FEAR

A Context for Disaster

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When crippled by fear, people can do some incredibly dangerous things.

Engaging in high potential consequence situations requires that we have the freedom to exercise choice, both for correct action and to have full access to our cognitive abilities. A little bit of fear, helps us engage so that we elevate our actions and abilities. A tsunami of fear, (exacerbated by a perception of having “no choice”) can limit cognition and right action by lighting up the cerebellum (our survival mode). In this cognitive “survival” state our perception narrows, which can lead to doing all the wrong things. Remember, when crippled by fear, people can do some incredibly dangerous things. The trick is, in part, to begin with learning to manage fear in yourself and your working teams.

To help, we will look at three types of fear and share some brief case studies as a start point for understanding the hazards of fear in your operation.

Physical fear: The fear of sustaining harm to our physical well being.

Social fear: The fear of being shamed, humiliated or shunned.

Moral fear: The fear of doing the right thing because it may lead social or physical consequences.

Being a master of fear is an important path to managing hazards. A failure to transcend fear often leads to what we fear most coming to pass. Let’s have a look at a few case studies that highlight each of the three kinds of fear we have mentioned.

Physical Fear

The fear of sustaining harm to our physical well being.

Here in Canada we are graced with grizzly bears. One must respect them without losing our own power in the process. Respect comes from understanding the needs and power of these animals and having good travel and camping practices while in bear country. These efforts will likely mitigate most negative encounters. However, if faced with being charged by “the great one” (as my friend David Lertzman used to call them) it is critical that you do not run. The intimidation factor of a charging bear is great. To be overwhelmed with fear must be resisted. If one succumbs to fear of physical harm, our cerebellum can take over and we are left with fight flight or freeze. Flight could mean a death sentence. To stand ones ground and talk to the bear in a calm voice is a much higher level response.

Even with a charging bear we still have a choice. This is important to remember because when we hang on to the notion of choice, we hold on to our cognition. This helps us elevate our response, to keep from shutting down completely. Both Jeremy Evans and Patricia Van Tighem survived grizzly bear attacks here in Canada because they both chose to fight back. Patricia describes mustering up her courage enough to tweak the bear’s nose. Immediately the bear stopped mauling her. It is safe to assume that no action could have resulted in her death. Jeremy did a similar thing, but he tweaked the bits on the other end of the bear. Both Patricia and Jeremy, transcended the notion that the mauling would get worse if they took action.

Of course the metaphor of the bear attack can be used to reflect upon running from all sorts of threats. To stand and face situations is how we elevate our efficacy in most situations.

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 Social Fear

The fear of being shamed, humiliated or shunned.

One of the most powerful case studies to dive into is the tragedy of the Tenerife runway incursion of 1977. Two fully loaded 747 aircraft collided on the runway in a fiery explosion killing 583 passengers and crew on the island of Tenerife in the Canary Islands. The aircraft were diverted to Tenerife and delayed severely from their destination Gran Canaria. When the time to depart arrived there was advancing fog that threatened to delay them further, if not overnight.

The Captain of one of the 747 aircraft advanced the throttles. . . twice. . . without clearance from the air traffic control tower. The first time he was corrected by his first officer. The second time (without runway clearance) he was not corrected for his oversight and they rumbled down the runway in a fog, only to collide with the second 747 that was taxiing on the same strip of asphalt. The advancing aircraft sheared the top off of the taxing one in a desperate failed attempt to fly over it. They both exploded in flames. Only 61 of 644 people (in both aircraft) survived the collision.

This tragedy changed how cockpit dynamics are managed. The first officer and the flight engineer challenged and questioned the captain about his impatient actions, but in ways that were not forthright enough to mitigate the disaster. The captain, seemed to have lost his higher cognitive abilities under the social pressures and responsibilities he believed he had to deliver his passengers on time to their destination. In fact, one of the key conditions present was that he was the airline’s poster child for punctuality. The failure of the captain, to remember that he had a choice in the matter may have helped him retain his cognitive abilities. It seems apparent that he felt like he had no choice, believing that flight and delivering his passengers on time were the only option he explored. The tragic irony is, that he ended up living what he most feared. His name is attached to the worst airline disaster in history.

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Moral Fear

 The fear of doing the right thing because it may lead to social or physical consequences.

The facts about the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster point to a fear of doing the right thing. The night before the launch, engineers from Morton Thiokol the designers and manufacturers of the solid rocket boosters, recommended not to launch on January 28th. This was because the cold temperatures would likely cause the “O” rings to fail leading to a complete and catastrophic failure of the equipment.

Of course NASA was struggling with delays. The original promise was to have very regular flights to space with the shuttle program. For a number of reasons, this ideal was not happening and NASA brass were under a great deal of pressure.

The tendency is, again, to believe that there is no other choice. But this is not true. It really means that it will take a great deal of courage to do the right thing because the bearer of the news will take some, or a lot of, heat. NASA gambled and lost for fear that doing the right thing would have social consequences, and perhaps the physical consequences of a cancelled program. But there is more. . . they never included the astronauts in the decision making process or even made them aware that concerns about the launch were expressed by Thiokol engineers. The ethics of this lack of communication should be explored.

Review

It is important to remember in any situation that we are always free to choose a courageous response to challenges we face. This choice almost always expands our cognitive abilities and in itself is the primary correct action. From this mindset, people can do some incredibly challenging and heroic things. Fear is often used to control people. This is a fundamental hazard in our schools, businesses, institutions and our society. Be wary of this and be courageous.