{"id":5500,"date":"2026-02-04T14:41:47","date_gmt":"2026-02-04T14:41:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crmknowledgehub.com\/?p=5500"},"modified":"2026-02-09T01:51:41","modified_gmt":"2026-02-09T01:51:41","slug":"does-complacency-really-cause-errors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crmknowledgehub.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/04\/does-complacency-really-cause-errors\/","title":{"rendered":"Does complacency really cause errors?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">SOURCE: <a href=\"https:\/\/competentaviators.com'\">www.competentaviators.com<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;<em>Complacency. Merited with at least a dishonourable mention in almost all books on human factors, this supposedly pernicious attitude is universally villainised and cited as a factor in countless aeronautical mishaps and accident reports. But what actually is complacency? Can it be shown to exist? And if so, how do you know it is at play until Captain Hindsight points his all knowing finger?<\/em>&#8220;<\/p>\n\n\n<p style=\"white-space: normal;\">In this article, Alex Pollitt argues that labelling complacency as a\u00a0<em>cause<\/em> of errors in aviation (and human performance generally) is overly simplistic and unhelpful. Complacency is often blamed in accident reports without anyone clearly defining what it really <em>is<\/em>\u00a0or how it comes about. Instead, the article suggests complacency is a\u00a0<strong>symptom, not a root cause<\/strong>, emerging from a complex mix of organisational, task, cultural, and environmental factors rather than a standalone mental state. Simply telling people to \u201cavoid complacency\u201d or \u201cbe more vigilant\u201d doesn\u2019t address the real underlying issues; to improve safety we must better understand the conditions that foster these behaviours.<\/p>\n\n\n<p class=\"has-vivid-green-cyan-background-color has-background wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/competentaviators.com\/2022\/08\/29\/does-complacency-really-cause-errors\/\">Access the full article on www.competentaviators.com -CLICK HERE<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In this article, Alex Pollitt argues that labelling complacency as a\u00a0cause\u00a0of errors in aviation (and human performance generally) is overly simplistic and unhelpful. Instead, the article suggests complacency is a\u00a0symptom, not a root cause, emerging from a complex mix of organisational, task, cultural, and environmental factors rather than a standalone mental state.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":58,"featured_media":5502,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[118],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5500","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-threat-and-error-management"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Does complacency really cause errors? - The CRM Knowledge Hub<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Labelling complacency as a\u00a0cause\u00a0of errors in aviation (and human performance generally) is overly simplistic and unhelpful. Complacency is often blamed in accident reports and CRM training without anyone clearly defining what it really\u00a0is\u00a0or how it comes about.\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/crmknowledgehub.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/04\/does-complacency-really-cause-errors\/\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Does complacency really cause errors? - The CRM Knowledge Hub\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Labelling complacency as a\u00a0cause\u00a0of errors in aviation (and human performance generally) is overly simplistic and unhelpful. Complacency is often blamed in accident reports and CRM training without anyone clearly defining what it really\u00a0is\u00a0or how it comes about.\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/crmknowledgehub.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/04\/does-complacency-really-cause-errors\/\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The CRM Knowledge Hub\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-02-04T14:41:47+00:00\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-02-09T01:51:41+00:00\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/crmknowledgehub.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/COMPLACENCY.png\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1080\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1080\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"K-HUB\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"K-HUB\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/crmknowledgehub.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/04\/does-complacency-really-cause-errors\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/crmknowledgehub.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/04\/does-complacency-really-cause-errors\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"K-HUB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/crmknowledgehub.com\/#\/schema\/person\/60a2e2c68873f253bcb713a022abfe54\"},\"headline\":\"Does complacency really cause errors?\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-02-04T14:41:47+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-02-09T01:51:41+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/crmknowledgehub.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/04\/does-complacency-really-cause-errors\/\"},\"wordCount\":188,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/crmknowledgehub.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/crmknowledgehub.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/04\/does-complacency-really-cause-errors\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/crmknowledgehub.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/COMPLACENCY.png\",\"articleSection\":[\"THREAT &amp; ERROR MANAGEMENT\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/crmknowledgehub.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/04\/does-complacency-really-cause-errors\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/crmknowledgehub.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/04\/does-complacency-really-cause-errors\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/crmknowledgehub.