I’ve gained some valuable insights about the way knowledge is transferred across organizations that will help me as I move forward as a manager. I thoroughly enjoyed learning about the various types of knowledge transfers but the concept that has resonated with me the most is that of “no recriminations”. The protocols for an After Action Review (AAR) state that the purpose of an AAR meeting is to learn, not to judge – so no recriminations. The concept of “no recriminations” is very appealing to me because it encourages everyone involved with the AAR to contribute to the discussion. It is very important during the AAR process because it encourages participants to provide their perspectives about a given situation or scenario without the risk of being scrutinized. The Army has made this a requirement and expectation. For the concept of no recriminations to work, it has to be embedded into the organization’s culture which is what the Army has done.
I had not been exposed to the concept of recriminations prior to reading Common Knowledge, though after reading the definition I’ve found that I’ve seen it in action in several of my previous work environments. I’ve worked in environments where individuals have been reprimanded, chided, or ridiculed for comments that they had made during a call for feedback. This experience left the individual feeling that his or her contributions were not valued and that they were stupid. The ultimate result of this is that it silences the person. I saw this happen to a previous coworker. Her response to the negative comments was to shut-down and to vow never to offer feedback again. This was extremely bad because the person was really smart and had some really excellent ideas about programs that could have moved the organization forward in several meaningful ways. The organization really missed out.
Any organization that allows its employees to face recriminations does itself a true dis-serve. Moving away from this stance requires a change in practice. In one of my previous environments, this change in practice occurred as a result of changes in the leadership of my organization. A new leader coupled with a new vision and strategic priorities often equates to organizational change. Moving from recriminations to no recriminations will definitely require a change. The change did not happen overnight but it did happen. The new leader encouraged all employees to participate in discussions and offered incentives for them to do so. This openness became embedded in our organizational culture.
Excellent point. I have often joked about recrimination as the consequences of stating “the emperor has no clothes!” You point about how organizations loose out when leadership does such a thing is valid. Years ago I heard an executive from Philip Morris talk about this point. He told a story of a factory line worker who provided feedback, upon the request from management, about current work flows. The worker pointed out a particular problem that the cigarette-loading machines shimmied too much when placing 20 cigarettes into a box. She also presented a simple solution. The manager chided her in front of her peers. This executive happened to walk through this part of the factory weeks later and saw an odd strap on this woman’s machine. When asked about it, she explained that she had purchased a $2.00 rubber strap from the hardware store, installed it on her equipment, and that it stabilized the machine as it placed the cigarettes into the packs. It almost eliminated all cigarette breakage and increased productivity. The executive was very pleased and asked why this had not been adopted by other. She told her story of recrimination. The manager was “coached,” and the woman’s simple solution was put into place for the other workers’ equipment.
By: Steve Tyler (@rstyler12) on December 6, 2011
at 9:22 pm