Build a Healthy Safety Culture Using Organizational Learning

Build a Healthy Safety Culture Using Organizational Learning Company LOGO and High Reliability Organizing Originally Presented by David Christenson U. S. Wildland Fire Lessons Learned Center

Agenda 1. Organizational Learning 2. Leading Learning 3. High Reliability Organizing 4. Integration – What You Can Do

A Learning Organization • Successful Learning Organizations Behave in Certain Ways – Define a learning agenda – Build relationships – Explore opportunities

The Learning Process • In order to learn one must be humble • Create supportive learning environments • Tolerating Error leads to an Openness that is required in an Informed Culture

Teaching vs. Learning • Traditional teaching – Transactional • Adult learning – Transformational

Leading Learning • Create learning opportunities and a climate that encourages open-mined inquiry • Routine Facilitated After Action Reviews – What did we plan to do? – What actually happened? – Why did it happen? – What are we going to do next time?

Skilled Facilitation • Essential to EFFECTIVE AARs • Facilitators SET THE TONE as they: – Establish and enforce ground rules – Introduce topic and transition through questions – Focus discussions – Monitor time – Summarize action plans

High Reliability Organizing • Managing The Unexpected • A continually “mindful” infrastructure

Anticipation • Tracking Small Failures • Reluctance to Simplify • Sensitivity to Operations

Containment • Maintaining capabilities for resilience • Taking advantage of shifting locations of expertise

Integration – Where To Start • Where you are! • Continually communicate interdependence of individual, team and organization • HRO’s thrive in a Learning Culture

Your Leadership Style • Immediate • Influential • Controllable

Enhancing Awareness • Leaders communicate through their actions • Restate goals in the form of mistakes that must not occur • Increase the number of mindful moments • Create awareness of vulnerability

Enhancing Awareness • Cultivate humility • Create an error-friendly learning culture • Put a premium on interpersonal skills • Examine assumptions thoughtfully

Enhancing Containment • Before events occur: –Build competence –Enlarge response capacities –Take inventory –Create networks –Exercise

Enhancing Containment • When events occur: –Remain in doubt –Communicate –Create flexible decision structures –Accelerate feedback

Keep Learning In addition to fire, become a student of leadership, organizational learning and high reliability organizing. Become the leader your fire organization needs.

LLC Support People & Tools • Paula Nasiatka pnasiatka@fs. fed. us • David Christenson dchristenson@fs. fed. us • • www. Wildfire. Lessons. net www. My. Fire. Community. net www. IMTcenter. net Download the paper that includes all of the references at: http: //www. wildfirelessons. net/doc uments/Christenson_Safety_LO_ HRO. pdf