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/04\/does-complacency-really-cause-errors\/\",\"name\":\"Does complacency really cause errors? - The CRM Knowledge Hub\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/crmknowledgehub.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/crmknowledgehub.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/04\/does-complacency-really-cause-errors\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/crmknowledgehub.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/04\/does-complacency-really-cause-errors\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/crmknowledgehub.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/COMPLACENCY.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-02-04T14:41:47+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-02-09T01:51:41+00:00\",\"description\":\"Labelling complacency as a\u00a0cause\u00a0of errors in aviation (and human performance generally) is overly simplistic and unhelpful. Complacency is often blamed in accident reports and CRM training without anyone clearly defining what it really\u00a0is\u00a0or how it comes about.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/crmknowledgehub.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/04\/does-complacency-really-cause-errors\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/crmknowledgehub.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/04\/does-complacency-really-cause-errors\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/crmknowledgehub.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/04\/does-complacency-really-cause-errors\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/crmknowledgehub.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/COMPLACENCY.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/crmknowledgehub.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/COMPLACENCY.png\",\"width\":1080,\"height\":1080},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/crmknowledgehub.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/04\/does-complacency-really-cause-errors\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Portada\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/crmknowledgehub.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Does complacency really cause errors?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/crmknowledgehub.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/crmknowledgehub.com\/\",\"name\":\"The CRM Knowledge Hub\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/crmknowledgehub.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/crmknowledgehub.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/crmknowledgehub.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"The CRM Knowledge Hub\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/crmknowledgehub.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/crmknowledgehub.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/crmknowledgehub.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/cropped-cropped-CRM-K-Hub-Logo.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/crmknowledgehub.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/cropped-cropped-CRM-K-Hub-Logo.png\",\"width\":378,\"height\":264,\"caption\":\"The CRM Knowledge Hub\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/crmknowledgehub.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/crm-knowledge-hub\/\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/crmknowledgehub.com\/#\/schema\/person\/60a2e2c68873f253bcb713a022abfe54\",\"name\":\"K-HUB\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/crmknowledgehub.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/crmknowledgehub.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/avatars\/58\/1722105136-bpfull.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/crmknowledgehub.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/avatars\/58\/1722105136-bpfull.png\",\"caption\":\"K-HUB\"},\"description\":\"The administrator, CRM Knowledge Hub.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.crmknowledgehub.com\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/crm-knowledge-hub\/\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/crmknowledgehub.com\/index.php\/author\/k-hub\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Does complacency really cause errors? - The CRM Knowledge Hub","description":"Labelling complacency as a\u00a0cause\u00a0of errors in aviation (and human performance generally) is overly simplistic and unhelpful. Complacency is often blamed in accident reports and CRM training without anyone clearly defining what it really\u00a0is\u00a0or how it comes about.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/crmknowledgehub.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/04\/does-complacency-really-cause-errors\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Does complacency really cause errors? - The CRM Knowledge Hub","og_description":"Labelling complacency as a\u00a0cause\u00a0of errors in aviation (and human performance generally) is overly simplistic and unhelpful. Complacency is often blamed in accident reports and CRM training without anyone clearly defining what it really\u00a0is\u00a0or how it comes about.","og_url":"https:\/\/crmknowledgehub.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/04\/does-complacency-really-cause-errors\/","og_site_name":"The CRM Knowledge Hub","article_published_time":"2026-02-04T14:41:47+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-02-09T01:51:41+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1080,"height":1080,"url":"https:\/\/crmknowledgehub.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/COMPLACENCY.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"K-HUB","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"K-HUB","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/crmknowledgehub.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/04\/does-complacency-really-cause-errors\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/crmknowledgehub.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/04\/does-complacency-really-cause-errors\/"},"author":{"name":"K-HUB","@id":"https:\/\/crmknowledgehub.com\/#\/schema\/person\/60a2e2c68873f253bcb713a022abfe54"},"headline":"Does complacency really cause errors?","datePublished":"2026-02-04T14:41:47+00:00","dateModified":"2026-02-09T01:51:41+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/crmknowledgehub.