprisingly, few leaders will call people out on this habit or behavior.
Blame Allows us to Find a “Cause”
When faced with a problem we don’t understand or know why it is happening, we are uncomfortable. Human beings want to know “why” something happened, “how” it went wrong, and “who” made it happen. It is difficult sometimes to identify what is really happening; potential causes of problems can be difficult to find. Blaming someone can allow us to feel we have identified the root cause of the problem, and by taking action against the person who is “at fault” we can alleviate our anxiety that we do not know what is wrong or how to fix it.
In traditional management approaches, there still exists a common belief that there must always be someone to blame whenever a problem occurs. Finding the “cause” eases our stress temporarily. However, the reality is most of the time when problems arise, they are not the result of a person or people, but are the result of a fragile system that is not robust enough to detect the fact that a problem could occur and to prevent its occurrence.
Blame Helps us Protect Our Emotions and Justify Our Own Behavior and Choices
Becoming defensive, or irrational, is a common reaction to problems and issues. It can be very difficult to admit you have made a mistake to yourself, let alone to others. Looking for someone to pin the blame onto, allows us to deflect responsibility, avoid guilt, and to justify our own behavior when we have made errors or mistakes, or have behaved inappropriately.
Blame is the Friend of Fear and the Enemy of Progress
If you are a change agent, you might wake up one day to find all those fingers of blame directed straight at you.
Watching a change agent get targeted in this way creates tremendous fear, and a reluctance to support further change throughout the organization. In this way, blame creates fear and stops progress cold.
What Can Leaders Do to Help?
Once the blame game has started, it can be very difficult to stop. If one or more of your change agents’ credibility is under attack, the facts of the situation likely won’t matter. Emotions and perceptions can become reality in the blink of an eye.
Many companies backslide at this critical juncture; or worse yet, they abandon the transformation altogether. What can be done?
Overcommunicate
Make sure that the organization understands the vision, as well as the change process. If you think you have shared this with your organization, do it again. And again. And again!
Speak with facts… insist others do the same
Rumors, innuendos, attacks need to be addressed head-on. Watch for “fuzzy” would-be reasons and excuses. Dig in. Insist on data and facts. Investigate each claim of alleged wrongdoing first hand; do not assume you know the truth. Go straight to the source. Be watchful of people who bring only negative tales of woe and unhappiness about the change or the change agent(s); it’s fairly rare that any change or person is 100% bad.
When everyone jumps on the, “I hate so and so” bandwagon, you either have a really horrendously rotten apple, or you have a lot of folks who are resisting change and looking for a scapegoat to blame for their discomfort.
Lead With Integrity and Respect for People
Be honest and open with your team and with your colleagues about change. Let them know what is going well and what challenges you are facing.
Set clear expectations and hold others accountable not only for their results, but also for their words, their behaviors, their actions. Give second chances, but do not accept excuses for bad behavior. Expect your team and your colleagues to do the same of you.
