For Want of a Nail: Are You a High Reliability Airstreamer?
For Want of a Nail
For want of a nail the shoe was lost.
For want of a shoe the horse was lost.
For want of a horse the rider was lost.
For want of a rider the message was lost.
For want of a message the battle was lost.
For want of a battle the kingdom was lost.
And all for the want of a horseshoe nail.
The old parable about the kingdom lost because of a thrown horseshoe reminds us that seemingly unimportant acts of omission can have disastrous and unintended consequences.
I made a commitment to myself that I would not take the path of other retirees and put my 30-year career of organizational leadership, homeland security and emergency management expertise on a shelf but to translate it into whatever I chose to do in retirement.
Hence, this article on high reliability principles and the art of Airstreaming. I’m the happy owner of a 2021 22’ Caravel as of November 2020 and am taking a lot of my skill sets into Airstreaming, especially on how to understand systems operations and resiliency. My goal is to avoid as many accidents as possible and to think critically about how not to experience any catastrophic outcomes.
The story of “For Want of a Nail,” has its parallel in many normal accidents. A “normal accident,” is usually understood and defined as the initiating event that is often, taken by itself, seemingly quite trivial. However, with any system’s complexity and tight coupling, initial trivial events can cascade out of control to create catastrophic outcomes.
Most of us have a fair amount of confidence that when we get on a commercial airline, it will land safely and if we go into a hospital that the wrong leg isn’t going to be cut off.
Turns out, airlines and hospitals are two examples of HRO’s and they share principles that when applied to traveling with an airstream can come in quite handy. To start, let’s look at the context of avoiding “normal accidents.” A “normal accident” is usually defined as inevitable because of a system that is interconnected, interactive, and tightly coupled, such as your Airstream.
HROs can be defined as organizations that have succeeded in avoiding “normal accidents,” where there was high expectation of accidents due to risk factors and intense complexity.
Airstreams are complex in many ways. Your Airstream has an ecosystem of critical infrastructure and interconnected systems such as electrical, water and energy. I think most of us, if not all, want to avoid accidents in our Airstreams to stave off any harm to people or the environment.
If Airstreamers understand the characteristics of accidents, then we’re less likely to experience them. But, how do we do that as Airstreamers? First, we need to understand the principles of HRO’s and translate that into “HRA’s or High Reliability Airstreamers.
There are 5 principles of High Reliability Organizations that have been identified by Drs. Weick & Sutcliff in their book, “Managing the Unexpected: Resilient performance in the Age of Uncertainty.”
For the purposes of this article, HRO is replaced with High Reliable Airstreamers or HRA and context changed to fit the topic.
Preoccupied with failure:
First, High Reliability Airstreamers (HRA’s) are preoccupied with failure. Don’t be tricked by your success for significant periods of time in your Airstream. For HRAs, failures are embraced, even weak signals, in order to take action to stop further damage from occurring, to learn why it happened, and to know how prevent the failure from happening again. HRA have a strategy to spell out mistakes that are unlikely but possible due to the human factors in HRA’s. They look relentlessly for symptoms of malfunctioning as they may be a clue to additional failures elsewhere in the system. They are incredibly sensitive to their own lapses and errors, which serve as windows into their system’s vulnerability. They pick up on small deviations and react early and quickly to anything that doesn’t fit with their expectations. They are suspicious of quiet periods and obsessed with success liabilities, such as overconfidence.
Reluctant to simplify:
Second, HRAs are reluctant to simplify. Although categories are unavoidable, they are carried lightly. HRAs simplify slowly, reluctantly, and mindfully. They put an emphasis on process planning which means they look at every step in the process or project and try to predict what’s needed. They create more complex pictures of situations, while encouraging spanning of boundaries, negotiating, skepticism, and differences in opinions. Due to their reluctance to simplify, HRA’s preserve the details which helps understand the system as a whole.
Sensitive to operations:
Third, HRAs are responsive to the messy reality inside most of their Airstream systems. They offer attentiveness to the reality that an accident is often not the result of a single active error. Rather HRAs see that accidents or problems are caused by errors lying latent in the system.
Commitment to resilience
Fourth, with a commitment to resilience HRAs are able to identify, control, and recover from errors. They correct them before they worsen and cause more serious harm; therefore, the Airstream continues to operate despite failures. HRAs practice worst case scenarios and learn from failures. They know they have not experienced all possible failures, so they must be continually wary of failures. HRAs are reluctant to embrace simple answers and embrace complexity, the unknowable and the unpredictable.
Deference to expertise
Fifth, In HRAs expertise is not necessarily limited to just one person. Listen to others you are traveling with and make an effort to see and listen to their safety concerns and communicate often. In a macho world, asking for help or admitting that you’re in over your head, is frowned upon. Good HRAs see it as a sign of strength to know when you’ve reached your limits of your knowledge and know enough to ask for help. Ask for help from experts in the community of Airstreamers or professionals such as mechanics and repair people.
Now, to bring this down the being a High Reliability Airstreamer or HRA and based on the HRA and HRO principles, how does this translate into practice? How can HRA’s develop a “rich awareness of discriminatory details?”
A High Reliability Airstreamer…
· Creates checklists for everything and routinely uses them
· Sticks to maintenance schedules
· Is mindful of possible disruptions during trips such as weather, geography and environmental hazards
· Carries the necessary tools & parts needed for your Airstream
· Builds in redundancy into planning. For example, developing several ways to provide energy such as electricity, propane and solar. Usually having three deep redundancy for a necessary operation is best.
· Practices active listening to traveling partners.
· Incorporates worst case scenario’s into thinking.
· Has a robust process planning process for trips and camping such as Kanban boards, excel sheets, establishing accountability for all involved.
· Uses sensor mechanisms such as Tire Pressure Monitoring System or others to be aware of “weak signals.”
· Develops a strong understanding of the interconnected critical systems of their Airstream.
Conclusion
In the end, High Reliability Airstreamers constantly confront the unexpected,are reluctant to simplify and operate with remarkable consistency and effectiveness with a sense of mindfulness.
Angi English has a Master’s in Security Studies from the Naval Postgraduate School’s Center for Homeland Defense and Security, a Master’s in Educational Psychology from Baylor University and a Bachelors Degree in Fine Art from Carson-Newman College. She is a Founding Scholar for Innovation and Advanced Thinking in Homeland Security from the Naval Postgraduate School Center for Homeland Defense and Security. English is currently an Adjunct Professor at Idaho State University in Homeland Security and Emergency Management. Angi enjoys a certification as a Part 107 Remote Drone Pilot and lives in Austin, Texas; happily retired.
