The Implications of a Delay Are Sometimes Bigger Than You Expect

In this series, professionals reflect on their inevitable career mistakes. Follow the stories here and write your own (please include #BestMistake in your post).

In 2011, I led the team that merged Wood Group Production Facilities’ division with PSN to create Wood Group PSN. The merger involved more than 25,000 of today’s 40,000 or so Wood Group employees.

 

We focused on the management and merging of contracts, offices, workshops, and warehouses. We examined processes and tried to find ways of combining IT systems as well.

But in one crucial area, I made a huge mistake.

The team agreed that we should adopt the stricter safety standards if we found any differences in safety standards and policies.

For driving safety, this meant using the PSN standard, which mandated the use of safety belts and prohibited the use of cell phones while driving, including hands-free ones.

A suggestion was made to persuade the rest of Wood Group to adopt the standard at the same time, and I agreed to take it to my colleagues on the executive team to seek their support.

I didn't get it. They pushed back and requested more data. We were divided on what position to take on cell phone usage and proposed alternatives and questions. The debate went on for several months.

During that time, there was a vehicle accident in Wood Group PSN. A rear-seat passenger was thrown from the car that crashed and died of his injuries. He wasn't wearing a safety belt. It wasn't a legal requirement and wasn't usual practise in that country.

Perhaps if we had talked less and decided quicker, we could have had the new standard in place. Maybe the outcome could have been different?

A family suffered a tragic loss that possibly, just possibly, we could have prevented.

I have no doubt where the problem lies. I was head of Wood Group PSN. I could have and should have insisted that the new standard be implemented in my part of Wood Group the minute I realised that it was going to take time to persuade others in the Group to adopt stricter policies.

But, I didn't. I failed to consider the implications of a delay. I failed to persuade my colleagues quickly enough. I failed to take action quickly enough. In short, I failed.

I learned a lot from this, but it shouldn't take tragedies to make us learn.

Sometimes it's right to take time and build consensus. Sometimes it is right to delay or even deliberately not make a decision.

But, surely it's vital to think of the consequences — intended or otherwise — of delaying a decision and to take the right action based on that.

Today, I would not accept delays in making safety improvements, but I learned this the hard way.