Business risk

                    BUSINESS RISK

So far, this year (2017) there has been approximately 30 plus industrial fatalities recorded in Australian workplaces. We have all the legislation, policies, document controls in place, and these aren’t enough, workers are still dying. Isn’t it time to stop and consider learning new methods for risk in our workplaces? The time for our safety to think and act differently is now. The current talk around risk is elimination, control, measuring behaviours etc. But do we really know what the risk outcomes are going to be before the person/s act them out? Identifying Hazards doesn’t seem too hard, but are we really knowing risk before it takes place with the hazards? Assumption and perceptions, how accurate are they? Have we been misleading ourselves slightly on risk management? Should it be risk management or should it be risk learning?

  

I know of no case study in history that describes an organisation that has managed itself out of a crisis. Every single one of them was led. Yet a good number of our educational institutions and training programs for safety today are focused on training effective Safety compliance managers, rather than training great safety leaders to lead, coach and mentor, to be effective communicators and consultants. Same goes for supervisors, and management roles, we must lead our way to better education around risk.

 What can we do differently? Our systems, our programs, our rules, our regulations, they are all doing their bit to help manage risk, however it is not enough. I remember going into a business for the first time as their safety person, and seeing workers comp premiums going through the roof, ‘our longest period without a medical treatment injury (MTI) was 14 days’, yet the business had rigorous safety management systems, had a behavioural based safety program, with no luck to stop the spiralling trends, safety seemed to be a costly pain to the business. I just knew to improve the injury rates, I had to do something different, “I can’t manage risk for another person”, not unless I get into their heads and understand how they perceive working with the hazards, and even then, we would not know the true outcome of risk until they acted out the task. I knew the conversation was a critical part of what was needed, just like the old Behavioural Based Safety Observation, but there had to be more as that was not going to help the risk outcomes either.   

I think it is fair to say nearly all Australian business owners do not want to hurt anyone, nor do our policy makers, nor our safety people so rather than fighting between ourselves it is time to work together. “Most of us hate the feeling that comes when someone gets hurt at work”, and yes, we have procedures, policies and many tools to help prevent these dreaded days, yet they still come, ‘2017 work related fatality statistics is a clear indication of this’. When I reflect, and think of risk in safety, it draws me back to this, ‘humans are fallible, decision making creates risk and many influential undercurrents creates unnoticeable changes to our thinking and judgements of risk’. People do not go out of their way to get injured and sense making isn’t common. Our working worlds are now faster worlds than they ever have been before, more time pressures, less time and money for learning, and our education for risk hasn’t changed a great deal over the years, yet possibly becoming more digitalised (automated) and less personal, hence the reasons we are seeing more injuries.

When discussing risk with many organisations, they are seen to be only managing the Primary Risks (physical risks, objects etc.), many have blanket policies in place (gloves to be worn at all times, no fixed blade knives to be used, etc.) The secondary & tertiary layers of risk are not identified or managed well, to a degree that will mitigate risk. Most don’t even know what these layers of risks are. Risks like overconfidence, risk homeostasis, change blindness, individual biases, time pressure, rationality flooding, social arrangements, desensitisation to risks, company language / culture, what affects semiotics (signs and symbols) may have on people, etc. There are so many risks like the ones just mentioned, that go unnoticed and these are the types of risk we need to have conversations about, to see if we can identify them.

It’s time to progress our industries and learn what these risks are, and what the risk indicators might look, sound and or feel like. It is time to learn real effective communication consultation dialog like high reliability organisations use. No organisation wants to have a ‘NASSA Challenger or Deep Water Horizon’ event or any fatality for that matter. It is time to realise that legislation and compliance alone is not the silver bullet. Remember when we were kids, how did we learn to cross the road, stranger danger, swimming climbing a tree, etc. We learnt by sharing our experiences, and talking to one another about the risks.