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/04\/does-complacency-really-cause-errors\/"},"wordCount":188,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/crmknowledgehub.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/crmknowledgehub.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/04\/does-complacency-really-cause-errors\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/crmknowledgehub.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/COMPLACENCY.png","articleSection":["THREAT &amp; ERROR MANAGEMENT"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/crmknowledgehub.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/04\/does-complacency-really-cause-errors\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/crmknowledgehub.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/04\/does-complacency-really-cause-errors\/","url":"https:\/\/crmknowledgehub.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/04\/does-complacency-really-cause-errors\/","name":"Does complacency really cause errors? - The CRM Knowledge Hub","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/crmknowledgehub.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/crmknowledgehub.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/04\/does-complacency-really-cause-errors\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/crmknowledgehub.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/04\/does-complacency-really-cause-errors\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/crmknowledgehub.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/COMPLACENCY.png","datePublished":"2026-02-04T14:41:47+00:00","dateModified":"2026-02-09T01:51:41+00:00","description":"Labelling complacency as a\u00a0cause\u00a0of errors in aviation (and human performance generally) is overly simplistic and unhelpful. Complacency is often blamed in accident reports and CRM training without anyone clearly defining what it really\u00a0is\u00a0or how it comes about.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/crmknowledgehub.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/04\/does-complacency-really-cause-errors\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/crmknowledgehub.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/04\/does-complacency-really-cause-errors\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/crmknowledgehub.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/04\/does-complacency-really-cause-errors\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/crmknowledgehub.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/COMPLACENCY.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/crmknowledgehub.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/COMPLACENCY.png","width":1080,"height":1080},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/crmknowledgehub.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/04\/does-complacency-really-cause-errors\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Portada","item":"https:\/\/crmknowledgehub.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Does complacency really cause errors?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/crmknowledgehub.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/crmknowledgehub.com\/","name":"The CRM Knowledge Hub","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/crmknowledgehub.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/crmknowledgehub.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/crmknowledgehub.com\/#organization","name":"The CRM Knowledge Hub","url":"https:\/\/crmknowledgehub.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/crmknowledgehub.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/crmknowledgehub.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/cropped-cropped-CRM-K-Hub-Logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/crmknowledgehub.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/cropped-cropped-CRM-K-Hub-Logo.png","width":378,"height":264,"caption":"The CRM Knowledge Hub"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/crmknowledgehub.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/crm-knowledge-hub\/"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/crmknowledgehub.com\/#\/schema\/person\/60a2e2c68873f253bcb713a022abfe54","name":"K-HUB","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/crmknowledgehub.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/crmknowledgehub.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/avatars\/58\/1722105136-bpfull.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/crmknowledgehub.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/avatars\/58\/1722105136-bpfull.png","caption":"K-HUB"},"description":"The administrator, CRM Knowledge Hub.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.crmknowledgehub.com","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/crm-knowledge-hub\/"],"url":"https:\/\/crmknowledgehub.com\/index.php\/author\/k-hub\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/crmknowledgehub.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5500","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/crmknowledgehub.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/crmknowledgehub.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crmknowledgehub.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/58"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crmknowledgehub.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5500"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/crmknowledgehub.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5500\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5556,"href":"https:\/\/crmknowledgehub.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5500\/revisions\/5556"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crmknowledgehub.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5502"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/crmknowledgehub.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5500"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crmknowledgehub.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5500"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crmknowledgehub.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5500"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}