• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

SafetyRisk.net

Humanising Safety and Embracing Real Risk

  • Home
    • About
      • Privacy Policy
      • Contact
  • FREE
    • Slogans
      • Researchers Reveal the Top 10 Most Effective Safety Slogans Of All Time
      • When Slogans Don’t Work
      • CLASSIC, FAMOUS and INFAMOUS SAFETY QUOTES
      • 500 OF THE BEST AND WORST WORKPLACE HEALTH and SAFETY SLOGANS 2023
      • CATCHY and FUNNY SAFETY SLOGANS FOR THE WORKPLACE
      • COVID-19 (Coronavirus, Omicron) Health and Safety Slogans and Quotes for the Workplace
      • Safety Acronyms
      • You know Where You Can Stick Your Safety Slogans
      • Sayings, Slogans, Aphorisms and the Discourse of Simple
      • Spanish Safety Slogans – Consignas de seguridad
      • Safety Slogans List
      • Road Safety Slogans 2023
      • How to write your own safety slogans
      • Why Are Safety Slogans Important
      • Safety Slogans Don’t Save Lives
      • 40 Free Safety Slogans For the Workplace
      • Safety Slogans for Work
    • FREE SAFETY eBOOKS
    • Free Hotel and Resort Risk Management Checklist
    • FREE DOWNLOADS
    • TOP 50
    • FREE RISK ASSESSMENT FORMS
    • Find a Safety Consultant
    • Free Safety Program Documents
    • Psychology Of Safety
    • Safety Ideas That Work
    • HEALTH and SAFETY MANUALS
    • FREE SAFE WORK METHOD STATEMENT RESOURCES
    • Whats New In Safety
    • FUN SAFETY STUFF
    • Health and Safety Training
    • SAFETY COURSES
    • Safety Training Needs Analysis and Matrix
    • Top 20 Safety Books
    • This Toaster Is Hot
    • Free Covid-19 Toolbox Talks
    • Download Page – Please Be Patient With Larger Files…….
    • SAFETY IMAGES, Photos, Unsafe Pictures and Funny Fails
    • How to Calculate TRIFR, LTIFR and Other Health and Safety Indicators
    • Download Safety Moments from Human Resources Secretariat
  • Social Psychology Of Risk
    • What is Psychological Health and Safety at Work?
    • Safety Psychology Terminology
    • Some Basics on Social Psychology & Risk
    • Understanding The Social Psychology of Risk – Prof Karl E. Weick
    • The Psychology of Leadership in Risk
    • Conducting a Psychology and Culture Safety Walk
    • The Psychology of Conversion – 20 Tips to get Started
    • Understanding The Social Psychology of Risk And Safety
    • Psychology and safety
    • The Psychology of Safety
    • Hot Toaster
    • TALKING RISK VIDEOS
    • WHAT IS SAFETY
    • THE HOT TOASTER
    • THE ZERO HARM DEBATE
    • SEMIOTICS
    • LEADERSHIP
  • Dr Long Posts
    • ALL POSTS
    • Learning Styles Matter
    • There is no Hierarchy of Controls
    • Scaffolding, Readiness and ZPD in Learning
    • What Can Safety Learn From Playschool?
    • Presentation Tips for Safety People
    • Dialogue Do’s and Don’ts
    • It’s Only a Symbol
    • Ten Cautions About Safety Checklists
    • Zero is Unethical
    • First Report on Zero Survey
    • There is No Objectivity, Deal With it!
  • THEMES
    • Psychosocial Safety
    • Resiliencing
    • Risk Myths
    • Safety Myths
    • Safety Culture Silences
    • Safety Culture
    • Psychological Health and Safety
    • Zero Harm
    • Due Diligence
  • Free Learning
    • Introduction to SPoR – Free
    • FREE RISK and SAFETY EBOOKS
    • FREE ebook – Guidance for the beginning OHS professional
    • Free EBook – Effective Safety Management Systems
    • Free EBook – Lessons I Have Learnt
  • Psychosocial Safety
    • What is Psychosocial Safety
    • Psychological Safety
      • What is Psychological Health and Safety at Work?
      • Managing psychosocial hazards at work
      • Psychological Safety – has it become the next Maslow’s hammer?
      • What is Psychosocial Safety
      • Psychological Safety Slogans and Quotes
      • What is Psychological Safety?
      • Understanding Psychological Terminology
      • Psycho-Social and Socio-Psychological, What’s the Difference?
      • Build a Psychologically Safe Workplace by Taking Risks and Analysing Failures
      • It’s not weird – it’s a psychological safety initiative!
You are here: Home / Gabrielle Carlton / What in the (Risk & Safety) World is Imagination?

