George Robotham

Group Think is not Safe

ByGeorge Robotham

Group-Think is not Safe

By the late George Robotham

There is no doubt the most significant OHS change the author has driven has been when he was leading OHS project teams or a member of such a well led team. Working in teams practising good team building principles can develop enormous synergy to crash through barriers to driving effective safety change.

A caution to working in teams is the area of group-think. The author has not seen group-think in action all that often but when he has seen it in action it has a devastating effect.

Identifying group-think-

  • Group members stereotype non-members and label them as enemies or outsiders not worth negotiating with or worrying about
  • People hesitate to air any discomfort, doubts or uncertainties they feel about the group decisions or policies, so that consensus seems unanimous
  • Reluctant to shatter complacency group members do not bring information or evidence that does not conform to the groups expectations and stereotypes to the groups attention
  • The group discusses only a few alternatives and reaches a decision quickly concentrating only on good points
  • The group feels invulnerable leading to excessive optimism and risk taking
  • The group ignores or rationalises warnings or signs that it is operating under false assumptions, making poor decisions or developing poor strategy
  • There is strong pressure on group members to conform to group norms

Preventing group-think:

  1. Train team members in group-think
  2. Get a diverse team together
  3. Treat conflict as an essential part of a solid outcome
  4. Let the group know there are no dumb ideas or questions
  5. Allow time for decisions as a team
  6. Bring in a devil’s advocate
  7. Bring in a specialist
  8. Do not surround yourself with yes men.

Note Be aware of group-think appearing in your teams and knock it on the head as soon as it starts to appear. If group-think becomes entrenched the situation will piss a lot of people off and be very difficult to recover

From The Penguin Team Leaders Toolkit by K. Cole

George Robotham

George Robotham

George was a Legend in the Safety World who passed away in Sept 2013 but left us with a great legacy
George Robotham
I have worked in OHS for most of my working life, many years in the mining industry including over 10 years in a corporate OHS role with BHP. Since leaving the mining industry I have worked in a variety of safety roles with a variety of employers, large & small, in a variety of industries. I was associated with my first workplace fatality at age 21, the girl involved was young, intelligent, vivacious and friendly. Such a waste! I was the first on the scene and tried to comfort her and tend to her injuries. She said to me “George, please do not let me die” We put her on the aerial ambulance to Rockhampton base hospital where she died the next day. I do not mind telling you that knocked me around for awhile. Since then I have helped my employers cope with the aftermath of 12 fatalities and 2 other life-altering events. The section "Why do Occupational Health & Safety" provides further detail but in summary, poor safety is simply very expensive and also has a massive humanitarian cost. My qualifications include a certificate I.V. in Workplace Training and Assessment, a Diploma in Frontline Management, a Diploma in Training & Assessment Systems, a Bachelor of Education (Adult & Workplace Education) , a Grad. Cert. in Management of Organisational Change and a Graduate Diploma in Occupational Hazard Management. I am currently studying towards a Masters in Business Leadership. Up until recently I had been a Chartered Fellow of the Safety Institute of Australia for 10 years and a member for about 30 years. My interest is in non-traditional methods of driving organisational change in OHS and I have what I believe is a healthy dis-respect for many common approaches to OHS Management and OHS Training. I hold what I believe is a well-founded perception that many of the things safety people and management do in safety are “displacement activities” (Displacement activities are things we do, things we put a lot of energy into, but which when we examine them closely there is no valid reason for doing them). My managerial and leadership roles in OHS have exposed me to a range of management techniques that are relevant to Business Improvement. In particular I am a strong supporter of continuous improvement and quality management approaches to business. I believe leadership is the often forgotten key to excellence in most aspects of life. I hold the Australian Defence Medal and am a J.P.(Qualified). I have many fond memories of my time playing Rugby Union when I was a young bloke.

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