Lately, if you have not noticed already, I have been on a mission; the goal being pride in our equipment, our work and ourselves. Every day I am inspecting units and giving feedback to the crews while I do it. My message: broken is no longer acceptable! I believe in what Malcolm Gladwell, the author of Tipping Factor (I strongly recommend the book), had to say. The key premise goes something like this:
Social change does not occur in the smooth linear way which many people imagine.
Often social values will suddenly transition or ‘tip’ from one state into another. Social change such as crime rates and fashion can often behave in a manner which is similar to the spread of diseases.
A tip can often be achieved by the compound effect of relatively benign factors.
Too much graffiti and too many broken windows can tip a neighborhood from being a good neighborhood into a crime ridden no-go area. Additionally, the behavior of key individuals in a social group can make quite bizarre actions (such as suicide) not just acceptable in a group, but also fashionable and desirable.
In order to repair a problem, you need to perpetually guard against seemingly insignificant factors in order to effect change.
When the New York underground decided to try to clean up the crime and vandalism on the tube network, they started with the graffiti. The theory was that by cleaning up the appearance of the trains, the feel of the tube network would be improved and people would start to feel more secure and crime would be discouraged. In order to clean up graffiti on their tube network they did it in a staged and defensive manner. A small number of trains were designated as ‘clean trains’. These trains were not allowed to slip and become covered in graffiti even though other trains remained ‘dirty’. The number of clean trains was extended in a sustainable manner at the rate the tube system could cope with until the problem tipped and became controllable.
Applied to neighborhoods, the principal is that an area can hit a point at which there are so many broken windows and walls covered in graffiti that it can change people’s social values. It suddenly becomes 'OK' to break more windows and deface property, and this can move on to more serious crimes being committed once people get a taste for misdemeanors. At this point the neighborhood has tipped and will rapidly go downhill.
In order to affect change and tip a bad district back into the light, it is necessary to actively repair broken windows and clean up graffiti, because without improving the environment that people live in there will not be enough social impetus to allow the residents to control and discourage antisocial behavior.
As long we tolerate a cluttered, dirty and broken environment, we are communicating to each other that it does not matter; lost, broken, or not following the rules is not only ok, it is expected. We must be careful in the “tip” and take a cue from New York, focus and claim one area at a time and not let it slip back. I start with the ambulances. They are billboards, and they are the living space of our crews and clients. Think about it… MEMS has long stood for excellence in EMS. We have always been known for having top of the line equipment and medics. This reputation was hard fought for, and must not be allowed to slip during our tenure.
This is a group effort, fueled by pride and peer pressure! I am starting with the inspection and repair of the ambulances, but there is even more to do. We will not stop until our whole environment is one that reflects our excellence!
Let’s show our pride!
We don’t like anytime that our profession is diminished by the unwitting opinion of anyone that has no real understanding of our business, so why would we want to fuel negative perception with any poor presentation? We have pride in what we do! So let’s show some, by maintaining our work tools and ourselves the best that we possibly can – all the time!
Greg