What in the (Risk & Safety) World is Imagination?

May 11, 2023 by Gabrielle Carlton 7 Comments

Originally posted on October 7, 2014 @ 8:25 PM

image“On a day like today, when there are very little clouds in the sky, and the grass is long, don’t you think it would be a great day for some handstands in that long, long grass?

Well, Jimmy did.” (Toby CVB, 9 years old)

Children don’t lose sight of the ability to imagine possibilities. This example by Toby depicts what it’s like to be a child and able to be creative and imaginative. But, in our world do we allow ourselves to do the same?

More importantly in risk and safety do we even know what it is to imagine possibilities, to be creative and to take risks?

Well, I don’t!

In an earlier post, We are in Control and Other Such Delusions, I discussed resilient organisations. A resilient organisation is one of learning, growing, and meeting. They imagine possibilities.

What does this mean?

Weick discusses the importance of imagining possibilities when it comes to a high reliability organisation (HRO).

If we imagine we don’t get stuck in a binding world of expectations. If we expect we are biased in focussing only on what we are expecting. What then may come of our organisation? We are not resilient. We have no capacity to imagine the possibilities and allow us to get back on track when and if things occur. We become blinded by our focus and expectations. We then become more blinded by our biases.

How is this a problem? If our bias is to only focus on something that we expect then we are not able or ready for what we don’t envisage or see. This is what’s known as confirmation bias and is readily used in organisations. “…we actively seek out evidence that confirms our expectations and avoid evidence that disconfirms them”

Denhardt & Denhardt also understand organisational resilience. When an organisation implements ‘rational planning’ there is an assumption of predictability that one can measure. In the risk and safety industry we love to measure but in fact it’s counterproductive because we are dealing with uncertainty. So when we write plans, procedures, and policies we are biased into thinking that these documents will prevail.

‘What is needed instead is a capacity for “acting in the moment,” something that is better attained through quick adaptability, imagination, ingenuity, spontaneity, creativity, rapidly shifting networks and patterns, and highly improvised behaviour’ (Denhardt & Denhardt)

What should organisations be doing instead of focusing on measurements and predictability? Focussing on what it is to be a resilient organisation. How does an organisation do this?

clip_image004Organisations need to move away from the traditional models of ‘organising’. Most traditional organisations focus on the ‘Mechanistic Model’ (refer to Table 1 below) in the hope for better efficiency and consistency. It’s all about measurement, control and rigidity. Better known as a control management strategy which we know all too well in the risk and safety industry.

However, there are problems with this model. In the face of organisational change or threat or impact from external sources there is no capacity to adapt to change. Another distinct problem with this model is that people are secondary in thought. The system is the key and people must adapt to the system. When in actual fact what we need is to take on an ‘adaptive management’ strategy what I’ve termed the phrase a ‘Humanistic Model’ (refer to Table 1 below). The people are the key. People are what adapt the system, which fosters resilience. This allows an organisation to better ‘learn and adapt continuously’ (Denhardt & Denhardt, 2010).

Table 1: Resilience versus Bureaucratic Organisations

Resilient Organisation

Humanistic Model

Bureaucratic Organisation

Mechanistic Model

Redundant – allows growth Precisely controlled, mechanical, and efficient
Robust – active and promote mental & psychological health of their employees Control – rules are followed and authority is limited
Flexible – willing to try new approaches rather than relying on SOPs Variation and discretion is avoided. No room to allow flexibility in their plans, SOPs or system. Lack of autonomy and individual thinking or expertise
Reliability – infrastructure must be sound, accurate data, working communication channels and management of resources Structured to achieve consistency and control and people in the organisation are part of the system
Culture of respect & trust – willing to take necessary risks and experiments and not focus on punishment of mistakes & failures Safety at all costs, rigidity, lack of choices and critical thinking
Strong values to manage adaptively Rational analysis, changes are implemented as rational “solutions” to “problems”

So in risk and safety we can take a lesson from the minds of our young children and start thinking what might happen, what could happen or just what might be imaginable! It may save us from ourselves one day!

