During a complex air warfare exercise in Nevada, known as RED FLAG, two Tornados on a night attack mission unintentionally crossed flight paths, only just missing each other and less than a second away from collision and catastrophe. In pitch black darkness, they were flying at 200 feet above ground level (ca. 60m) and at a speed of over 500 knots (ca. 950 km/h). The post flight debriefing revealed that at the time of crossing flight paths the two aircraft had a lateral separation of only 800 feet (250 m).
Just a few minutes earlier, on the attack run to the target, one Tornado had been threatened by a simulated Surface to Air Missile (SAM) Site. In an attempt to avoid and outrun the threat the crew deviated from the planned flight path, increased speed considerably and in the heat of the battle lost complete situational awareness - i.e. where they were headed and what they were doing. The threat reaction to avoid the SAM had cut short the intended route and put them on a direct collision course with the preceding Tornado. Amazingly and fortunately, luck was on their side that night. They had survived to tell the tale, reflect and learn an important lesson from it.
In military aviation a lot of time is devoted to analysing our actions in order to learn from them. Some key issues leading to this incident were:
The crew became task saturated in a very demanding situation
They focused completely on the immediate task while losing situational awareness for what else was happening around them
Communication and coordination between the cockpits broke down
They failed to adhere to processes designed for their own safety and that of others
Having left the German Air Force and worked in industry with various businesses and organisations during the last eight years, I have found similar patterns in organisational behaviour that often lead to unintended results and/or consequences. I will try and explain what I mean.
Almost all of the organisations I have worked with operate in very demanding competitive environments, have ambitious goals and are often stretched for resources in a constant effort to keep costs under control. Working at high pressure but under capacity leaves the organisation with no reserves for peaks in demand or shifting priorities. As a result, resources need to be continuously reassigned placing the workforce under additional stress. If not recognised and managed well an organisation can become task saturated and lose its ability to maintain Situational Awareness.
Here is one of many definitions: “SA is what you need to know not to be surprised"" (Jeannot, Kelly & Thompson)
Organisations, especially those in very demanding competitive environments, need to know what is happening around them, to see what is developing into the future and to put in place proactive measures that will ensure business success and ultimately survival. There are many examples of failed organisations that did not see the threats coming because they were too focused on short term success and/or “fighting fires”. The key to long term, sustainable success is staying ahead of the game (or “staying ahead of the aircraft” as we say in aviation).
One of the main threats to good situational awareness is task saturation because the organisations capacity to deal with complexity rapidly degrades when the stress level tips from positive stress to distress resulting in tunnel vision, panic and mistakes.
One of the early indicators of a task saturated organisation is the degraded quality of communication and coordination. Typical symptoms are ineffective meetings, department infighting and rivalry, finger pointing and blaming. Under pressure to make choices, take decisions and deliver results in very demanding time frames, tasks are misunderstood, questions are not answered, and everybody is focused on “just getting the job done”. The result is WASTE: poor quality work requiring many iterations to get it right, increased need for communication, more meetings, less time for all….
Processes are designed for a purpose (at least they should be). In aviation they are often the result of hard learned lessons and serve to promote safety and act as a barrier to mistakes. The same applies to processes in organisations. Next to increasing efficiency and effectiveness they also aim to simplify communication and coordination giving everybody involved more mental capacity to concentrate on what really matters (N.b. poorly designed processes often achieve the opposite). A typical symptom of an organisation under stress is increasing lack of process adherence. Under time pressure processes are seen as obstacles to be circumnavigated. A false sense of being in control together with ad hoc decision-making increase failure risks, encourage mistakes and ultimately can result in fatal accidents (aviation) or lost business, compliance issues and failed projects (businesses and organisations).
In my experience the key element to success under stress is good leadership. It is the glue that holds everything in place when pieces begin falling apart. And when I say “Leadership”, I mean leadership at all levels of the organisation, not just at the top.
In my work with different businesses and organisations I have repeatedly observed that demanding situations lead to so called “leadership vacuums”. Three major reasons are:
Organisations under stress tend to look to the dynamic leader at the top to make the right decisions and solve the problems at hand. It is the easy way out for lower levels of the hierarchy to delegate responsibility and decision making up the chain of command.
Vice versa a lot of these “dynamic leaders” are led by the belief that only they can solve the situation and therefore need to take a top down, centralized approach to decision making. But with tight time schedules and degraded situational awareness of the many complex issues facing the organisation this ability is very limited.
Misunderstood concepts of empowerment, autonomy and delegation are used to avoid having to make choices and take responsibility. Responsibility and decision making are delegated down the chain of command.
Leadership vacuums are dangerous for organisations because everybody is lulled into a false sense of security that someone else will get the job done. But to be successful, organisations need visible, effective, responsibility taking leadership at every point in the hierarchy.
Be visible and connect. Even the most empowered employees appreciate visible leadership and role models – for guidance, recognition, feedback, decision taking, training, facilitation. Getting out into the organisation and interacting with others (instead of writing eMails) is also the key to collecting valuable information about issues affecting your business. This will improve your own and the organisations Situational Awareness. It will also demonstrate to your team that you have an interest in their work!
Improve communication
Use facilitation to improve the effectiveness of meetings (use external facilitators and/or acquire facilitation skills for yourself and others)
Build bridges instead of walls; identify hidden agendas and conflicts and manage them
Standardise meetings where you can; it helps keep time and agenda on track
Clarify aims and objectives at the beginning of a process, get it first time right and avoid too many iterations at the end
Build Group Situational Awareness. It is not sufficient for the leader or manager to have SA if the rest of his or her team has none.
Establish a “debriefing” or “mistake” culture in which lessons learned are identified, conserved and used for future reference. Never pass up an opportunity to debrief a project, a team task, a sales campaign or any other learning opportunity. Communicate what you and others have learned into the organisation if you think it is relevant.
Stick to processes. If they are not effective or efficient use Continuous Improvement or other methodologies to make them fit for use and purpose.
None of the above will work if leaders at all levels in the organization do not act as role models. If you are not out on the shop floor taking an interest in the challenges your teams are facing, you will not be taken seriously. If you are a poor communicator don´t be surprised if your employees follow your example. If you do not set clear aims and objectives that everybody can understand at the beginning, you will be spending the final weeks before delivery on a task trying to fix things that could have been avoided. If you succumb to blaming and shaming or pointing the finger at others, do not be surprised when mistakes are covered up, trust is depleted and employee engagement drops. If you do not stick to processes yourself, don´t bother about implementing new ones.
Finally, at RED FLAG one of the greatest personal rewards is participating in a mission that has been well planned, briefed, executed and debriefed. The result is a multinational force of up to 120 diverse combat aircraft maintaining Situational Awareness under extreme pressure and complexity, and delivering on a task, or multiple tasks, safely and effectively. My belief is that any organisation or business can achieve the same in their own context through discipline, continuous learning and dedication – and role model leadership that sets examples for others to follow.
Michael Sauer spent more than 20 years in the German Air Force, primarily as a frontline Tornado fighter/bomber pilot. Following his air force career, he was a management consultant where he enjoyed exploring all dimensions of contemporary management, including leadership, operational excellence and humanistic management concepts. He is currently Director of Business Development for CAE GmbH based in Stolberg, Germany.
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