Feedback comes in many forms, yet rarely do we tend to take the time to assess indirect feedback, in particular, its source, accuracy and if we intend to take action. I’ll give you an example, the momentum and shift in social media towards visual rich content. We have seen that the hottest and highest engagement with platforms is Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat – all heavily geared towards photos and videos (especially raw live video). They are changing the way we consume content, in particular, moving away from the heavy text reliant model. There is a reason why newspapers are losing market share and value. I want to today contrast this to the lack of shift in learning and consultation in safety.
Most feedback if we choose to acknowledge it comes from non-direct sources which are rarely aimed at us. Newspaper editors never got sat down by their leaders and said our business model is on the way out, neither did Australian manufacturing before the cuts started. But were there indicators or feedback, of course, people said: “The writing was on the wall”. So why then did many fail to heed the feedback of what was coming?
Three reasons – Sunk Cost, Confirmation Bias and Cognitive Dissonance.
Here is how it plays out
- Sunk Cost – I already have been trained, studied and experienced in an area to a high level, I don’t need to learn anymore as I have sufficient information to do my role and achieve success
- Confirmation Bias – I don’t believe the reports that industry is changing, what do they know about my industry, I’ll always have a job as no one knows or can do exactly what I do
- Cognitive Dissonance – I have a suspicion that the industry is changing but it’s going to take so much effort to retrain and upskill that I’m going to avoid seeking information which confirms my suspicions and actively discourage change in my industry and role
It’s easy to state the problem and of course, you can feel this creeping up the back of your neck before cognitive dissonance takes hold and you reject this information I want you to try something new. Trial doing a lesson learnt via video, make a whiteboard explainer video or conduct an interview with an influential line manager to convey what goes right in your organisation. Use your existing intranet as a hub to broadcast this trail and see how people react, chances are you just might find the groundswell and motivation to keep going and refine further. Hell, others may even want to get in on the action! That’s using feedback as fuel and not
That’s using feedback to your advantage, as fuel and not friction. Don’t be an expert in the status quo, be a learner with one eye always looking in the future.
Let me know in the comments below your commitments to try and create visual content, rather than rely upon text and our normal processes – look forward to hearing your thoughts. And if you want a useful primer to start you off on your visual content journey start here with some amazing content from Jaxzyn. For me I’m off to start capturing lessons learnt in video, it’s small but its a start. Thanks to Gabriella Hartig-Franc for the inspiration
Reframe my Safety Brain 