Complacency kills
Background
Recently, I had the opportunity to speak at both a convention in Nashville, TN and a corporate HQ here in Omaha, NE. One of the many topics I discussed was complacency. At the end, someone asked how to avoid complacency on their team. So, I thought I’d take a moment to expand on that here…
What is complacency?
Let’s start off by defining it. What does complacency mean, exactly? For this, I will use both the Oxford and Meriam Webster online dictionaries.
· Complacency: Feeling of smug or uncritical satisfaction with oneself or one’s achievements. (Oxford)
· Complacency: Self-satisfaction especially when accompanied by unawareness of actual dangers or deficiencies. (Merriam Webster)
Some things that stand out: It’s a feeling a combination of being smug, uncritical of yourself, having high self-satisfaction, being satisfied with your previous achievements and being unaware of the real dangers or deficiencies.
Why Does it Matter?
In the military, you learn that complacency kills. You learn this phrase early and repeat it often. If you don’t give the task at hand the attention it deserves; bad things can happen. If you don’t take what you are doing seriously enough; it can cost you. Sometimes, it can cost you everything!
In the business world, complacency is no different. Any time you don’t take something seriously or give it the attention it deserves; it can cost you. It won’t cost you your life, or the life of a co-worker. But it could cost you and your team in other ways. You deal or the project doesn’t get done. The team misses the goal. People lose jobs, etc.
Example: Close Call!
For most of my career in the military, I was pretty good at taking things seriously. I typically gave the task at hand the attention it deserved. The image above is of me rappelling out of a helicopter over in Japan. You can bet I paid attention when I put on my rappel harness that day.
No one is perfect, especially not me. There were times, though few, when I was complacent. One night stands out. I won’t tell the whole story here, but I can summarize. I entered a room not expecting a ‘bad guy’ to be there. He was and he opened fire on me at very close range with an AK-47. I got lucky. Sometimes, it’s better to be lucky than good…
Who is at Risk?
When we do the same thing over and over are at a higher risk of becoming complacent. In the example above, we were more than half-way through a deployment. We had completed dozens of missions, hitting hundreds of targets, and I had probably entered thousands of rooms.
Complacency is one of the biggest threats facing a team that’s already successful. You start to get cocky, arrogant, or believe your own ‘hype.’ You think you are special or just better than others. New teams or teams that are still trying to break through are usually not complacent. They are still humble and hungry for success.
In combat, we did EVERYTHING possible to accomplish the mission. Sometimes it was at a great cost. Though rare, there were times when we didn’t accomplish the mission. There were times when the bad guy got away or one of the good guys was killed. Sometimes, it was just bad luck. Other times, it was likely due to complacency.
Manage not Eliminate!
Back to the question that was asked of me. “How do I eliminate complacency in myself? Or how do we eliminate complacency as a team?” I thought about this for a while. Then responded simply, “You don’t!”
Like ‘risk’, I don’t think ‘complacency’ can be eliminated. Instead, it’s something we have to manage. If it can happen in combat, it can happen at your office. I promise. It’s not about avoiding it, because I believe it will happen. It’s human nature. So, rather than fighting human nature, let’s figure out how to manage it.
How to Manage it?
It starts with AWARNESS. You have to recognize it when it rears its ugly head, either in your own work or the work of others. The most important skill in self-defense is awareness. This allows you to act quickly and correctly. The same is true at work when it comes to complacency. Recognize it ASAP to you can deal with it quickly!
Next comes ACCOUNTABILITY. We have to hold ourselves accountable. If we have enough self-awareness to realize we are getting complacent, we have to have enough discipline to make a change. If we notice complacency in others, we have to hold them accountable. If they notice it in us, don’t be offended when they help you. This is where communication and professionalism come in, along with humility.
Last, and most importantly comes ACTION. Take corrective action as soon as possible. Re-set back to baseline. Review what you are doing, how to do it, and why it matters. If it seems trivial, motivate yourself to think otherwise.
Humility!
Awareness, Accountability and Action are all simple. But simple, as I’ve said before, is not necessarily easy. For all of this to work, you must have great teamwork with effective and professional communication. You also must have integrity and be honest with yourself and with others. Most of all, you need a healthy dose of humility!
As I’ve written before humility is one of the most important character traits. It is an attitude or a mindset that “I’m not special” or “I’m no better than others.” This attitude leads to both better preparation and better cooperation.
Humility is the antidote for arrogance, which is toxic in a team setting. Humility is also the antidote to complacency, which is one of the biggest threats facing successful teams!
As one of my mentors once told me, “Never believe your own hype. Never believe your own BS.” Put another way, don’t think you’re ‘too good to fail.’ Don’t get too comfortable or have the feeling that you’ve made it. Instead, stay HUMBLE and stay HUNGRY!