Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
1. First we have to make sure that everybody involved knows what
kinds of behaviors are needed for safety reasons. If a newcomer in a
team cannot attach safety meaning to a certain behavior of a col-
league, he will not copy it. Mirroring becomes much stronger, once
we understand and experience a behavior.
2. We only mirror behavior if we can experience the intention behind it.
Safety behavior that is exposed by a colleague just because it belongs
to the protocol and not because the person believes in it, will not be
copied or will hardly be copied. The only reason why a person will
mirror such behavior is because she can sense the fear for punishment
if she is not following the protocol. This kind of mirroring lasts as
long as the fear does and will stop as soon the situation changes (for
example, when alone or unable to be noticed by others).
3. Trespassing safety boundaries can be as contagious as following
safety procedures. It is like a spreading fire, and it has to be extin-
guished. This really is a problem if all teammates trespass the same
boundary.
4. The neutralizing effect of team behavior can play a role: We have to
realize that new safety behavior needs to be exposed and modeled
again and again before it pushes aside the old behavior. Mirroring
can activate the old patterns once more, and we have seen that old
patterns hardly die if they are once more used from time to time.
5. If everybody embraces the safety intentions, colleagues will act
safely, just to stay part of the team.
6. If a strong team is dysfunctional on safety, sometimes the only solu-
tion is to replace a substantial number of team members or to dis-
mantle the whole team. However, gradually changing team
members one at a time keeps team behavior more intact compared
to changing an entire group of team members at once. This gradual
one-by-one replacement of individual members enhances the assimi-
lation process of the individual newcomer in which he adopts the
undesirable standards of the present team.
7. In change management, the colleagues with the highest attraction
(sometimes called the challengers) are the first one to involve in
behavioral change.
8.3 MIRRORING AND TEAM CULTURE
With the knowledge we have about mirror systems, we can explain
how a team culture can develop and maintain itself. We pick up the