  • Bio
  • Latest Posts
  • More about Gabrielle
Gabrielle Carlton

Gabrielle Carlton

Director & Principal Consultant at Resylience
Gabrielle Carlton

Latest posts by Gabrielle Carlton (see all)

  • What in the (Risk & Safety) World is Imagination? - May 11, 2023
  • Stand Behind The Yellow Line – Do Engineering Controls Affect Risk? - December 15, 2022
  • The Art of Humble Inquiry as a Pathway to Safety Improvement - September 1, 2022
  • The Different Levels of Wrongness! - August 15, 2022
  • All Care and No Care! - November 15, 2018
Gabrielle Carlton
Gabrielle Carlton is a specialist in human factors in risk and safety. Gabrielle provides training, advice, coaching and mentoring for leaders and managers. Gabrielle has well over 10 years experience as an advisor and consultant to industry as well as a strong personal background across a range of industries including: electrical generation & distribution, aged and disability in large residential facilities, construction, property management, rail, manufacturing, government bodies and corporations. Gabrielle is able to use her expertise in analysis, training, organisation psychology, research, systems auditing and human behaviour to serve a wide range of needs. She has conducted a Probability Risk Analysis (PRA) using Resylience's methodology Culture and Organisation Modelling in Risk (COMIR). This work was conducted with National power generation companies. Gabrielle has developed and delivered a range of risk and safety leadership consultancies to Tier 1 organisations in Australia.

Please share our posts

  • Click to print (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)

Related

Filed Under: Gabrielle Carlton, Social Psychology of Risk Tagged With: HRO, imagination, resilience, safety models, weick

Reader Interactions

Do you have any thoughts? Please share them below Cancel reply

Primary Sidebar

Search and Discover More on this Site

Never miss a post - Subscribe via Email

Enter your email address and join other discerning risk and safety people who receive notifications of new posts by email

Join 7,521 other subscribers

Recent Comments

  • Rob Long on It is NOT My Responsibility to Keep You Safe
  • Chris. on It is NOT My Responsibility to Keep You Safe
  • Pierre Joubert on Zero Doesn’t Work, Road Fatalities Increase
  • James on We are all equal
  • Rob Long on We are all equal
  • James Parkinson on We are all equal
  • Brent Charlton on What Does Safety Achieve?
  • Admin on We are all equal
  • James Parkinson on We are all equal
  • Rob Long on What Does Safety Achieve?
  • Brent Charlton on We are all equal
  • Brent Charlton on We are all equal
  • Brent Charlton on We are all equal
  • Brent Charlton on What Does Safety Achieve?
  • Simon Cassin on You Can Fool Someone Some of the Time but, You Can Fool Safety All of the Time
  • Simon Cassin on You Can Fool Someone Some of the Time but, You Can Fool Safety All of the Time
  • Rob Long on You Can Fool Someone Some of the Time but, You Can Fool Safety All of the Time
  • Rob Long on You Can Fool Someone Some of the Time but, You Can Fool Safety All of the Time
  • Rob Long on You Can Fool Someone Some of the Time but, You Can Fool Safety All of the Time
  • Rob Long on You Can Fool Someone Some of the Time but, You Can Fool Safety All of the Time

RECOMMENDED READING

viral post – iso 45003 and what it cannot do

Introduction to SPOR – FREE!!

Psychosocial Safety and Mental Health Series

It is NOT My Responsibility to Keep You Safe

The KISS of Death in Safety

Is Your Safety World Too Small?

You Can Fool Someone Some of the Time but, You Can Fool Safety All of the Time

When Safety (Zero) is Abusive

Hands Up the Best Safety Fraud!

Communicating Professionally in Risk

How NOT to be Professional in Safety

How NOT to do Anything About Culture in Building and Construction

Celebrating 60 Years of Lifeline

More Posts from this Category

NEW! Free Download

Please take our 2 minute zero survey

FREE eBOOK DOWNLOADS

Footer

VIRAL POST – The Risk Matrix Myth

Top Posts & Pages. Sad that most are so dumb but this is what safety luves

  • Free Safety Moments and Toolbox Talk Examples, Tips and Resources
  • 500 OF THE BEST AND WORST WORKPLACE HEALTH and SAFETY SLOGANS 2023
  • CATCHY and FUNNY SAFETY SLOGANS FOR THE WORKPLACE
  • When Safety Delights in ‘I Told You So’!
  • Road Safety Slogans 2023
  • How to Calculate TRIFR, LTIFR and Other Health and Safety Indicators
  • 15 Safety Precautions When Working With Electricity
  • Ratio Delusions and Heinrich’s Hoax
  • Safety Acronyms
  • FREE RISK ASSESSMENT FORMS, CHECKISTS, REGISTERS, TEMPLATES and APPS

