Safety Culture

Culture Cloud Tour Part 11: Aesthetics, Poetics and Affordances

When something has an affordance, it has an energy and tells us what to do. Objects do not just sit there in a neutral space. A chair gives us the affordance to sit down.

A Chair: What does it afford to you unconsciously?

These teach us things about the spaces around us and we learn to sit from an early age.

So what other Affordances are in your workplace and how are they affecting you and your team unconsciously?

How does this affect your Culture?

Let’s use a really simple example of a commonplace occurrence. Imagine something simple like a closed office door. And the organisation has an ‘open door’ policy. What message does this send the unconscious?

Watch and enjoy!

Matt Thorne

Matt Thorne

Executive Director at Risk Diversity
Risk Diversity coaches and mentors Companies and People to understand Leadership, Culture and Risk, helping them to humanise and harmonise their systems.
Matt Thorne

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