Time exposed to danger

My late stepfather was a driving instructor – which was handy for a seventeen-year-old with a provisional driving licence and a beige Ford Fiesta waiting for him once he had passed his test.

I don’t remember much from when I was seventeen (except the feeling of despair after England’s 1990 World cup semi-final) but one thing that has always stuck came from my familial driving lessons; the concept of “time exposed to danger” when overtaking.

When you’re driving, you‘ll eventually find yourself being held up by a car or another vehicle. To maintain your rate of progress you'll need to change direction and come out of your lane for a period of time.

You’ll decide what to do in the moment, based upon your motivation, your driving ability and confidence, and your assessment of the conditions. You’ll consider “what are the implications of me staying in my lane and reducing my speed, or taking a different route? What are the benefits, and the risks, of attempting to overtake?” You’ll briefly map out what’s required – purposefully changing direction, increasing pace (at least temporarily) and coming out of your lane for a period of time.

This “coming out of your lane” – stepping out of a routine, or a comfort zone - exposes you to danger and demands an increased amount of focus and attention.

When we’re driving, it’s fairly easy to understand when our progress is faltering, and assess the environmental conditions. We have a speedometer, and the risks are physical and visible. It isn’t so easy to recognise the need to change or assess the risks and barriers at work.

How many times do we find our progress impeded by our failure to notice the need, or our inability to complete, a change in direction that requires coming out of our lane?

Which leads me to Broadwell’s “four stages of competence”, an oldy but a goody when it comes to considering individual and organisational capability building. As a reminder, the four stages are:-

1.      Unconscious incompetence – I don’t know that I cannot (or do not) do something that would be useful for me to do

2.      Conscious incompetence – I know that I cannot (or do not) do the thing

3.      Conscious competence – I know how to do the thing, but doing it requires extra effort and I may not do it consistently, or consistently well

4.      Unconscious competence – I can do the thing well and without thinking – it is now part of who I am

I’ve always been especially interested by what happens between stages 2 and 4. That’s the period that you are (and feel) exposed to danger, and to risk. Risk of failure, of looking stupid and of damaging your reputation. And the risk feels immediate, and visceral. The benefits often feel distant and vague.

If we are overwhelmed by the risks, we probably won’t try.

If we do try and then feel exposed to significant danger for a prolonged period, we’ll probably quit.

Either way, our progress is hindered.

Analysing, and proactively managing this time exposed to danger – so that it is (and feels) as short as possible and so that the danger (and “felt” danger) is reduced as much as possible - is so important for a successful transition. And individuals and organisations each have a responsibility in this.

Individuals can find some clues by continuing with the driving metaphor. You are most likely to successfully achieve your goals if you:-

-         Understand and prepare your immediate context – what are the barriers to success in your environment? How can you address them before you pull out of your lane?

-         Create a plan of action, and visualise what you’ll do and what will happen as a result. Also have a rough plan B – what will you do if something unexpectedly comes racing towards you on the wrong side of the road?

-         Indicate your plan to others by signalling your intentions

-         Be intentional - once you’ve indicated, start to change direction without delay, balancing speed and safety

-         Keep checking your environment and your mirrors - get regular feedback

-         Once you are past the obstacle ahead, maintain the right speed for the journey you are on. And do not assume that the road ahead will be clear from then on – you will need to overtake again.

Organisations/leaders - you can’t just give people a copy of the highway code (or a link to some highway code e-learning) and hope this will be enough. You can help by providing a supportive context and truly useful tools:-

-         By holding up a mirror and communicating clearly about the need to change, and the benefits of changing – a sort of combined speedometer and sat nav. Managers need to help their people’s decision making through regular, honest, and sometimes difficult conversations.

-         By showing empathy and acknowledging that change is hard and no-one teleports from knowing to doing. Change is messy and risky; it is time exposed to danger.

-         By creating psychological safety – so it’s ok to show vulnerability, experimenting is expected and valued, and you aren’t expected to get things 100% right every time.

-         By helping people to build their capability and confidence, through the provision of learning experiences (think driving simulator in this instance) and resources and tools.

-         By recognising and rewarding the learning and the improvement you are seeing in real time. Don’t wait until you see the “finished outcome” to comment.

If you’d like to chat through a challenge you are facing that requires new capabilities and/or behaviour change, or if you know anyone selling a late seventies beige Ford Fiesta, please get in touch.