Our communication and consultation discourse can create risk if we are unaware of how, “humans are fallible, and many things influence our thoughts and decisions like conversations and interpretation.” It is not just what is said that we need to take note of, it is what is not said that is just as important when managing risk. Language and how it is spoken (tone), can create many hidden risks to individuals and groups in the workplace. Conversations are a good way of validating a persons or groups attempt to manage risk, are we having enough conversations and are they in the right context?

“We do all of our work in consideration

of Murphy’s Law.”

Remember the days of our old tradies, who mentored and guided our apprentices, and labourers when they first started, there was good experiential education and shared knowledge, which helped prevent injuries to those new comers, by way of learning about risk not avoiding it. You would always see our experienced workers crosschecking the young one’s work and activities to make sure they didn’t miss anything as they knew we humans are fallible. Yet they would allow us to play with the risk to help us learn and develop respect for the risk. Now it is time to get back to basics and learn many of those unwritten traits of our old tradies, where trust was given to those working, to manage and grow the learning of risk rather than restricting them with blanket rules. Blanket rules can turn off our thinking and respect for risk learning.

Safety roles have evolved, they now need to be good coaches & mentors for leaders and workers, they must be great at communicating and consulting, flushing out the hidden risks. Gone are the days of policing safety, we know it doesn’t manage risk, instead it creates an undercurrent of by-products that we will be blinded to. 

This is not about changing, it is about learning and progressing to a better level of risk management, you cannot really change culture through enforcement, but through learning, colaboration and development we can evolve and become a culture we want to be. The old saying “Rome wasn’t built in a day, but it burned in one.” Culture is no different, it takes time to influence and progress culture, it doesn’t happen overnight, yet it only takes one bad leadership decision to start destroying organisational culture.

 

“Great minds discuss ideas to learn & improve; average minds discuss events & failure; small minds discuss excuses why they cannot change.”

Dennis Millard

Risk Intelligent

Are You Risk Intelligent?

Risk is all around us, not all risk is bad risk. If we don’t take risks in life, not only do we not learn, we miss opportunities for business sucess. Preventing people from taking risks can stop them from learning how to make calculative decisions to manage the risk, if it ever arises.

While businesses strive to

develop attributes such as

agility and resilience, without
applying Risk Intelligence,
neither is achievable.

What is Risk Intelligence?

Risk Intelligence is a concept that generally means beyond risk management. Risk Intelligence is knowing how to identify the key indicators (Alarm Bells) that indicate risk, it is then knowing how to manage what is found, effectively enough to prevent failure.

Risk Indicator Clues

What are the type of risk ‘Risk Indicator Clues’ we need to consider?

• Bounded Rationality – Also known as Tick and Flick or Flooding, this idea was first introduced by a researcher Herbert Simons. What bounded rationality means is, people cannot retain information, particularly in their short term memory. When we flood people with lots of data & documentation, we tend to bound their rational thinking, so they begin to tick and flick to get it out of the way. A lot of time they automatically revert back to what they feel is the right way, which majority of the time is not a calculated and rational decision. An example of this might be when a worker is provided a checklist with a whole range of things to check off, along with, procedures, JSA, behavioural observations, take 5 / step backs and added with the unforeseen time pressure.

• Pace and Flow – Also known as rushing, a person who is engrossed in creating something or is just working continuously, tend to get in the flow of things. When we get in the flow, we tend to become oblivious to the things going on around us and even become blind to our surroundings. When things are going well in the workplace and we are in the flow of things getting done, it could very well be that we are in the energy of rushing where we see things less. Pace and flow is something we should be looking for as a risk indicator.

