Did you ever drive through a red light?
The other day I was waiting at a traffic light, and as it turned green I started driving. Suddenly I needed to stop.
Someone else went through red.
Why did I not see the other car earlier?
I was on autopilot waiting for the green light to come. I was not actually thinking & concentrating. I assumed the traffic light would keep me safe.
Did you know more accidents happen at trafficlights as compared to roundabouts?
And did you know accidents at roundabouts are also less lethal?
“Studies by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) show that roundabouts achieve a 44% reduction in crashes and reduce serious injury and deadly crashes by nearly 90% at two-way stop intersections.
When roundabouts replace a traffic signal, FHWA found a 48% reduction in crashes and a nearly 80% drop in serious injury and deadly crashes”
Next to the reduction of speed, there are other reasons that contribute to higher safety at roundabouts.
Active brainpower and concentration
Stop autopilot
Natural traffic flow
A lot of research has been done on optimal organization of traffic bottlenecks. Traffic flow is on top of our minds, we experience bottlenecks daily. And there is no value in being in a traffic jam, or in an accident, right?
Our organizational bottlenecks are not that different!
When we encounter issues, we have to find valuable solutions to solve them. Work or information should be able to flow through the organizational system, whilst the environment is safe and qualitatively up to par.
"Management loves traffic lights and employees like roundabouts"
When shit really hits the fan, the instant and natural intention of management is to put traffic lights everywhere.
We need to decrease risks!
Control, control!
We need to be safe!
A check, an extra metric, an extra board meeting. Go, no-go meetings.
But is this false security like at the traffic light?
The main question might be: Should the solution for a potential bottleneck be a traffic light or a roundabout?
What to consider when finding a solution?
Invest in technical expertise: Everybody driving a car, has a drivers license. In organizations your employees also need the right technical expertise to navigate the organization.
Be clear upfront on quality standards of the product:
All cars on the road are tested on good quality. There are a few aspects, like tire profile, which should be in place according to standards. In organizations we should also provide clear standards and guidelines and communicate upfront.
Have clear rules & guidelines for daily operations:
On the road we have rules; like speedlimits and keeping your lane. These are the guidelines provided for everyone. Everybody has been trained in the rules, they are common.
Employees also need ground rules and guidelines and the freedom to navigate within these.
And lastly but not least; changes to the rules are shown along the way. Organizations should be very clear especially on the exceptions to the rules.
Let it flow, keep it safe:
On the road we get frustated if traffic does not flow. Traffic jams are utterly annoying. But we are actually part of the traffic jam. Next to road design, we are the reason there is one.
Our organizations should ensure work can flow and build the right "roads" and right solutions.
We are responsible for adhering to the rules and applying "common sense"
Assume your organization has a bottleneck and you see the intent to implement a traffic light. Maybe something went wrong and management needs to do extra checking. Imagine this being a traffic light in the middle of a busy freeway.
Try asking these questions:
Will the solution affect the flow of work and add value to the employees?
Will the solution destroy the brainpower and concentration of employees?
Can we invest in technical expertise, clear quality standards and rules & guidelines instead?
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