Asleep at the wheel

Amidst more revelations over the weekend about the LIBOR crisis I read one commentator suggesting that regulators in the UK, responsible for overseeing the financial services sector, were 'asleep at the wheel'.  His assertion was that given their remit and in particular, the increasing focus they have placed on the importance of organisational culture, they should have a) been aware of flaws in the culture at Barclays and b) done something about it. The accuracy and validity of that view will undoubtedly become clearer as the investigation into the scandal progresses over the coming weeks and months but the idea of being asleep at the wheel is an interesting one.

It’s an idiom which means that someone is not doing their job properly, usually because the job holder has failed to recognise threats or warning signs that may then materialise and have an adverse impact.  It implies that monitoring such indicators is the responsibility of the job holder and that as a result they have neglected those responsibilities.

The literal meaning of the phrase refers to falling asleep whilst driving, the consequences of which can obviously be grave.  You may have experienced a feeling of extreme tiredness whilst driving and possibly even found yourself nodding off at the wheel.  It happened to me recently during a very long journey on the M1 and thankfully I awoke with a start as my car started to veer to the left after I’d momentarily closed my eyes.  The fear and relief I felt was powerful.  Fear of what might have happened had I not woken up and relief that it hadn’t.

The problem was that it was dark outside, my car was comfortable and warm and whilst I was aware I was tired I really didn’t think I’d fall asleep.  My response to these emotions was to open my window and turn on the air conditioning so that the sleep inducing comfort was disturbed by a sudden and rapid fall in temperature.  It wasn’t until I did this that I realised just how warm it was inside the car.  I also stopped at the next service station, got out of the car, walked around, and talked to a barista in a shop whilst buying a cup of coffee.  I thought these things would change my state and the environment that had resulted in me closing my eyes in the first place.  And happily they worked and the rest of my journey was safe and uneventful.  I’ve since decided that I’m going to invest in one of the drivers’ sleep warning devices that trigger an alarm if you start to nod off.

Going back to the growing scandal in the financial services sector (and it’s equally relevant in other sectors, just think for a moment about other scandals in which the word culture has come up in recent years – MP’s expenses, NoTW Phone Hacking, Mis-selling to name but a few)......I suspect that being asleep at the wheel is by and large a fair description of what happened to some of the people in key positions.  The problem with organisational culture is that it becomes it becomes the norm, after a while it’s ‘comfortable’ because it’s what we know.  Its facets, characteristics and idiosyncracies become so familiar that we stop noticing them.  As Edward T Hall eloquently said “Culture hides more than it reveals and strangely enough what it hides, it hides most effectively from its own participants.”

And the risk is even greater when business performance appears reasonably good because every organisation can become so comfortable a place that people end up closing their eyes and having ‘forty winks.’

The questions that need to be asked in every organisation is whether people in it are asleep at the wheel right now?  And if so, is the vehicle heading towards a crash?  What’s the organisational equivalent of opening the windows and turning on the air conditioning?  Is there a metaphorical service station just around the corner that provides the opportunity to walk around, talk to a few people and ‘smell the coffee’?  And would it be a good idea to invest in a sleep warning device?

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