• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

SafetyRisk.net

Humanising Safety and Embracing Real Risk

  • Home
    • About
      • Privacy Policy
      • Contact
  • FREE
    • Slogans
      • Researchers Reveal the Top 10 Most Effective Safety Slogans Of All Time
      • When Slogans Don’t Work
      • CLASSIC, FAMOUS and INFAMOUS SAFETY QUOTES
      • 500 OF THE BEST AND WORST WORKPLACE HEALTH and SAFETY SLOGANS 2023
      • CATCHY and FUNNY SAFETY SLOGANS FOR THE WORKPLACE
      • COVID-19 (Coronavirus, Omicron) Health and Safety Slogans and Quotes for the Workplace
      • Safety Acronyms
      • You know Where You Can Stick Your Safety Slogans
      • Sayings, Slogans, Aphorisms and the Discourse of Simple
      • Spanish Safety Slogans – Consignas de seguridad
      • Safety Slogans List
      • Road Safety Slogans 2023
      • How to write your own safety slogans
      • Why Are Safety Slogans Important
      • Safety Slogans Don’t Save Lives
      • 40 Free Safety Slogans For the Workplace
      • Safety Slogans for Work
    • FREE SAFETY eBOOKS
    • Free Hotel and Resort Risk Management Checklist
    • FREE DOWNLOADS
    • TOP 50
    • FREE RISK ASSESSMENT FORMS
    • Find a Safety Consultant
    • Free Safety Program Documents
    • Psychology Of Safety
    • Safety Ideas That Work
    • HEALTH and SAFETY MANUALS
    • FREE SAFE WORK METHOD STATEMENT RESOURCES
    • Whats New In Safety
    • FUN SAFETY STUFF
    • Health and Safety Training
    • SAFETY COURSES
    • Safety Training Needs Analysis and Matrix
    • Top 20 Safety Books
    • This Toaster Is Hot
    • Free Covid-19 Toolbox Talks
    • Download Page – Please Be Patient With Larger Files…….
    • SAFETY IMAGES, Photos, Unsafe Pictures and Funny Fails
    • How to Calculate TRIFR, LTIFR and Other Health and Safety Indicators
    • Download Safety Moments from Human Resources Secretariat
  • Social Psychology Of Risk
    • What is Psychological Health and Safety at Work?
    • Safety Psychology Terminology
    • Some Basics on Social Psychology & Risk
    • Understanding The Social Psychology of Risk – Prof Karl E. Weick
    • The Psychology of Leadership in Risk
    • Conducting a Psychology and Culture Safety Walk
    • The Psychology of Conversion – 20 Tips to get Started
    • Understanding The Social Psychology of Risk And Safety
    • Psychology and safety
    • The Psychology of Safety
    • Hot Toaster
    • TALKING RISK VIDEOS
    • WHAT IS SAFETY
    • THE HOT TOASTER
    • THE ZERO HARM DEBATE
    • SEMIOTICS
    • LEADERSHIP
  • Dr Long Posts
    • ALL POSTS
    • Learning Styles Matter
    • There is no Hierarchy of Controls
    • Scaffolding, Readiness and ZPD in Learning
    • What Can Safety Learn From Playschool?
    • Presentation Tips for Safety People
    • Dialogue Do’s and Don’ts
    • It’s Only a Symbol
    • Ten Cautions About Safety Checklists
    • Zero is Unethical
    • First Report on Zero Survey
    • There is No Objectivity, Deal With it!
  • THEMES
    • Risk Myths
    • Safety Myths
    • Safety Culture Silences
    • Safety Culture
    • Psychological Health and Safety
    • Zero Harm
    • Due Diligence
  • Free Learning
    • Introduction to SPoR – Free
    • FREE RISK and SAFETY EBOOKS
    • FREE ebook – Guidance for the beginning OHS professional
    • Free EBook – Effective Safety Management Systems
    • Free EBook – Lessons I Have Learnt
  • Psychosocial Safety
    • What is Psychosocial Safety
    • Psychological Safety
      • What is Psychological Health and Safety at Work?
      • Managing psychosocial hazards at work
      • Psychological Safety – has it become the next Maslow’s hammer?
      • What is Psychosocial Safety
      • Psychological Safety Slogans and Quotes
      • What is Psychological Safety?
      • Understanding Psychological Terminology
      • Psycho-Social and Socio-Psychological, What’s the Difference?
      • Build a Psychologically Safe Workplace by Taking Risks and Analysing Failures
      • It’s not weird – it’s a psychological safety initiative!
You are here: Home / Humble Inquiry / ‘Can’t Means Won’t Try’ – The Challenge of Being Challenged

‘Can’t Means Won’t Try’ – The Challenge of Being Challenged

February 9, 2015 by Max Geyer 14 Comments

‘Can’t Means Won’t Try’ – The Challenge of Being Challenged

Why is change easy for children and often so difficult for adults in the work environment?  Are workers just being difficult, or is there more to it than that?  It seems that there are challenges to being challenged.

