Diane Vaughan describes the ‘normalisation of deviance’ as “the gradual process through which unacceptable practice or standards become acceptable. As the deviant behaviour is repeated without catastrophic results, it becomes the social norm for the organisation.”
The latest Psychological Safety newsletter from Tom Geraghty does a deep dive into the subject, looking at a range of examples where disaster has struck as a result of sustained normalisation of deviance.
One of the key ways to guard against the problem is for leaders to always lead by example. As his article concludes (with another quote from Vaughan): “If the employees see executives breaking rules, they will feel it is normal in the company’s culture. Normalisation of deviance is easier to prevent than to correct.”
Tom’s Friday newsletter is always an excellent read, and you can sign up on his website.
#leadership #psychologicalsafety
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