HROs treat any lapse in behaviour as a symptom of something being wrong with the system. They worry about a series of ‘small things’ that might combine and have severe consequences. They encourage the reporting of small errors and they think about ‘near misses’. They worry about complacency.

Overall we say that HROS are on the lookout for ‘weak signals’, of things that could escalate.

To get things done, we need often to break them into smaller chunks and focus on a few key issues. However, HROs also believe that ‘less simplification allows you to see more’². This allows for nuance and looking at the complex and uncertain. These organisations try to see as much as possible in their environment, both literally and also conceptually.

One fascinating idea here is that when a team member in an HRO ‘sees’ something that is familiar, that is, they recognise something, the instinct is to be concerned rather than comforted. Are there bigger differences than are immediately obvious?

When you are working on projects, what are the implications of this concept? Oversimplifications can lead to drastic mistakes and shortcoming. Making assumptions that oversimply can be dangerous and life-threatening.

HROs are sensitive to front line operations. They worry about who is actually ‘getting stuff done’. They rely on situational awareness, and that way they can make adjustments as they notice things, events, and they rely on people speaking up! The saying goes that what is happening inside the heads must be known between heads! Coordination is the key.

There are very complex definitions of resilience. However an ‘action oriented’ definition might be: the ability to bounce back from failures, errors and setbacks, realise what happened, and get back to focusing on the task at hand. A really important fact here however, is that exhausted teams, either physically or emotionally, are less able to be resilient.

Recovery is an important part of resilience. Urgency and rest go hand in hand! Teams that are exhausted have less ability to think creatively and deal with the unexpected problems.

Resilience is essential to success in complex situations. Resilient teams focus on those small things, on keeping errors small, they look for workarounds, and they have deep knowledge of their teams, their capabilities, the system, and most importantly, themselves.

“Resilience is a combination of keeping errors small and of improvising workarounds that allow the system to keep functioning”.²

To do this, HROs and their teams focus on training, developing people with deep and varied skills and experiences and also making do with what they have at the time. Weick also suggests that those of us who have vivid imaginations and abilities to visualise are effective at resilience.

HROs encourage diversity in their teams. This helps them to notice more, and do more. And notice more and do more when the problems are more complex and uncertain.

Rigid hierarchies are more likely to make mistakes. Why is this? Because they tend to ignore the expertise that is spread about the team, and any errors or mistakes that happen at various levels of the organisation.

Successful teams share the decision making and make sure that the front line is engaged. Those who have the expertise, regardless of rank, are as important as those who are ‘higher up the command’ chain.

Here is an example from General McChrystal, from studies of teams in emergency rooms in military hospitals.³ When chief surgeons during complex and life-critical events were moved to the FOOT of a bed, over time cross-functional trauma teams emerged, that could do more, achieve more, in less time. Evaluation and other activities could happen simultaneously, and the ‘team of teams’ concept comes to play. The right expertise is in play at the right time. The front line is engaged. And the surgeon allows the team to perform.

A key insight for you here is that both authority and expertise are essential to good outcomes when the problems are complex and the issues are unexpected.