I read with amusement the word ‘conversation’ being used in safety. Most often it doesn’t mean conversation, dialogue, mutual listening or helping, it means ‘telling’. Such is the safety code (https://safetyrisk.net/deciphering-safety-code/). If you enter into any engagement with an ‘other’ with … [Read more...] about Telling, The Safety Way
conversation
How was your break?
How was your break? This is the question most of us ask when meeting at the airport to fly to back to work or when the crew first arrives back on site from R&R. Is it just social etiquette, or do we really want to know? I would suggest perhaps it may a little of both depending on the nature … [Read more...] about How was your break?
Sending and Receiving Talk is NOT Conversation
Ignorance about self-capability and about what other professions do, is a sure-fire way to fuel the idea that Safety can do anything. Just because you have a mouth, ears and can talk doesn’t mean one is skilled in observation, listening and helping. When you don’t know what Educators do, you … [Read more...] about Sending and Receiving Talk is NOT Conversation
Just Toolbox it!
Just Toolbox it! ‘Just Toolbox it!’ How often have you heard this term in risk and safety? It seems to be the key way we address safety concerns including incidents, hazards, a ‘safety alert’ or a ‘safety share’ As the name suggests, the ‘Toolbox Talk’ (also known as the ‘pre-start chat’, the … [Read more...] about Just Toolbox it!
The Art of Humble Inquiry as a Pathway to Safety Improvement
The message here is so simple yet contradicts orthodox and contemporary safety education, training and practice: “telling is more risky than asking”, "We see ‘asking’ as a ‘weakness’ or being ‘ignorant’ so we avoid it" The Art of Humble Inquiry as a Pathway to Safety Improvement I was chatting with … [Read more...] about The Art of Humble Inquiry as a Pathway to Safety Improvement
How Effective Are Your Conversations About Risk?
How Effective Are Your Conversations About Risk? One of the reasons why Safety is so obsessed with: paperwork, systems and audits, is that it is so poor at conversation. In the Social Psychology of Risk (SPoR) we have conducted thousands of workshops on conversation skills and not one risk and … [Read more...] about How Effective Are Your Conversations About Risk?
What Are Observation-Conversation Skills?
The challenge with effectiveness in conversations is disposition. How are you pre-disposed to the ‘other’ in approach, listening, reflecting and responding? Yes, skill development and technique are important but these are easier learned than getting one’s disposition right. You would think people … [Read more...] about What Are Observation-Conversation Skills?
New Video Series on Safety
New Video Series on Safety Conversations With Jeff Lyth on A New View of Safety As part of my last visit to Canada Jeff Lyth and I decided to record some casual conversations and reflections (in my motel room) about his work in BC (https://www.qspleadership.com/) and about the safety … [Read more...] about New Video Series on Safety
‘Measuring’ does things to people…. (and what to do about it)
‘Measuring’ does things to people…. (and what to do about it) It has become fashionable for organisations to use positive or leading indicators as a way to ‘measure’ their risk and safety ‘performance’. Leaders in some organisations have proudly told me how they are ‘progressive’, ‘generative’ and … [Read more...] about ‘Measuring’ does things to people…. (and what to do about it)
The Fallible Factor and What to Do About It
One of my favourites from the archives: The Fallible Factor and What to Do About It Being fallible doesn’t mean one is inevitably stupid, lazy, greedy or weak, there are as many advantages to being human and fallible as there are limitations. No one should want humans to be robotic - this would … [Read more...] about The Fallible Factor and What to Do About It
