Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
follow them whatever you think of them. Zero tolerance for deviation
is needed here; people have no choice.
We have seen that complete safety can only be reached if everybody
embraces a set of values that puts safety first. People have to believe in
it and root safety deeply into their brain (for example, in perception
processes). Others can never impose this kind of conditioning; people
have to embrace the values. Stated differently, people always have a
choice in adopting the values or not.
So now we can experience a conflict between the approach needed
for basic safety (stick to the rules) and for complete safety (embrace
the rules). This is confusing for management. Is it a unique dilemma?
No, we encounter it every day if we raise our children: Some rules are
undisputable, and this would be sufficient if we could accompany our
children for the rest of their lives. But children go out and grow up, so
they have to internalize some values to guide them. As parents, we
know how to combine these two contradictory pedagogic principles.
How can we do that also as managers?
Tip 5: Too Strong a Team Culture
Teams can have a strong culture. In such a team, the (informal) leader-
ship is usually well developed. The stronger the culture, the less open
the team is for external influences. This can really be a problem if
things are not functioning as they should
—
in this case, if the safety
performance is not good enough.
For improvement, the strength of the culture needs to be reduced.
This can be done by introducing new and strong team members and/or
by replacing the informal leaders. If this option is chosen, it is advised to
change everybody at the same moment. If new team members arrive one
by one, they will absorb the actual team culture within a period of six
weeks and hardly anything will change. If they all arrive together, they
will experience mutual support as newcomers and be able to develop a
countervailing cultural power within the team. In extreme cases, when
the power of the team is so strong that they resist all management influ-
ence, a complete dismantling of the whole team might the only solution.
Question: Have you experienced (too) strong teams that block
change?
Question: What would be your approach?