I’m feeling inspired by a conversation I had recently with my 10 year old grandson.  He is using words like maximise and minimise in context.  He is talking about his responsibilities towards the kids who are younger than himself.  And he is talking about the issue of addiction as he works through a self imposed limitation of hours (encouraged by Mum and Dad) spent on a computer game that was at one time his total, almost obsessive, focus of conversation and leisure time.

I’m inspired by his answer, when he was asked how he felt to be back at school and starting year 5, and he said ‘… great, I’m doing some year 6 work and I’m finding it really challenging.’  It turns out that he is in a mixed year 5 – 6 class and has been introduced to the concept of “long division” among other new stuff.

I’m inspired by the fact that he is excited about being challenged.  We chatted about how through accepting challenges, we learn and how learning is fun, and how as we learn we grow.  A bit later that day he was attempting to do something and didn’t get it quite right.  When he said ‘I can’t do it’ I told him that my Dad (his Big Grampy) had always said to me that ‘can’t means won’t try’.  When he argued that he did try, we then talked about what Big Grampy might have meant by ‘can’t means won’t try’.  We started to look at alternatives to the method he was attempting and then when he did come up with a solution, he admitted that he ‘… just didn’t think before’.

I reflected on what this admission would mean in the workplace.  History would indicate that when workers are involved in an incident and they admit to “not thinking” they are immediately thought of as being dumb, or not having common sense, or being accident prone, or being a danger to those around them.  They are a problem which has to be fixed.  They are usually then subjected to a process of blame, re-training and extra supervision.  Systems are revised and new ones are built and the process starts over again; only to be repeated when the next person proves their humanity and makes a mistake because in their own minds they were “not thinking”.

The thing is, when I checked in with my little year 5 mate about this “non-thinking” thing, and we explored the fact that he lacks knowledge, experience and the capacity to be able to think of everything, he was comfortable.  He wasn’t really bothered by the idea of him not knowing stuff.  Importantly, he was comfortable that there were things that he didn’t know.  And what was surprising, he was comfortable that there were things that he didn’t yet know about that he didn’t know.  What wasn’t surprising was that he just saw that as another challenge; after all before this year he didn’t know about long division and didn’t know that he didn’t know it.  The thought of another challenge excited him.

The puzzling thing is that a 10 year old was comfortable in this void of experience and expertise yet adults often can’t seem to think like this.  Why is it different for adults?  Why does it seem that adults have to be experts?  Why is it that as adults the bit of knowledge on a subject that we have is the bit that is important to us and that we hang onto, come what may?  Why is it that whenever adults are confronted by new ideas, which challenge their historical perceptions, knowledge, capability or expertise they often respond to the challenge by simply putting up the shutters?  Why is change so very difficult for some?

It seems that it is automatic to deny anything that does not fit with our experience, sometimes even to the extent of denying proven science; smoking and cancer, increased greenhouse gasses and global warming, increased cholesterol and heart disease…

Well it appears that there is more to it than that.

Much of the problem may come not so much from learning as it does from un-learning.  In order to learn a completely new idea that challenges our current thinking, we often have to un-learn what we currently believe, and open the way for the new idea.  Schein (2010, pp. 303-304) presents us with a number of reasons which help to explain this reluctance, or resistance to change including:

  • the fear of loss of power, position or status (during the change to, or in the new regime);
  • the fear of temporary incompetence (while in the limbo between un-learning and learning);
  • the fear of punishment for incompetence (as we develop the new competence);
  • the fear of loss of personal identity (under a new regime which may come from the implementation of the new idea);
  • the fear of loss of group identity (if the new regime results in new structures)

These fears can build in people when they anticipate, consciously and unconsciously, the potential difficulties which may accompany having to unlearn something and in fact it can become a disruptive anxiety, referred to by Schein (2010, pp. 300-303) as the ‘learning anxiety’.