• Preoccupation with Failure – Also known as Crosschecking. Karl E Weick came up with the term Preoccupation with Failure, which in other words means we should entertain doubt. When we are rushing, in the flow of things, doing the same things over and over day in day out and things are going well, this is the time where we are more likely to be unable to see something that is about to go wrong. This is a time where we should perhaps stop and entertain doubt, and re-look at what we are doing and try to discover what we may have become blinded to. By using crosscheck in our day to day activities allows us to keep at bay the little issues that may become big issues. Crosscheck is respecting that humans are fallible, having a separate set of eyes checking over what we are doing helps to prevent errors. This is a critical step that can help prevent disasters. When many little issues go unnoticed they start piling up and usually become the big failure, bit like looking at the Swiss cheese model. The aviation industry uses crosscheck on all their routine flights as a measure of managing risk.

Is Common Sense

        common?

• Sense-Making – No Common Sense. The phrase ‘common sense’ is one that cops a lot of flak. Sense-making is not common, so no there is no common sense. Hearing the words common sense is an indication that we believe everyone should see and be on the same page, yet we are not. An example, Johnny believes it is common sense to vote for the Greens political party, yet this does not make sense to others, so sense making is therefore not common. It is critical to meet with teams in your workplace and gather their sense-making around risk, it will not be common. Good Leaders know that the critical part of managing risk, is asking the individuals in their team how they make sense of the risk. Let’s stop asking for common sense, or expecting common sense, let’s start asking people how they make sense of the things in front of them.  

• Hubris – Also known as Overconfidence, the word Hubris derived from the Ancient Geeks. An indicator of Hubris is someone who is blinded by their own overconfidence to the point they stop listening, observing or even communicating or working with others (form of arrogance). We may hear it or see it in the workplace, if so, we need to understand that Hubris will make people blind to healthy decision making to manage risk.

• Risk Homeostasis – Also known as Desensitisation, the meaning of Risk Homeostasis was proposed by Professor Gerald Wilde. When we have something new to be aware of we become more aware of it and its potentials, however after working with it or doing it for a long period of time we become desensitised. Sometimes we tend to think a person with more experience is the best person to deal with risk, when in fact it could very well be the opposite. The more experienced we become at something, the longer we do something, the more we become bored with it, and the less sensitive we are to the risks associated with the task / process. When we hear or notice Risk Homeostasis in peoples work we should be aware they are far less sensitive to risk.

Are you ready to become 
      Risk Intelligent?

• Assumptions – What we need to do to mitigate Assumptions is create communications with open questions. We often make assumptions about all we do, the indicator for this is when we hear people asking closed questions. Open questions are the best way to get at people’s assumptions and to help prevent you, the observer from assuming too. Often we think others are seeing the world the same way we are, however most times they have an entirely different view. Socratic questioning is a brilliant way to discover others views on risk and helps prevent assumptions being made. Closed questions is another key risk indicator that is critical to managing risk.

• Automaticity – Also known as Autopilot, to be in autopilot is when we do things automatically (non-rational) without any real thinking. One of the best ways to prevent falling into the trap of automaticity is to work together with others and become collectively mindful about what we do. When we work, we work from the fast part of the mind, also known as (unconscious state of mind) ’10 - 100 million bits per second’. When we work with others it helps us to discuss collectively how to tackle a task, so when we use our automaticity it will be somewhat collectively understood and managed. It is important to realise that we are not in a rational state of mind when we are working in an automatic state, 98% of our time is in automaticity, that is part of the reason why collective discussions are important, so we can rationalise the risks beforehand.

Perceptions – also known as Fallibility, humans are fallible, we do make mistakes and it’s inevitable. Our perceptions can be tricked visually with illusion, auditory with what we hear, there’s a whole range of ways our perceptions of reality can be puzzled, even with the way we see risk. Discussing how we perceive risk and make sense of risk will help us to tackle and managing risk better, we become more risk intelligent as we learn from one another.

• Tradeoffs & By-Products – When we consider risk intelligence we need to think about tradeoffs and by-products, every time a decision is made we should consider that there will be a tradeoff or by-product. No decisions are made for managing risk without a by-product or tradeoff. Even using the Hierarchy of control we need to understand, to be risk intelligent no matter what the control is there will be either a tradeoff or by-product. I think of it like a compass, no matter which way we shift North will still remain on the compass, we have just change direction, same with risk, it is still there just moved or been traded off for another risk.

