Summary of The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business by Charles Duhigg|Key Concepts in 15 Min or Less by La Moneda Publishing

Author:La Moneda Publishing [Publishing, La Moneda]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Published: 2017-03-04T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 5 Organizational Habits

Research demonstrates that lots of unofficial organizational habits drive organizations. They appear among workers over time, rather than careful decision-making procedures.

For instance, the London Underground staff formed a corporate habit of not overstepping their departmental lane. Staff divided duties in running the underground into several clear-cut regions. Employees showed disdain for those that made efforts to do so.

Most organizations are like this. They are simply battlegrounds in which people jockey for power and rewards. Habits like minding one’s business form as a way to keep the peace.

Sadly, some habits are flat-out dangerous. A London Underground ticket collector saw signs of fire but didn’t sound the alarm? Why? That was someone else’s responsibility. The fire grew, and no one even knew how to operate the sprinkler system or even had the sign-off to use the fire extinguishers!

In a matter of minutes, the ticket fall erupted into a massive fireball. The fire burned passengers so badly their skin came off when they were touched. The damage? 31 dead.

However, even such disasters can have a silver lining. Disasters provide a clear opportunity to re-engineer organizational habits by providing a sense of emergency. For this reason, great leaders frequently prolong the sense of disaster or even intensify it.

Queen’s Council Desmond Fennell discovered that many potentially life-saving changes were suggested years before, but never executed.

When Fennel met opposition to his ideas, he turned the entire investigation into a media circus. The disaster enabled him to implement the changes. Today, every station has a supervisor whose primary duty is traveler safety.

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