Bad Apples Or Bad Barrels?

Challenge should be a key value in every workplace

Many times the problem is not a few bad apples, but the barrel.

No one is quite sure how the phrase “silence is golden” came about, but thankfully, 2017 may be remembered as the year when the silent spoke up.  They’ve spoke of unacceptable behaviour, mistreatment and abuse in the workplace, and of powerful individuals misusing their position and authority.
 

Hidden in Plain Sight

Perhaps the most shocking aspect of their claims has been that this disgraceful behaviour has often been an ‘open secret’. People knew all too well it went on. But they didn’t speak up. Whilst identifying the guilty individuals is a necessary first step, is it sufficient to prevent such outrages occurring in the future?

Bad Apples and Bad Barrels

Many of the perpetrators will be subject to the law and will rightly face the consequences. And while justice must be done and seen to be done, it may obscure a deeper, darker issue.

Psychologist Philip Zimbardo points out that when things go wrong there is a need to identify and isolate individuals – to find and punish the ’bad apples’.

But what of the ‘barrel’: The environment that turned a blind eye and a deaf ear? That allowed their actions to go unchecked?

Perhaps we view the addressing of the environment as letting the individual off the hook somehow. And so, when our thirst for condemnation is satisfied, we simply move on. To do otherwise is much too difficult.

And yet this is exactly what is needed. We need to make sure that the environments in which we work and socialise simply will not allow abuse to take root.

Barrel Makers

Firstly, let’s state the obvious. Leaders are ‘barrel makers’. Their actions shape the culture: how decisions are made, how individuals interact, how dissenting voices are heard and whether the company’s values are actually applied.

In creating this barrel, we can demand that individuals have the moral courage to challenge their bosses and peers. However, we know that very few of us, when isolated, when egregious behaviour has been normalised around us, will speak up. We can all think of times, too, when loyalty was more important than truth; when the group was more powerful than the individual; when the long term overrode the short term, and when misguided mercy trumped justice.

Challenge should be a Key Value in Every Workplace

Perhaps cognitive scientist Gary Klein has part of the answer. Klein put forward the concept of the ‘Pre Mortem’ - a ‘Devil’s Advocacy’-type decision making tool. While Pre Mortems are used to focus on matters such as the introduction of new products, an acquisition or company strategy, they actually, and more importantly, facilitate a health check on a group’s culture:
 

There is no reason why, in a sensitive and controlled manner that a ‘Pre Mortem’ could not be undertaken on a company’s values.  Recently, when leading a Pre Mortem with a large global organisation, we found that the initiative under consideration was not only unrealistic but, more pertinently, it was also being imposed in an environment where individuals felt bullied and isolated. For the FD it was a wake-up call.  But it has now represented the first step to aligning reality with the company’s values.

I do not claim that Pre Mortems will stop deeply erroneous behavioural traits. They won’t.  But then neither will statements from CEOs and briefings from HR. But Pre Mortems and other collaborative decision making tools can make authority and power more transparent, and so subject to greater scrutiny.  When no one is challenging and everyone is nodding, it is very difficult to argue your case – that is why the Silence Breakers fully deserve time’s accolade.