• Absolutes – Also known as inflexible, Hearing or seeing non-negotiable language or communication could be signs of vulnerability to risk, to be so tightly coupled we make no room to look for new ways, new learnings or new risks. Language like ‘zero harm’ can unforeseeably drive absolutes in an organisation even though that is not the intent. It is critical to be loosely coupled, flexible and agile, if we are open to the unknown unknowns and new learnings, we will become far more resilient to risk. Being ridged with risk is dangerous.

Priming, Framing, Anchoring, Semiotics – Language, symbols and signs play a significant part in how we make sense with risk. The words we use prime, frame and anchor people to certain things. An example is the fire sign, the acronym we remember when it’s time to be calm and not panic, is to RACE. “Remember to Race”, yet the business who uses this sign actually wants everyone to keep calm. The significance of this sign subconsciously put in the heads of people when a fire happens, you race. The sign works both on the collective and the individual unconscious. Risk intelligence teaches people to look at words and how they prime and frame the way people think both consciously and unconsciously. Knowing what to hear and look for with this key indicator is very important to how we perceive and manage risk.

This article only gives brief examples or the critical Risk Indicator Clues needed for Risk Intelligence, there are many more critical learnings to go with this content to become truly risk intelligent.

At Human Rysk we have a series of experiential learning programs that teaches practical ways to become ‘Risk Intelligent’. Get involved and have your organisation become Resilient to Risk!   

   

      

M +61 427 052 998

E dennis@humanrysk.com.au

W www.humanrysk.com.au

National Safe Work Month Tips

We are about to enter October 2016, which means the start of Safe Work Australia’s National Safe Work month. So what are the Safe Work Australia suggestions this year and how can we really take advantage of them?

 October Action Plan Suggestions:

1. Leaders to Lead by Example
2. Know the current regulations and follow them
3. Provide training for new staff and refresher training for existing staff, new training materials.
4. Use the safest and most up-to-date equipment available
5. Challenge yourself to think about your processes
6. Make the conversations positive about protecting your people every day

1. What is meant by ‘Leaders to lead by example’, and how can we demonstrate we are really leading?

Supervisors, leading hands and or anyone who is in a position to lead others are critical to business outcomes, both productivity, and culture /morale. One of the most important parts we tend to forget is to actually lead by example (be seen doing some practical work to guide others to do the same). Leadership is more than just skills, it is also an art; having skills in task and technical is very important as is understanding how to influence people.

Here are a couple of key points to consider for leading:

• Listen: Learn to stop and listen for “cues” hear their values and concerns. Get to know your people.

• Observe: Observe what your people do in their work activities, look for distraction (lack of concentration), look for confidence (as well as over confidence). The observing process for a leader should also be known as the learning stage, to be a great leader you need to learn from those around you.
• Serve: Understand to be a leader, you have to be a servant to your people.

• Make things simple to follow, try to get your team all they need to do their job and know when you can be flexible.

• Leader – Follower – Follower – Leader: A good leader knows to let followers lead, to be autonomous. They also know to search and mentor the next leader. Allow the next potential leader to lead toolboxes and small groups, this is the production level. To produce good outcomes we need to lead by example, show how it is done. By showing and guiding your people you will create momentum, with momentum you will better solve problems as everyone will be interested and on the lookout for roadblocks.

• Grow: Leaders need to be selective with who they choose to be on their team, and start to develop their people. Knowing how and where to position your team to gain the best results is critical. Find and understand what the person’s best niche “what they are best at doing.” This is a critical step, example: If we play a football team all out of their normal positions they will more likely lose the game, even to a lesser class team, as people strive best in the positions they love and know best how to perform. It is no different in business.

