High Reliability Organizations (HROs) and Leadership Karlene H. Roberts Haas School of Business Center for Catastrophic Risk Management University of California, Berkeley karlene@haas.berkeley.edu 510.642.4700 (fax) 1

Agenda The unexpected happens Defining a High Reliability Organization (HRO) Importance of resiliency and adaptation The leader’s role in a HRO In reality almost all of us deal with interdependent departments or interdependent systems of organizations Different system components What kind of leadership works best for teams?

Agenda, cont. How does transformational leadership work? Challenges in team leadership Common responsibilities of team leaders Four roles for team leaders E-leadership What makes E-leadership work?

You see, I am not very good material for a story. When anyone asks me how I can best describe my experience in nearly forty years at sea, I merely say, uneventful. Of course there have been winter gales, and storms and fog and the like, but in all my experience, I have never been in any accident of any sort worth speaking about. I never saw a wreck and never have been wrecked, nor was I ever in any predicament that threatened to end in disaster of any sort. You see, I am not very good material for a story.  Edward J. Smith, Captain, RMS Titanic © 2005 Christie's Images

Swiss Cheese Model Person Organization Person Accident trajectory

What is a High Reliability Organization (HRO) ? An organization conducting relatively error free operations over a long period of time making consistently good decisions resulting in high quality and reliability operations What is a high reliability organization (or HRO)?

Resiliency Adaptation

The Leader’s Role: Cultivating Resilience and Adaptation Anticipate trouble spots. Develop employee capability to improvise. Improve organizational capacity and resources to: Do quick studies Develop swift trust Engage in just-in-time learning

The Leader’s Role: Reluctance to Simplify Interpretations All organizations must ignore many things. Doing so may force them to ignore key sources of problems. Help employees restrain temptations to simplify. To do this establish checks and balances, adversarial reviews, and multiple perspectives.

The Leader’s Role: Preoccupation with Failure Worry chronically and help employees worry chronically about errors. Assume each day is a bad day and help employees assume each day is a bad day. Realize that what you’re doing is difficult to do. Help develop collective bonds among suspicious people.

The Leader’s Role: Sensitivity to Operations Pay close attention to operations but don’t micromanage. Make sure everyone values organizing to maintain situational awareness. Use resources so people can see and comprehend what is happening.

The Leader’s Role: Organize Around Expertise Let decisions “migrate” to those with expertise to make them. Avoid rigid hierarchies.

Recap – The Leader’s Role Cultivate resilience and adaptation by: Helping people avoid simplifying interpretations Helping people to be preoccupied with failure Helping people to be sensitive to operations Organizing around expertise

Components of a ‘System’ Interfaces Operators Procedures Hardware Structure Organizations Environments

Components of a ‘System’ Interfaces Department 1 Department 3 Department 5 Department 2 Department N Department 4

Components of a ‘System’ Interfaces Org 1 Org 3 Org 5 Org 2 Org N Org 4

Components of a ‘System’ Interfaces Org 1 Regulation Legality Supplier Org N Org 2

What Kind of Leadership is Best? Transactional? Transformational? Contracts exchange of reward for effort Promises rewards Recognizes accomplishments Watches and searches for deviations from rules Intervenes only if standards not met Provides vision and sense of mission Instills pride, gains respect and trust Inspires motivation Promotes intelligence and careful problem solving Gives personal attention,coaches

How Does Transformational Leadership Work? Be creative Encourage employees to be creative Be familiar with and agree with the organization’s strategic goals Encourage followers to pursue ambitious goals Believe organizational goals are personally important Have vision

Providing Team Leadership: Challenges Learn to share information Learn to trust others Learn to give up authority Understand when to intervene

Common Responsibilities of Team Leaders Coaching Facilitating Handling disciplinary problems Reviewing team/individual performance Training Communication

Four Roles for Team Leaders

Liaisons with External Constituencies Upper management, other internal teams, etc. Represents the team to other teams Secures resources Clarifies others expectations Gathers information from outside Shares information with the team

Troubleshooter When team has problems team leader sits in meetings and asks for assistance Help team talk through problems

Conflict Manager What’s the source of conflict Who is involved? What are the issues? What resolution options are available? What are the advantages and disadvantages of each?

Coaches Clarify expectations and roles Teach Offer support Cheerlead Do whatever is needed to help team improve performance

Today’s Leadership Often Means E-Leadership This is very important in industries like the energy industry We have obvious examples Almost all leadership research examines face-to-face interactions

How to Make E-Leadership Work Carefully choose words. In e-leadership harsh words can’t be softened by non verbal communication – a smile, a gesture, etc. Structure appropriately – phrases are likely to be received as curt Make sure message tone reflects the emotion you want to send Choose a comfortable style – emoticons? abbreviations? etc.

Wrap up: What we Talked About The unexpected happens Defining a High Reliability Organization (HRO) The leader’s role in a HRO Interdependent departments or systems of organizations Different system components Transformational leadership Responsibilities of team leaders E-leadership