Maintenance & Equipment Incidents: Concentrate on the Solution, Not Assigning Blame
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When something goes wrong it is a natural human reaction to blame someone for the problem. But blaming anyone at this stage does nothing to take you forward to a solution, and while that state of affairs exists you are suffering costs and losses. The major, imperative goal is to restore operations and get back to generating revenue as quickly as is possible. Only then should you be concerned about who is to blame for the incident.
Let's take a practical example of what we are saying.
A critical incident occurs on the production line which is initially traced to several line staff failing to observe standard operating procedures. Management immediately impose disciplinary action and sends the workers home.
So far, there is nothing out of the ordinary. This is a common situation and a typical management reaction. A problem occurs, blame is apportioned and disciplinary action is instigated.
But the question is this, "Has this management action moved the company forward in tackling the immediate problem of the production line interruption?"
The answer is of course, "No, it has not!"
Blame or Accountability?
There is a frequent confusion of "blame" with "accountability" or "responsibility", however the two concepts are not the same.
Accountability implies responsibility; something for which you are responsible for, though you may have to account for an incident for which you or the team involved cannot possibly be held responsible for. For instance, a business interruption due to a terrorist attack: can anyone at work on 9/11 be responsible for the business interruption experienced in the NY financial district?
They certainly cannot in any way be "blamed" for what happened.
Your company needs to find out "why" something has happened; what was the mistake or series of mistakes which led to the incident. This requires truthfulness on the part of the staff involved, however if the "blame game" is being played, how candid are your staff going to be in reality? Simply blaming staff and following up with a standardized punishment is telling those involved that it is better to protect themselves from being blamed, and this affects accountability and being able to understand what actually led to the event.
How Do You Approach an Incident?
It is easy to allow a blame culture to flourish in an organization, however this is essentially self-destructive. It is one thing for a staffer to make a mistake, for instance due to a training failure or lack of experience, but it is quite another to encounter an employee who is a "persistent offender".
There is also the issue where following a procedure blindly does not mean that there will not be an incident. Playing by the book is frequently used as justification for failing to apply brains, but how perfect are your procedures? The truth is that no procedure or manual is ever going to be perfect; this is why you must engender a culture of openness and honesty which allows people to constructively interact and add the experience they have of working with the processes operating within your business. They after all, know their jobs better than you probably do.
Article Source: Articlelogy.com
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