I remember when I first saw the images of the Grenfell Tower fire that happened in the UK in 2017 – they were shocking and something I haven’t been able to forget. As more details were revealed following the disaster, it was unbelievable and frankly quite eye opening.

I was reminded of the tragedy when I attended a session by Mark Hardingham QFSM, former Chair National Fire Chiefs Council at the AFAC25 Conference & Exhibition, where he discussed key learnings from the inquiry released in 2019.

Many of the insights are relevant to us all.

The power of organisational culture

Mark spoke about how most of the organisations involved with the Grenfell Tower refurbishment had displayed consistently toxic cultures, as shown by a series of email and text message excerpts that formed part of the inquiry.

The cultures encouraged lying, deception and prioritised monetary gain over all else, which encouraged people to turn a blind eye to the facts. They knew the danger of the cladding, and in fact, one organisation predicted a fire like this would occur and kill 60-70 people – 72 people lost their lives in the Grenfell Tower fire.

Due to the negative culture where this behaviour was accepted and the intense pressure to deliver results, cladding which had already caused bad fires in other countries was allowed to be installed on Grenfell.

Insight: Although this outcome is extreme, it highlights the risk of allowing a negative culture to spread throughout an organisation because people become complicit and don’t speak out even when there are issues.

Positive work culture needs to be a priority for all organisations because the opposite can cause irreparable damage to reputations and even more serious consequences, like in this case.

The problem when leadership’s eyes are fixated on the prize

Leaders work from a different level to their employees; they are usually focused on the bigger picture and looking at the end goal.

Insight: This vantage point could cause issues for an organisation if the leader/s become fixated on the end result, possibly missing early red flags or flat out ignoring them because they don’t align with their goals.

Corners are cut, processes rushed, and information hidden.

This is a potent reminder that as leaders, while the end result is important, everyone needs to be vigilant and keep listening to those around them.

Capturing the learnings and actually learning from them

Quoting Winston Churchill, Mark shared: “Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.”

Grenfell wasn’t the first cladding fire; and it hasn’t been the last, with thousands of buildings across the globe still using this type of cladding material.

One week before the inquiry findings were released, the London Fire Service had a different outcome at a building fire made of the same flammable cladding. They were able to avoid the same mistakes from Grenfell by prioritising evacuations over putting out the fire.

It is vital to reflect on important situations and events to uncover what worked well, what didn’t work well and how could things be improved for the future. Furthermore, this information needs to be recorded and referred to going forward to ensure the learnings stick.

What are the important learnings we can take from this disaster as communication professionals?

• Work culture cannot be underestimated
• Leaders need to lead by example
• We should never stop learning and listening
• Open communication is vital across all parts of organisations

Although this was an extreme example with a devastating outcome, the lessons offer a strong warning to organisations on the importance of a positive culture, listening and adapting as information comes to hand.

Doing the right thing is always the right thing to do, and in doing so, it will bring greater success to organisations.