Writing the article on how a blameless culture can go wrong sparked some interesting discussions. Many people agreed with the points made in the article. Some did not. But all agreed that blamelessness is a critical aspect of a well-functioning organisation.

But why? What makes a blameless culture so important? And why is it so hard to get it right?

Toxic culture of blame

As with all the problematic things in this world, it starts with people. We are wired to blame others. Our primitive reptilian brains evolved to hunt animals in the savanna and are not particularly great at dealing with nuances. We like simple solutions.

Flawed human nature

When faced with issues, we tend to attribute other people’s mistakes to their traits (like laziness and carelessness) and not to external factors. Of course, it does not apply to ourselves. I’m obviously very smart and hard-working, so if something bad has happened, it was surely not my fault. Right? Someone else has to be responsible! Someone else is to be blamed!

And how does a reptilian brain react to being blamed? Humbly accepts guilt and promises to improve? Of course not. It becomes defensive, avoids responsibility and tries to push the blame on someone else.

See how this escalates? Behavioural patterns that were useful when hunting dinosaurs are not a particularly good foundation for building efficient engineering organisations.

The slippery slope of blame

Blaming leads to more blaming. Culture quickly gets toxic. People are running in defensive mode, trying to avoid responsibility for anything important, as it means trouble and being put in the spotlight. Systemic issues remain unresolved, as everyone is focusing on finding scapegoats and shifting the blame. No deep issues analysis, no lessons learned. Just throw the scapegoat aboard and continue.

Silenced by fear

But perhaps the most dangerous result of the blame culture is silence. Being afraid of blaming people starts hiding problems. Status reports are always green, metrics are gamed, and issues are swept under the carpet. To avoid getting in trouble, people present you with the falsified facade of reality. Underneath it, issues accumulate until the facade collapses. But then, it’s usually too late to act. You’ve been fooled in your ivory tower.

That’s the main reason why totalitarian, centrally-managed regimes are so dysfunctional. If you risk going to the Gulag for not meeting unrealistic factory production targets, you will make sure the targets are met. Even if it means falsifying the production reports or compromising on quality.

How to build a blameless culture

To create and maintain a blameless culture, you need to put in a lot of effort. It’s not easy to avoid blaming, and it is even more difficult to still keep high standards and accountability.

Lead the way

The first step to making the world a better place is to start with yourself. Be a role model on how to deal with failures. Openly admitting to your own mistakes and sharing lessons learned sets a good example for your team. It shows them that mistakes happen, and will encourage them to be more open about theirs.