Thriving on “alternate mode”
From Laurel and Hardy though to Fawlty Towers, the spectacle of human beings being driven demented by the breakdown of order, systems and technology has always been great box office. On the dramatic side of the media fence, disaster movies in which the heroes survive against the odds leave audiences wonder how they would cope with earthquakes, fires, and aircraft falling from the skies.
Those who do survive adversity and disaster usually to so because they go into “alternate mode” to get through the crisis.
In the armed forces or rescue services of many countries, training to operate in alternate mode conditions is becoming increasingly important. What does “operating in alternate mode” mean? Simply put, it means providing essential services and resources, fast and efficient, when a major crisis has disabled the normal human and material means normally available. The concept has even been applied to fly-by-wire systems on a gradual number of commercial aircraft, where “alternate law” will be switched on in certain conditions to compensate for serious technical faults. Unfortunately, as we have seen in the case of flight AF447, which crashed in the Atlantic between Rio and Paris, it will not always save the aircraft, but it often does, and we do not get to hear about it. There is really a lot we can learn, both as ordinary individuals and as professionals, from operating in alternate mode conditions, both from a human and technical point of view. Especially when we move abroad.
Take a look at how modern man in the so-called developed world reacts when something goes wrong. A train breaks down, or gets severely delayed due to bad weather conditions, and passengers, who understandably do suffer some inconvenience, cry scandal. A flight gets delayed, and compensation must be significant and immediate (the EU has even created a charter about it!). A major traffic jam happens, and city planners instantly become incompetent. Modern man calls this “normal service expectations”, whether the services are delivered by business or the state by, and by people or technology. Modern man wants permanent uptime, and he wants it NOW. He hates what appear to be “alternate mode” conditions, and we are very far from the horrors of the earthquake in Haiti…
Is modern man a spoilt child, you might ask? Possibly. But operating successfully in alternate mode conditions, like slap bass playing, is just a lost art in the developed world. Take a look at previous generations, who had far fewer services available to them, far fewer means, and far fewer options in life. From what I heard in my family and in others, they always came up with “tips and tricks”, were very inventive finding solutions, and saved a lot – money and energy, especially. They had to. Just like they had to help each other, on a daily basis. As millions of people do in the so-called “emerging” world. Go to the suburbs of Dakar in Senegal, for example, or to any Indian village, and you will see how just about anything gets fixed or made out of nothing. What would appear to those who are used to the technology-driven “throw it away when it breaks down” culture in the so-called first world as terrible alternate mode conditions is just a way of life in such places. There are no other options, but they excel at it, within their means.
I would venture that the modern man in question might be well served by considering alternate mode conditions as a great learning ground, and as an opportunity not just to cope better, but also to be happier and more creative with himself and others. I spent a number of years in the French military special forces. I was a navy commando, and one of the greatest things I learnt there was to look after myself, physically and mentally, whether things went well, or did not. I also learnt how saving physical and mental energy was not only a matter of survival, it was also necessary to get inventive, cautious, and efficient – especially when stakes were high. The hardest brick wall can be in your mind, and when things go wrong, that wall can get built quickly, believe me. It takes hard training, mental flexibility, and confidence to jump over a brick wall of your own creation. But it always starts with simplicity, and it starts with you.
When you go abroad, and to the Middle East in particular, do expect some things to go wrong. Despite the beguiling modern towers and the apparently well-organized rules and appearances, you could be faced with occasional major floods, as in Jeddah recently. The notion of time is different, so you could get seriously delayed. Your credit card, even from your local bank, might stop working altogether, and some driving habits might shock or destabilize you. Not to mention some cultural habits that might look alien and objectionable to you. If it happens, go with the tide and adapt, do not build the brick wall, I would suggest, and refrain from getting into permanent complaint mode. It does not mean you should accept anything and submit passively to any inconvenience. But if you accept the imperfect reality as it is, you will get more creative for your own good and the good of others. Here are a few tips that I regularly use. They might not work for all, but they do work for me:
- When I drive or fly anywhere, I tend to plan for alternative mode, not in an obsessive manner, but as a matter of course. What if I lose my cell phone or my wallet? What if my flight gets badly delayed? What if my car breaks down in a tunnel, and what if the kids start getting distressed?
- Then I do a quick tour of what I would do. It’s only a simple plan in my mind, but it’s better than no plan at all
- Naturally, whatever the plan, I must accept that I can be taken by surprise by something I have not thought of, because problems, just like buses, tend to come in groups…but if I am taken by surprise, I might not be the only one. So, I will talk to people around me or phone a friend, calmly, usually in a humorous way, and will discuss options. Now, I am no longer facing a brick wall, I am walking on a bridge towards the best possible solution given the conditions I’m in. I’m no longer on my own, stuck behind the wall.
Try this, and train for it. If you do, you will find that on many occasions, you will actually make better decisions than if you were in normal operating mode. Why? Because alternate mode conditions, whatever they are, can actually cause you to operate on the edge of necessity, and focus your mind on the essentials to crack the problem. Provided you mentally put yourself in a position whereby you ride on it and get it to work for you, not against you. Anger and frustration will actually paralyze you, and will hold the bricks of the wall pretty tight together!
You do not have to be a trained commando to get the best out of alternate mode, in your own personal life, in business, or abroad in the Middle East. But like a commando, you can be calm, creative, adaptable, and find opportunities for good team work all the time, in benign trouble situations as in very adverse ones. Again, ride with the tide, and let your creative side come out. Do not let yourself, your team, or your family down. They count on you as well.
But you have to be humble, respectful, and wise. Some things will go wrong, you will get into severe alternate mode sometimes, or even frequently, depending on your situation. If you do, or rather, when you do, think of this: operating in alternate mode may actually help you more than you think. Developing and practicing that skill every day, and for many, rediscovering it, will be essential in the decades to come. The more changeable the world will continue to be, and the more technology there will be, the more practice with alternate mode we shall all require – in our travels, and in our minds.
We all need to appreciate the art of operating successfully in alternate mode, and practice for it. Just like our elders did.
Fred Le Douarec, February 2010.