At The Edge of Responsibility - Rows 20 and 21

We recently took an AirTran Flight from Atlanta to our hometown in Virginia. Our seats, as is customary were in the emergency exit rows - higher price, more legroom, some added potential responsibilities, the best of both worlds.

Before departure we got the usual lecturette about our added responsibilities to jettison the over-the-wing door in the event of an emergency if told to do so - and by the way, do anything else asked us to aid the other passengers in an emergency. We nodded our heads and said, "Yes!" to validate our seats. Before this flight I had focused almost entirely on the door jettisoning responsibilities, as I believe most people do. But this particular flight caused me to have some angst. Here's why.

In the row just in front of me was a woman obviously nervous about this flight. She clutched her handbag tightly in her lap. The attendant asked her to place the bag on the floor under the seat in front of her. I've heard the request a hundred times over the years. What I've never heard was her response. "No!" The flight attended struggled with a polite, "May I stow the bag in an overhead for you?" Again came the straightforward and slightly louder, "No!" The passenger and the attendant passed the moment with some friendly conversation - all smiles and warm. Then the attendant went on with her duties leaving the woman in 20A with a bag on her lap. I thought to myself, That's strange, but I guess there is some discretion. The woman was nervous, after all.

Then I started to think. If something went wrong might I be asked to help this woman. In an emergency, I'd agreed to do as much. This was thought provoking.

A few minutes went by and I began to take notice of other things going on around me. The next situation emerged from 20D, just across the aisle. The woman was unable to fasten her seatbelt. The belt was about 10 inches too short to clip. She pretended to fasten it and quickly covered her lap with her coat so that the attendant wouldn't detect this situation. She closed her eyes and pretended to sleep to complete the deception. Four times attendants walked past the woman in 20D and not once did any of them pause to investigate further. It might have embarrassed the woman to be discovered and to have to use a seat belt extension. The likelihood of crash landing after all was remote.

Now my thoughts go deeper into my agreement to help if requested to do so. If this woman ended up on the floor it would be a bottleneck catastrophe of high proportions. A blocked aisle with frantic passengers trying to exit would be more than anyone could cope with - certainly it was well beyond my strength and ability. What had I gotten myself into? Not quite done yet!

We'd taxied to the hold line - we'd be next for take off. As I usually do, I looked out my window and looked across the aisle to see out the window across the aisle from me. I couldn't believe my eyes. The man in 21D was quietly on his cell phone nestled on his left shoulder to completely conceal it. We got clearance to take the runway. Still talking. We began to roll, still talking. We were rotating, still talking. I couldn't believe it. This was one of the most high angle takeoffs I'd ever encountered. Had his cell phone messed up the navigation?

Given these three separate situations an arms length apart I couldn't help but wonder how prevalent these kinds of situations were aboard this aircraft. Where and when did my responsibility begin and end? Why were the attendants so lax? Why were my fellow passengers so self centered that the thought of the rest of us was so remote?

The man is 21D with the cell phone it turned out was an Assistant Pastor in a large Houston, Texas congregation. Was he contending with an emergency? Was it a trade off for him? Perhaps he saved a parishioner, at the potential expense of the safety of over 100 fellow passengers. No one died or even knows about it but my wife and I. But we got off the plane exhausted and disillusioned with the apparent lack of personal and professional responsibility. Though this is a sad testimony, I sadly believe it is prevalent.

So, what does all this have to do with the wonderful world of organization development that we have made our life's interest and the object of our life's work. Plenty!

People in organizations break the rules constantly. Self interests prevail over organizational interests all the time. In a strong organization culture, which is our specialty, self interests can take a second seat to tight culture if the actions of a person are observable by others that might influence that behavior. But in the midst of strangers or in the seclusion of darkness or hidden by a outer garment self interests will often win. Add a bit of anxiety and people will embarrass their most substantial comfort zones (their dominant RGB color, for example).

In an organization culture individuals will bend and break cultural norms to serve their own interests when they can get away with it. They will endanger their temporary commitments to those around them to serve the needs of closer relationships that may not be present. They will be secretive about anything that will preserve their self-image and well being. These and similar characteristics place a burden on an organization's leadership, management, and supervision, and stretch to a breaking point the peer (without authority) relationships of those around them. The cost is lower capacity - the ability of people to identify and solve problems of mutual concern that impact an ability to achieve an organization's purpose, missions, goals, etc. Ultimately, low capacity robs the organization and the people in it of profitability and the security that goes with it. This is an oversimplification, of course. Lots of other things suffer, too.

To fix these kinds of conditions requires a steadfast commitment to change at all levels, not something easily achieved. Just talking about it will likely make the situation worse, at least temporarily. In the long run, it is not the change through communication that will make the difference but a root change of heart that precedes the earnest communication that will be an essential first step.