When we run simulation exercises, almost every team says the same thing: “We were too slow to act. Time ran away from us!”
They’re right. Time does run away from you during a crisis. There’s a lot of research to back that up. Subjected to severe stress or fear, we believe time is moving more slowly than it really is.
My brother had a moped accident many years ago. He says he remembers thinking, as he came off the bike: “I must switch the ignition off, or the engine might catch fire.” That’s a long (and coherent) thought for an event that took seconds to happen. Time slowed down for him.
This is backed up in crisis case studies, too. I’ve been reading (technically listening to) Matthew Syed’s ‘Black Box Thinking’ and the issue of time distortion was one of the factors in the case of United Airlines flight 173. The flight took off from New York’s JFK on 28 December 1978, heading for Portland, Oregon, flown by Captain McBroom, an experienced pilot.
As the aircraft was making its descent into Portland, McBroom pulled the lever to lower the landing gear. Instead of the usual click, there was a thud that reverberated through the aircraft. He wasn’t sure the landing gear was in place, and of course no-one could see under the plane, so he asked Air Traffic Control to let him circle the city while he ran an assessment, checking indicators on the aircraft that might tell him whether the landing gear was safely down. He had enough fuel reserves to stay airborne for a bit.
Time passed. His Flight Engineer warned McBroom that fuel reserves were depleting. But McBroom believed he had more time than he did. He was fully focused on the landing gear checks, and time had slowed down for him. He failed to realise the bigger threat was now running out of fuel.
The Flight Engineer got increasingly agitated, but the hierarchy of the industry in those days meant he didn’t challenge him directly, or strongly enough. One by one the engines failed, and the flight eventually crashed into a wooded suburb, killing 10 people, eight passengers and two crew, including the Flight Engineer. It was because of McBroom’s experience and skill that the remaining 179 passengers and crew survived.
Create a culture where you encourage assertiveness
There are two major lessons here. The first, is to understand that your perception of time is not reliable in a crisis. You need someone to keep track of it for you, and – critically – authorise them to speak up. They should make you listen by any means necessary.
The second is to give people permission to challenge authority in a crisis. In fact, make it someone’s job. If we understand that our time perception is skewed under pressure, as we focus on the job at hand, it’s much easier to accept a challenge from someone whose role is to keep us on track.
The aviation industry learned from this crash. It introduced the PACE system – Probe, Alert, Challenge, Emergency. This gives permission to junior members of the crew to be assertive when faced with an emergency.
Crisis teams can learn from it, too. One of the most critical roles in a crisis team is the person who holds the rest of the team to account. That person should be the challenger: who keeps track of time, deadlines and next steps; and who has the authority (and the clout), to challenge the thinking of even the most senior member of the team.
Having that role in place could avert a disaster.
