Target Fixation - an important risk management consideration.

What is Target Fixation, why is it important and what can you do to manage it?

On the 29th December 1972 Eastern Air Lines flight 401 was approaching the end of its journey to Miami International Airport in Miami, Florida. The flight crew had the runway in sight and the weather was clear yet only minutes later this relatively new, state-of-the-art airliner flown by an experienced crew had crashed into the Florida Everglades, killing 101 passengers and crew.

In September 2015, the?United States Environmental Protection Agency?(EPA) issued a notice of violation of the?Clean Air Act?to German auto manufacturer?Volkswagen Group. This was the beginning of the so-called ‘Dieselgate’ – the emissions scandal that would severely damage the reputation of Volkswagen and cost the company billions of dollars in penalties.

Although these are apparently very different situations, a common factor led to both these disasters.

Target fixation is a phenomenon that occurs when an individual or an organisation becomes too focused on a particular goal or objective, to the extent that they become oblivious to other important factors that may impact their success or well-being. This can be particularly problematic in a business context, where companies set specific targets for growth or profit and become singularly focused on achieving these goals, to the exclusion of other important issues.

Eastern Air Lines Flight 401 is a tragic example of target fixation in an aviation context. The pilots became so fixated on a faulty landing gear indicator light that they failed to notice that the autopilot had disengaged, and the plane was descending rapidly towards the ground. Despite repeated warnings from the aircraft itself, flight engineer and other crew members, the pilots were unable to break their fixation on the landing gear light, and the plane ultimately crashed.

The Volkswagen emissions scandal illustrates how target fixation can lead to a company ignoring wider issues that are more important. In this case, Volkswagen became so fixated on becoming the world's largest auto manufacturer that it resorted to cheating on emissions tests in order to make its diesel vehicles appear more environmentally friendly than they actually were. This fixation on growth and market share led the company to ignore the potentially catastrophic consequences of its actions, including damage to the environment, the loss of trust from customers and regulators and the potentially very large penalties associated with this.

These two examples demonstrate the danger of target fixation in a business context. When a company becomes too focused on a particular goal or target, it can easily lose sight of other important issues that may impact its long-term success. In both cases, the fixation on a particular issue led to the neglect of other important factors that ultimately resulted in far greater impact.

Unfortunately target fixation is very prevalent in daily life and it is very easy to fall victim of it. For example, while driving you may see a large pothole ahead and, in order to avoid it, you watch it intently as you approach it – leading to you hitting it!

Managing target fixation.

So, what can companies do to avoid falling into the trap of target fixation? Here are some tips to help business people recognise and avoid target fixation:

1. Encourage a more holistic approach to decision-making

Instead of focusing solely on a particular target or goal, companies should consider a wide range of factors that may impact their success, including customer satisfaction, employee morale, environmental impact, and social responsibility. By taking a broader view of their operations, companies can ensure that they are not neglecting other important issues that may impact their long-term success.

2. Cultivate a culture of openness and transparency

When employees feel empowered to speak up about potential issues or problems, they can help to identify areas of concern before they become major problems. This can be particularly important in a fast-paced business environment, where decision-makers may be prone to tunnel vision or target fixation.

Don’t allow departments or teams to become insular and focus on their own objectives without understanding how the attainment of these affects the organisation as a whole, and all the other teams in the organisation.

3. Be willing to adapt and change course when necessary

When a particular goal or target is no longer achievable or is no longer in the best interests of the company, it is important to be willing to adjust course and set new goals that better reflect the current realities of the business environment. This flexibility can help companies avoid getting stuck in a cycle of target fixation and tunnel vision.

Organisations should foster a fail-fast mentality. This is a mindset where individuals or organisations quickly identify failures, rather than letting them persist or be discovered later, when they may be more difficult or expensive to correct. By failing fast, organisations learn what won't work and can quickly move on to a better approach. For greatest impact, a strong no-blame culture should accompany the fail-fast mentality to help encourages individuals to raise issues without fear, even if it is their own actions that have proven to be incorrect.

4. Invest in developing systems thinking, critical thinking and similar problem-solving skills

These skills can help individuals and teams recognise when they are becoming fixated on a particular issue and take steps to refocus their attention on other important factors. This can be particularly important in a business context. Systems thinking helps people make sense of the complexity of the world by looking at it in terms of wholes and relationships rather than by splitting it down into its parts. It can facilitate exploring and developing effective action in complex contexts.

5. Consider introducing ‘headline’ risk to your risk management methodology

As it is so easy for target fixation to occur, and many organisations will focus their risk management efforts on the ‘top risks’ (e.g. Top 10), it is very easy for the high-impact, low-probability risk exposures to drop out of the Top 10, which can result in the associated risk creeping up to danger levels before a catastrophe occurs.

One large global mining company has recognised this danger and has identified ‘Headline Risks’ that are tracked and actively monitored by the most senior risk management committee in the organisation at all times, regardless of how low the risk exposure is at any time. By doing this, they are able to identify trends in the Lost Time Injury Frequency Rate (LTIFR) and other associated metrics early enough to prevent fatalities.

In conclusion

We are all human and are therefore likely to allow target fixation to influence us and our decision making.

Being aware of this is the first step to managing it. By recognising it and adapting our individual and corporate behaviour accordingly, we can help reduce risk to ourselves, our organisations and society as a whole.