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High Reliability Organizing
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HROs practice a form of organizing that reduces the pain created by unexpected events, helps us contain them, and speeds up recovery.
We all plan for what we expect and even develop contingencies for ways we think things could go wrong. Managing the unexpected is difficult to “plan” for by definition. We never imagined those surprises!
Relying only on what we can imagine can eventually mean big surprises, unless we create a mindful infrastructure that is continually
- Tracking small failures
- Resisting oversimplification
- Sensitive to operations
- Maintaining capabilities for resilience
- Taking advantage of shifting locations of expertise
There are ways to build upon our skills to both anticipate and recover from the unexpected test.
The ability to see things coming long before they arrive, even when events are quickly unfolding outside of expectations, or our systems are quietly breaking down just below the surface, can be learned and taught.
The ability to recombine the resources at hand into novel approaches to problem resolution, emotional maturity evidenced in respectful communication under duress, and deep knowledge of how the system’s technologies function are a few signs of a commitment to building resilient people, teams and organizations.
The best HROs expect people will make mistakes and that their systems can fail in unimagined ways. This vision is evident in the underlying principles of mindfulness that heighten awareness, increase vigilance, create clarity in the midst of noise, and deal with disasters before they can fully develop.
Continuous updating in a mindful way minimizes the likelihood of large failure, speeds recovery, and facilitates real organizational learning.
Managing the Unexpected; Assuring High Performance in an Age of Complexity
Dr. Karl Weick and Dr. Kathleen Sutcliffe