Learning anxiety can be likened to cognitive dissonance, a term first coined by Leon Festinger in 1957.  He describes cognitive dissonance as ‘… the mental stress or discomfort experienced by an individual who holds two or more contradictory beliefs, ideas, or values at the same time …’ (Weick, 1995, pp. 11-13).  Dissonance is a block to learning and change in that:

… when inconsistency (dissonance) is experienced, individuals tend to become psychologically uncomfortable and are motivated to attempt to reduce this dissonance, as well as actively avoiding situations and information which are likely to increase it. (Festinger, 1957, Wikipedia)

There is an opposing force to ‘learning anxiety’ which comes from the human reaction of not wanting to be disadvantaged and which Schein refers to as ‘survival anxiety’ (2010, p. 305).  Survival anxiety is based on, again a very human reaction, where we think that if we don’t change we will miss out on something of value, or something bad will happen either to us, our group or organisation.  The thing with these two human forces is that: ‘As long as learning anxiety remains stronger than survival anxiety, we will resist change and avoid learning.’ (Schein, 2013, p. 100).

So what does all of this mean?  An obvious answer is to increase the survival anxiety until it overcomes the learning anxiety.  But we are warned by Schein (2010, p. 305) that if we increase survival anxiety, we increase our levels of tension, we increase our defensiveness and we increase our reluctance to engage in the learning process.  He suggests that the key is twofold; we need to ensure that survival anxiety is greater than learning anxiety while at the same time ensuring that we reduce learning anxiety.

The challenge for us all as we attempt to introduce new ideas is to help people see the advantage in adopting the new idea and to reduce the learning anxiety.  This is not easy as we have to overcome the suspicions of people that the data that is presented to them (indicating the need to change) is valid and that the need to change is real.  People have to take ownership of the reason for the need to change and avoid projecting the blame onto other people, groups or departments, and they have to accept that the change will be in their best interest.

This means employing a process that:

  • sets a real and powerful vision;
  • accepts the reality of targeted formal training, and the costs that go with that;
  • actively involves the people who are affected by the change in the change process;
  • supports ongoing understanding through informal on-the-job skill development and mentoring;
  • allows people the time to practice and develop their expertise perhaps under the eyes of experienced coaches;
  • promotes positive role models and on-the-job champions;
  • encourages feedback and improvement;
  • is based on systems and structures which are subordinate to and supportive of the new situation.

It seems that people’s seeming unwillingness to change is not just based on them being “stuck in the mud”.  There are some very real fears that are either consciously or unconsciously held by people, which may be holding them back from making a change.  One of these fears is dependent on our willingness and capacity to un-learn often some deeply help beliefs and practices.  And that un-learning and moving to the unknown is a challenge that for some will require concentrated effort.

Just imagine if our year fives didn’t rise to the challenges of the unknown.  Or better still, just imagine if we could all be excited again, as the year fives are, by the challenges of the unknown.

 

Festinger, L., (1957)  Definition of Cognitive Dissonance, Wikipedia, viewed 29th November 2014, <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_dissonance>

Schein, E. H., (2010)  Organizational Culture and Leadership 4th ed., Jossey-Bass, San Fransisco, California, USA.

Schein, E. H., (2013)  Humble Inquiry, The Gentle Art Of Asking Instead of Telling, Berrett-Koehler, San Fransisco, California, USA.

Weick, K. E., (1995)  Sensemaking in Organizations, Sage, California, USA.

  • Bio
  • Latest Posts
  • More about Max
Max Geyer

Max Geyer

Director at VIAMAX Consulting
Max Geyer

Latest posts by Max Geyer (see all)

  • WHS Legislation is NOT about Safety it’s about Culture - May 11, 2018
  • Due Diligence Is Not Just Ticking Boxes! - December 18, 2016
  • Corks on the quills of an Echidna = Safe–Really? - April 15, 2016
  • Do we really need “One More” safety brand? - March 17, 2016
  • Sensemaking and Signs - January 20, 2016
Max Geyer
Max is currently completing a Graduate Certificate in the Social Psychology of Risk; has a Graduate Certificate of Management (HR Management); Diplomas of Business – Auditing (OH&S, Environment & Quality); a Certificate in Coaching Skills; a Certificate in Emotional Intelligence Assessment & Coaching; a Certificate IV in Workplace Training & Assessment and a Certificate in Return to Work Coordination. With over 35 years experience at operational and management levels in industry, including the Pastoral Industry, General Industry, Mining Industry and Consulting; Max delights in bringing that experience and knowledge to his interactions with Viamax clients in order to help make a positive difference to their lives.

