Accountability

www.jhnewsandguide.com/sports/sports_ext...WGRcaKHyImk.facebook

Great article ! Thanks.

Good stuff.

I just heard 3rd hand that 3 people were involved in an inbound Avy on 7th Heaven today at Stevens Pass. Has that gotten out yet?

Interesting article. I haven't experienced that sort of negative response here, however. Twice I and my group have been involved in avalanche incidents; both times we posted them (on nwhikers.net) and what we did wrong, and both led to good discussions.

Have people here experienced anything like the harsh response cited in the article?


The two incidents:

Damnation Pk, April 2009: www.nwhikers.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=...&highlight=damnation

Mt. Sefrit, April 2010: www.nwhikers.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=7982803&start=0


A couple of the many excellent points from the article:

"how can we learn from each other if we aren’t open and honest about our mistakes?"

"...raises questions about our assumptions of safe zones and good route finding rather than negligence. But how are we ever going to be able to explore the difference if no one is willing to speak up?"

"Brown talks about how fear of shame and vulnerability hold us back, stifle our creativity and innovation and prevent change. She goes on to explore how deeply ingrained shame is in our culture and how difficult it is for us to break down its barriers to true learning. The antidote, she says, is empathy. Social media leaves little room for empathy, however. Studies have shown that in the absence of face-to-face contact, humans are more willing to be cruel, harsh and judgmental."

This last point is very interesting. Social media has played a huge role in this, making it much easier for so many more people to immediately weigh in with opinions and comments that are often ill-informed and in no way constructive.

Speaking for myself, after each of those incidents cited above what I felt was not shame, but initially relief that no one was injured, then humility--which is different from shame--and a need to analyze and discuss the situation and what we did wrong. Most of all, a very strong desire to learn from the experience.

Also from the article: "Empathy demands that we put ourselves in someone else’s shoes before we jump to any conclusions about their actions. Empathy requires listening even when we think we know the answers."

Exactly. Stop and think. Then post a well-considered, thoughtful and constructive comment. One we can all learn from.

Great article & thanks for posting.

And very insightful comments from Eric J & Freeski - I appreciate your leadership!
Failure & errors are great teachers......if we know about them.