Recent Posts

  • When Safety Delights in ‘I Told You So’!
  • My Story is Better than Yours
  • Understanding Safety as a Cultural Reproductive Process
  • The Unconscious and the Soap Dispenser
  • Thinking Outside the Safety Bubble
  • Understanding Language Influencing, A Video
  • Safetie
  • You are NOT the Sum of Safety
  • Update on SPoR in India, Brazil and Europe
  • It is NOT My Responsibility to Keep You Safe
  • Safety at the Margins
  • Research Basics for Safety
  • We Need Communities and They Need Us
  • Researching Within The Safety Echo Chamber
  • Confirmation Bias, Risk and Being Offensive
  • Lemmings for Lemmings in Leadership and Risk
  • Expertise by Regurgitation and Re-Badging
  • Zero Doesn’t Work, Road Fatalities Increase
  • Can There Be Other Valid Worldviews Than Safety?
  • Evaluating Value by the Value of What You Don’t Know
  • Reality vs Theory, The Binary Divide
  • No Paradigm Shift with BBS
  • The KISS of Death in Safety
  • Is Your Safety World Too Small?
  • What Does Safety Achieve?
  • In Praise of Balance in Risk and the Threat of Extremism
  • We are all equal
  • You Can Fool Someone Some of the Time but, You Can Fool Safety All of the Time
  • What in the (Risk & Safety) World is Imagination?
  • iCue Engagement Process
  • SPoR, Metanoia and a Podcast on Change with Nippin Anand
  • For the Monarchists of Safety
  • The Sully Effect
  • All Things Must Pass in Risk
  • Scapegoating and Safety
  • Understanding Habit, Habituation and Change
  • Don’t Mention the War
  • Safety in Design for Who by Who?
  • Beyond ‘What We Do Around Here’
  • Asking the Wrong Questions
  • When Safety (Zero) is Abusive
  • Mandala as a Method for Tackling an Ethic of Risk (a Video)
  • Safety Cosmetics
  • Visualising the EHS Role
  • Towards Dumb
  • Workshops with Dr Long – Vienna, Austria 26-30 June 2023
  • Visual, Verbal and Relational Mapping in Risk Assessment
  • Abduction in Risk and Safety
  • Creating Myths and Rituals in Safety
  • The Safe Christmas Psychosis

VIRAL POST!!! HOW TO QUIT THE SAFETY INDUSTRY

FEATURED POSTS

The Convenience of Complacency

You Have No Idea What Goes on in the ‘Real World of Safety’

The Stanford Experiment and The Social Psychology of Risk

Gesture in Risk Matters

Looking Forward, Looking Back

The Will To Be and Do

The Repression of Uncertainty

SPoR Comes to Vienna June 2023

Social Media and Safety

Evidence, Proof and Paperwork in Safety

How Semiotics Affects The Return To Work Process

Post Graduate Safety Potato Heads

Is Complacency Evil?

Natural Born Learners

The Hero Myth in Modern Management

A Masters Degree in ‘Tick and Flick’

The Language of Priorities

SAFETY IS A MYTH, LONG LIVE SAFETY

Post Graduate Diploma in Psychology of Risk Commences

Why Some People Never Achieve

How does collective mindfulness apply to workers compensation?

Rhetoric and Reality in Safety

The Bias of Method Design in Risk

Safety as a Patriarchal Activity

We can Value Safety but Safety is not a Value

Is Safetyism Destroying a Generation?

Online Inductions and Safety Effectiveness

The Curse of Dataism

The Power in Silence

Safe Work Australia Continues to Perpetuate Safety Mythology

The New Enemy of Safety – The Unconscious

Wellness, Mindfulness and Resiliencing in Psychological Safety

Visual Learning and Envisioning Risk

Safety and Non-Neuroscience

The Measurement Mindset in Safety???

Expecting the Unexpected

Liking and Not Liking in Safety, A Tale of In-Group and Out-Groupness

Risky Conversations – Free Download

I’m biased, but that’s ok!

Just Hangin’ Out…

More Posts from this Category

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address and join other discerning risk and safety people who receive notifications of new posts by email

Join 7,521 other subscribers

How we pay for the high cost of running of this site – try it for free on your site

WHAT IS PSYCHOLOGICAL SAFETY?

What is Psychological Safety at Work?


WHAT IS PSYCHOSOCIAL SAFETY

x
x