One of the bedrock, foundational principles and defining characteristics (there are five most frequently mentioned in the literature, but I've also added a sixth) of High Reliability Organizations (HROs) is the principle of Deference to Expertise. Again, HROs are defined as organizations that somehow avoid catastrophic accidents, even though they exist in an environment where normal accidents are expected to occur (indeed, they are almost inevitable) by virtue of the complexity of the organization and by the nature of the industry. Examples of HROs include flight deck operations on US Navy aircraft carriers, nuclear power plants, commercial aviation, NASA, and forest fire fighting operations. The five defining characteristics most frequently mentioned in the literature include:
Some experts, based upon their study of other HROs, in particular the U.S. Navy SEALs, would add a sixth defining characteristic - Comfort with uncertainty and chaos.
I've probably posted more about Deference to Expertise than any of the other four defining characteristics of HROs. It's definitely one of my favorites. The simple fact of the matter is that there's no playbook that leaders can use in today's VUCAT world. What has traditionally worked in the past may no longer apply in today's environment. Wouldn't it be great if we could simulate and practice for every possible scenario beforehand? Wouldn't it be great if we could script out our responses to every possible contingency that we may face in our organizations? While we can certainly try to do that, it's just not possible to cover every scenario or every contingency that we may encounter. HROs have solved this problem through Deference to Expertise. In short, Deference to Expertise means front-line leaders and managers closest to the action are given the authority to make decisions based upon their real-time assessment of what is going on in front of them. The leadership expert David Marquet (who I've posted about a number of times in the past - see "Classic Rookie Manager Mistakes", "The definition of power is the transfer of energy...", "The power of empowerment", and "Turning around the ship...") calls this "pushing authority to information" (as opposed to the more traditional mode of "pushing information to authority").
The military has developed a variation of Deference to Expertise known as "commander's intent" (based upon an earlier concept developed by the German military during the early days of World War II, called "auftragstaktik"). Frontline leaders (who are usually far removed from their commanding officers) are provided with a set of orders and instructions that describe the overall goals and objectives of a particular mission, the tactics and strategy that will be used, and the resources that will be immediately available. In other words, the frontline leaders are given a rough blueprint of the battle plan and are then told to go and complete the mission.
One of the most frequent questions I get asked when it comes to Deference to Expertise is "How much deference?" How much authority should leaders push to information? When should we, as leaders, take back authority and over-ride the decisions that have been made on the front-lines? It's a tricky question, but an important one. The answer is found with the military concept of "commander's intent". Frontline leaders are empowered to make decisions, but those decisions are made within a larger framework of the goals and objectives of the mission. Aaron De Smet, Caitlin Hewes, and Leigh Weiss from McKinsey & Company wrote a great blog post "Busting a management myth: Empowering employees doesn't mean leaving them alone". They state, "Many managers think delegating to others and empowering them means leaving them alone to make decisions; but successful empowerment requires involvement, it means being hands on, just not directive – playing the role of inspiring coach and servant leader and providing guidance and guardrails, but not making the decision. This looks very different from laissez faire hands-off leadership styles." Their research suggests that organizations whose front-line leaders are empowered to make decisions through coaching are nearly four times more likely to make fast, good decisions and outperform their industry peers.
Deference to Expertise is all about empowering front-line leaders to make decisions based upon their assessment and judgement of what is happening in front of them. But there is an important caveat - empowerment comes with a trade-off. Decisions are made within a certain framework based on the overall goals and objectives of the organization's mission. In other words, decisions are made within a set of guardrails. It's a key point that differentiates HROs from other organizations.
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