I wanted to add another comment in regard to Medway Secure Training Centre this week — about the lack of immediate accountability of the staff which seemed apparent on the programme.
In the Stanford Prison Experiment, the subjects who were randomly assigned as prison guards gradually adopted the behaviour of cruel and demanding prison guards because that became the behavioural norm. — Philip Zimbardo
Some have commented on the use of uniforms and the title “Custody Officer” — and whether those terms and the use of police-style uniforms are appropriate in a youth service. One of my colleagues, Ade Turner, a FES-certified trainer from ACT training, said:
I believe changes are required at this type of establishment around what the staff are called and how they are dressed, and what the children there are referred to. Yes, I know the children have committed crime, but they require nurturing and helping as much as possible. The staff mentality of them dressed in uniform and being called custody officers seems to give them an excuse to act as an authoritarian. Perhaps they should consider how most private mental health hospitals refer to their staff and the people they look after.
The issue goes very deep.
Situational forces mount in power with the introduction of uniforms, costumes, and masks — all disguises of one’s usual appearance that promote anonymity and reduce personal accountability. When people feel anonymous in a situation, as if no one is aware of their true identity, they can more easily be induced to behave in antisocial ways.
When all members of a group are in a deindividuated state, their mental functioning changes: they live in an expanded-present moment that makes past and future distant and irrelevant. Feelings dominate reason, and action dominates reflection. It becomes as easy to make war as to make love, without considering the consequences. — Philip Zimbardo
How Does De-Individuation Happen in a Service?
When leaders and supervisors fail to thoroughly offer feedback to their staff on individual incidents, they leave the door wide open for de-individuation and anonymity to run rampant with their institutional culture.
✅ Debriefing practice that works: Hold team members accountable for their own actions in isolation from what the team did. Give individual feedback — acknowledge what they did that was expected, praise practice-oriented actions, and focus on what can be done better next time. Then tell them what the supervisor will be actively looking for when they next observe the team member performing.
So, it is advisable to have a consistent debriefing practice which, for example:
- Holds team members accountable for their own actions in isolation from what the team did
- Gives team members individual feedback on their performance, including:
- Acknowledging what they did which was expected of them
- Praising the things they did which were practice-oriented
- Focusing on what can be done better next time — by the individual and by the team
- States clearly what the supervisor will be actively looking for when they next observe the team member performing in such an interaction
This type of supervision will promote personal accountability and will go a long way to addressing the creeping culture of abuse.
Bystander Mobilisation
The next stage, once a culture of practice and feedback is in place, is to make every single person in the organisation a “mobilised” bystander.
Gary Klugiewicz from Vistelar and VDI explains what a bystander is:
“Bystander” refers to all of the people who are witness to or are aware of a social injustice, and are in a position to do something before, during, or after the event that could have changed the outcome — or could have lessened the cost of the negative personal, sociological, or psychological ramifications of the event.
💡 The mobilised bystander: Once an individual feels supported and is in an environment where their individual contributions are recognised — and indeed demanded — from peers and supervisors, it is more likely we will see more accountability, more whistleblowing, and less bad practice in our care institutions.
To learn more about how we do this in Verbal Defense and Influence, why not join us? We will be holding our first-ever UK instructor certification course towards the end of 2016.
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