We need a new error culture! Easier said than done?!

We need a new error culture! Easier said than done?!

From the mouths of many decision-makers within companies and corporations, one hears again and again that a new error culture is urgently needed. This is understandable in so far as the economy "burns" many billions of money annually due to errors and therefore there is a lot of potential for savings.

But are the decision-makers really aware of what a new error culture means for them personally?

The time for a new error culture is currently riper than ever! Not only because the topic of change management will probably become the business buzzword of the year, but also because all companies are increasingly forced to become more economically efficient. At the same time, increasing their own attractiveness is also high on the agenda when it comes to attracting new employees. In addition, there is also the constant increase in complexity in the daily work of their employees, to which an answer is urgently needed.

So what needs to be done to meet the demand for a new error culture?

In the past, there had been a lot of focus on the technical skills of the employees, and they were always improving them. Be it the introduction of new software, tools or completely new working environments. Especially in connection with the topic of new workplaces with home offices, co-working spaces and digital nomadism, one can see the drastic changes in the working world abundantly clear. While many systems and tools are becoming more optimized and reliable, they also present employees with many new challenges.

Introducing a new error culture therefore means not only taking a new path in dealing with errors, but also taking a new look at the fundamental topic of human factor (non-technical capabilities of people) as part of change management. This human factor management to be established not only helps to introduce measures to prevent errors, but also leads to an improvement in team performance, since the employees not only work together more safely, but also more efficiently.

Aviation experienced this change as early as the 1970s. With the introduction of more complex and reliable technology, airline accidents seemed to be getting better and better under control. However, the people who operated the systems were still the same as before.

As a result, the human factor was increasingly becoming a source of error in aircraft accidents. Therefore, it was urgent to face these challenges and to develop appropriate concepts for them.

In order to develop measures for error prevention and reduction, however, it was first necessary to detect and record these errors in order to derive appropriate defense mechanisms.

Due to many installed devices like flight recorders, voice recorders, etc. for monitoring within the aircraft, a good basis for the detection and analysis of errors was and is available in aviation.  Thus, a solution only had to be found for those errors that did not lead to an automatic report, so that the necessary measures could also be derived from them.

And it is precisely at this point that the greatest challenge for all companies lies!

On the one hand, the employees involved must be encouraged and motivated to report these errors, and on the other hand, a solution must be found for dealing with errors that, according to the previous methodology, might have led to a disciplinary measure. And unfortunately, these are exactly the mistakes that usually cost a lot of money.

Encouraging and motivating employees is a crucial step and one of the building blocks of successful human factor management. It is used not only to collect error data, but also to prevent errors and increase the efficiency of employees and teams.

However, it first requires appropriate communication on the part of the management, since it is not just the introduction of a new model series or product, but the beginning of a new guiding culture that must be lived and experienced, and here you should and can set an important course as a role model!

But be encouraged. As a captain, I have had the opportunity many times to convey to my crew that I, too, am not perfect and make mistakes. However, the most important thing is always to also teach them how, through early recognition, professional handling, and most importantly, with the redundancy of our entire crew, we will get these mistakes under control and make a safe landing.

With that in mind:

Do you need a new error culture? Then start it!