Please share our posts

  • Click to print (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)

Related

Filed Under: Humble Inquiry, Social Psychology of Risk Tagged With: challenge

Reader Interactions

Do you have any thoughts? Please share them below Cancel reply

Primary Sidebar

Search and Discover More on this Site

Never miss a post - Subscribe via Email

Enter your email address and join other discerning risk and safety people who receive notifications of new posts by email

Join 7,500 other subscribers

RECOMMENDED READING

viral post – iso 45003 and what it cannot do

Introduction to SPOR – FREE!!

Psychosocial Safety and Mental Health Series

Not Just Another ‘Hazard’

Psychosocial Safety, Is it possible to make it culturally normal?

How to Be Oriented Towards Psychosocial and Mental Health in Safety

ISO 45003 and What it Cannot Do

The KISS of Death in Safety

Behavioural Safety is NOT a Foundation for Tackling Psychosocial and Mental Health

The Worst Approach to Psychosocial Problems is an Attitude of ‘Fixing’

The Language of ‘Hazards’ and Psychosocial, Mental Health

Welcome to the Nightmare, Safety Creates its Own Minefield (as usual)

No Good Reason to Follow Reason

More Posts from this Category

NEW! Free Download

Please take our 2 minute zero survey

Recent Comments

  • Not Simply One other ‘Hazard’ - Personal Safety News on Not Just Another ‘Hazard’
  • Rob Long on Psychosocial Safety, Is it possible to make it culturally normal?
  • simon p cassin on Psychosocial Safety, Is it possible to make it culturally normal?
  • simon p cassin on Psychosocial Safety, Is it possible to make it culturally normal?
  • Rob long on How to Be Oriented Towards Psychosocial and Mental Health in Safety
  • Rob Long on Psychosocial Safety, Is it possible to make it culturally normal?
  • Rob Long on Psychosocial Safety, Is it possible to make it culturally normal?
  • Matt Thorne on Psychosocial Safety, Is it possible to make it culturally normal?
  • simon p cassin on Psychosocial Safety, Is it possible to make it culturally normal?
  • Hurak Learning on How to Be Oriented Towards Psychosocial and Mental Health in Safety
  • Rob Long on An Advanced Understanding of Culture – A Video
  • Paul Gentles on An Advanced Understanding of Culture – A Video
  • Brent Charlton on The KISS of Death in Safety
  • Rob Long on The KISS of Death in Safety
  • Brian Edwin Darlington on The KISS of Death in Safety
  • Brian on The Language of ‘Hazards’ and Psychosocial, Mental Health
  • Jaise on The Language of ‘Hazards’ and Psychosocial, Mental Health
  • Rob Long on Posture Myths and Holistic Ergonomics
  • Linda McKendry on Posture Myths and Holistic Ergonomics
  • Rob long on Welcome to the Nightmare, Safety Creates its Own Minefield (as usual)

FREE eBOOK DOWNLOADS

Footer

VIRAL POST – The Risk Matrix Myth

Top Posts & Pages. Sad that most are so dumb but this is what safety luves

  • 500 OF THE BEST AND WORST WORKPLACE HEALTH and SAFETY SLOGANS 2023
  • Free Safety Moments and Toolbox Talk Examples, Tips and Resources
  • Road Safety Slogans 2023
  • Proving Safety
  • CATCHY and FUNNY SAFETY SLOGANS FOR THE WORKPLACE
  • NATIONAL SAFETY DAY/WEEK IN INDIA 2023
  • Psychosocial Safety, Is it possible to make it culturally normal?
  • 15 Safety Precautions When Working With Electricity
  • Not Just Another ‘Hazard’
  • Safety Acronyms

