I heard many years ago the everything is a system or a process. I agree with that…for the most part.
I wrote in a previous blog how I evolved to thinking about how in a why, who, and what world. This thinking evolution starting at a risk control workshop where Dr. Todd Conklin was presenting. I left conference “thinking about it.”
Along with my teammates we began to work through a new process for us. Our focus was on our safety and risk management process. We had satisfactory results but not great. We wanted to be better. One thing we realized is that we always tended to ask why something happened. While not the worst question in the world it does lead you down a path where you just end up looking for someone to blame. As Conklin said, “Blaming a worker is like peeing in your pants. It feels good at first, but you get really uncomfortable really quick.”
How true is that! We committed to something different. This resulted in something we called the How Process.
It starts with:
- Understanding the context.
- Understanding the worker’s perspective.
- Understanding any attitudes that may be present.
- Understanding what defenses may be present.
Once you understand the entire situation you begin to work through a process.
At the core of the process is deciding if something happened as a result of a violation or an error. If an error is indicated in the process, you have a problem that needs to be solved in your system. That may result in new training, updated procedures, new PPE’s, etc. If a violation is indicated in the process, then you have a behavior problem that needs to be solved. You determine the history of the behavior, the proper awareness, the proper coaching, the culture fit, and the ability to meet the job requirements.
So, it comes down to understanding and coaching behaviors.
What happened as a result of our new process? We were better!
Think about it.