What the NYC subway platform doors can teach us about driving change
Our next edition of Leaps and Bounds is about what we can learn from the NYC subway platform doors on creating change at work. Read on to discover lessons for organizations, leaders, and individuals on how to push past resistance and assumptions to do things differently.
New York City just announced that they will be piloting platform barriers, a month after the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) chief executive said that installing the doors would be unfeasible. His change in ‘feasibility’ was in response to increasing pressure after a woman was pushed in front of a train. The number of people on the tracks increased 19% last year, even though subway ridership was down more than 50%, something that the doors are shown to help prevent. In Nov and Dec 2020, five different women were attacked at one station in New York City, and the man responsible confessed to targeting women. In a survey of 13 developing countries, the UN found 40% women have reported feeling more unsafe in public places since the start of the pandemic, all the while hate-crime reporting in the US reached its highest level in 12 years in 2020, driven by an increase in assaults of Black and Asian people.
While extreme, we can adapt the story of the NYC subway to what workplaces can learn about pushing for change in creating (or eliminating) structures to help create a safe environment that makes space for employees to thrive. This MTA example presents some interesting lessons learned that can be applied across different contexts.
Don’t wait until it’s too late
There should not have had to be loss of life before a major decision is made, especially when people were already calling for that action. The president of the MTA acknowledged this, saying, “We are decades behind other cities around the world. And I’m sorry that it took the tragic death of Michelle Go to elevate this, but there’s no doubt that was really a turning point.”
The MTA waited too long to act to concerns that had been raised before, as did many organizations who were caught on the backfoot about creating anti-racist workplaces after the rise in public support for the Black Lives Matter movement, or work from home policies prior to the pandemic. While the old adage says “Never waste a good crisis,” it shouldn’t take a crisis to prompt trying something new or doing things differently.
Keep applying pressure
Societal pressure works, be it in the form of protest, customer demand, or changing popular opinion. Of course, pressure can be escalated in the form of a unique, unexpected event (e.g., pandemic, or in the case of the MTA, increased incidents). However, it wasn’t Go’s death alone that created the shift, it was the pressure that came from all sides in response to it. Riders demanded change from their elected officials, and it was the Manhattan borough president and City Council members who urged the president of the MTA to install platform doors. By applying externally pressure both riders and elected officials, the MTA was forced to respond and ultimately to reevaluate their long-held assumptions.
Pressure can take many forms, such as collective organizing within or outside a company (boycotts, walkouts), social media campaigns, or contacting elected officials. There are different ways to be heard, and to amplify others’ voices to drive action.
Demand transparency about priorities
The NYC subway was “too complex” for platform doors up until recently, when the MTA decided they could pilot platform doors in some stations. It’s clear that comments about complexity were hollow excuses allowing the subway to operate as usual, but when the MTA’s hand was forced, they found a way.
Reversing on statements like this damage leadership credibility and highlight that often, challenges aren’t a question of possibility but of priority. Leaders need to be honest about the choices they are making and the choices they aren’t. While it will be impossible for leaders to solve and address every issue, they should be held to a standard of honesty and transparency about the choices they make, instead of using glib excuses for why change cannot be made.
Hopefully, it doesn’t take a loss of life for you to realize the need for change in your environment. If there is something you think can and should be done differently, speak out, speak up and continue to push for it.