Recent Posts

  • Not Just Another ‘Hazard’
  • Work-Life and Risk, Feminine Perspectives
  • Psychosocial Safety, Is it possible to make it culturally normal?
  • How to Be Oriented Towards Psychosocial and Mental Health in Safety
  • Free Download – Real Risk – New Book by Dr Robert Long
  • Proving Safety
  • ISO 45003 and What it Cannot Do
  • Harming People in the Name of Good
  • An Advanced Understanding of Culture – A Video
  • Risk and Safety Maturity
  • The KISS of Death in Safety
  • SPoR, Metanoia and a Podcast on Change with Nippin Anand
  • Behavioural Safety is NOT a Foundation for Tackling Psychosocial and Mental Health
  • The Worst Approach to Psychosocial Problems is an Attitude of ‘Fixing’
  • SPoR Comes to Vienna June 2023
  • The Language of ‘Hazards’ and Psychosocial, Mental Health
  • Welcome to the Nightmare, Safety Creates its Own Minefield (as usual)
  • The Visionary Imagination – Louisa Lawson
  • Heaven ‘n Hell and the Safety Religion
  • Confirmity in Conformity
  • Numerology and Psychic Numbing
  • Thinking of Mortality
  • Safety is the Wrong Anchor
  • Foresight Blindness, Hindsight Bias and Risk
  • Getting the Balance Right in Tackling Risk
  • What is SPoR?
  • How Bias Inhibits Learning in Safety
  • Afraid to Let Go of What Doesn’t Work in Safety
  • When You Don’t Know What to do in Safety, Have Another Blitz!!!
  • Gloves and Glasses Compliance
  • A Case of Desensitisation – What Would You Do?
  • How to Leave the Safety Industry
  • The Mythic Symbology of Safety
  • Dark Waters, The True Story of DuPont and Zero
  • 400,000 Free Downloads
  • Am I stupid? I didn’t think of that…
  • Don’t Look Now Safety, Your Metaphor is Showing
  • Ratio Delusions and Heinrich’s Hoax
  • To Err is Human, You Better Believe It
  • Culture as a Wicked Problem, for Safety
  • Safety Leadership Training
  • Cultural Orientation in Risk
  • The Stanford Experiment and The Social Psychology of Risk
  • Objectivity, Audits and Attribution When Calculating Risk
  • Records of safety activities: evidence of safety or non-compliance?
  • Zero, The Seeking of Infinity
  • Safety Leadership Essentials
  • What Can Indiana Jones Tell Us About Culture
  • Safety as a Worldview
  • The Loathing of Limits

VIRAL POST!!! HOW TO QUIT THE SAFETY INDUSTRY

FEATURED POSTS

The Challenging Psychology of Ergonomics

It’s not in the KPI or LTI but the MRI

Perfectionism in Safety and the Denial of Humanity

The 10 Behaviours of the Safety Sociopath

Until Nothing Changes in Safety

Moral Fundamentalism in Safety

Symbols Have Power

Affirming Chance

Toward Zero, A Failed Goal

Beware of Hazardous ‘OINTMENT’

Psychometric Testing and Safety

The Safety Worldview and the Worldview of Safety, Testing Due Diligence

Social Psychology of Risk Post-Grad Pics

The Challenges for Organisations in Dealing with Mental Health

Free Online Introduction to the Social Psychology of Risk

The Social Psychology of Risk Handbook, i-thou

Suicide Prevention – a Social Psychological Perspective

Visual Learning and Envisioning Risk

Social Psychology of Risk Workshop-Sydney

Psycho-Social and Socio-Psychological, What’s the Difference?

The New Enemy of Safety – The Unconscious

Safety in Design as if Humans Matter

Safety Giveaways–Free Stuff!

Bad Moon Rising

What Does Misinformation Do in Safety?

It’s not weird – it’s a psychological safety initiative!

OMG – Big Words and Safety

Is Safety a Choice You Make?

A Philosophy of Safety

Introduction to The Social Psychology of Risk – Free Online Module

No Gurus, No Stars, No Heroes Needed in Safety

In Honour of George Robotham and Geoff McDonald

Does Safety Have A Soul?

Study at The Centre for Leadership and Learning in Risk

The Stanford Experiment and The Social Psychology of Risk

Don’t Let Evidence Get in the Way of Safety

EGO is not a dirty word

What Can Safety Learn From Playschool?

Anchoring Safety to Objects

Risk and Safety Starts with Being?

More Posts from this Category

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address and join other discerning risk and safety people who receive notifications of new posts by email

Join 7,500 other subscribers

How we pay for the high cost of running of this site – try it for free on your site

WHAT IS PSYCHOLOGICAL SAFETY?

What is Psychological Safety at Work?


WHAT IS PSYCHOSOCIAL SAFETY