• Know: Leaders need to get to know the personality traits of the individuals in their team, to better identify stress, overconfidence, depression etc. , Know who needs support and who need autonomy, remember, it is no longer about you it is about the art to create and influence others.

It is critical in leadership to know it is all about empowering your team with their own leadership.

2. What is meant by ‘know the current regulations and follow them’? How can we demonstrate we are doing so in our day to day actions?

A lot of times with the best of intentions, we are “paper based compliant”, we are compliant to the act, regulations and standards by paper, however our actions do not reflect this.

Here are a couple of key points to consider for Following Regulations:

• When developing or reviewing company policies procedures and work instructions, it is critical to ensure that personnel who carry out the task are heavily involved in the steps, as they will be the ones who will "practically" need to mirror reflect what is trying to be achieved on paper.

• Try not to over complicate the amount of paper work so they can easily remember what is expected of them. Sometimes with good intentions to comply, we bound people’s rationality by flooding them with too much information.

• Be mindful to keep reviewing practical tasks against what the instructions are saying, as many variables can lead to changes in behaviour and actions, this will then reflect as if people are not following  company regulations.

It is critical to understand that to know your regulations and follow them, all personnel need to personally know them without having to think about it (remember, try not to over complicate what you are saying the company will do, this will make it easier to follow).

3. It is extremely important to provide training for new staff and refresher training for existing staff. What are some ways we can make our training more effective?

Here are a couple of key points to consider for better knowledge development:

• Make training an interactive learning experience, not death by power point, experiential learning that relates to real life may help keep people awake.

• Change up a gear or two with better ways to part knowledge (new materials). When doing refresher training or even inductions, if we have seen the same materials a thousand times we are not interested and will possible switch off. Get the audience involved with their experiences too.

• When training people on safety, we tend to use the same methods for hazard identification and risk management. Think of ways to train hazards and risks that are related to people’s actions (decision making), perceptions, biases and heuristics. When we learn more about how people really tick it takes the focus away from the physical objects and more into the head space of people, complex but critical for understanding and managing risk.

Training should motivate attendees not put them to sleep.

4. It is important to try keep up with technology, so most organisations try to use the safest and most up-to-date equipment available. What impact can occur with new and existing Equipment?

Here are a couple of key points to consider for better understanding and using Equipment:

• When introducing equipment, be mindful that the risk you may be controlling with the equipment will possibly create a new, un-noticeable, risk by-products. We can be distracted by the equipment and not notice the new interactions of people.

• Making sure your equipment register and maintenance is up to date is critical, as is checking the equipment over when it returns from service. Being mindful that things get missed, even by experts.

• Daily check of equipment before use is a good habit to get personnel into, when using things like harnesses, I used to have someone else check it over even though I had checked it myself, sometimes we just miss stuff.

• When purchasing new equipment, do comparative research on all types available, and consult the findings with all personnel who will operate it as they may have different views and values to add.

• It is important to consider, if we modify or make band aide fixes to machinery / equipment through maintenance, it  may change the way operators interact / use the equipment.

5. When challenging yourself to think about your processes, it can be seen as an individual step, our suggestion here is to recognise that it is a social step, due to social influences on all we do. Processes and the steps we take for them are critical for risk outcomes.

Here are a couple of key points to consider challenging yourself, to think about company processes:

• Processes can be impacted by so many variables, it is critical to consider all involved collective views and  sense-making on processes all the time. Thinking of worst case scenarios and having a plan for the unforeseen day that it may crop up, will help prevent your business coming to a halt.

• Brain storming the different ways people may interpret processes is a great way of understanding and managing risk potentials, we all develop heuristics (rules of thumb) differently, we all have our own biases which will influence the way we see and carry out process.

It is so important to keep on challenging ourselves with our processes, this will help us grow and learn new innovative ways to improve company processes. Remember everyone in your company should be involved in this process.

6. Communication and conversation is another critical aspect we need to get right in our organisations. To make the conversations positive about protecting your people every day is not as easy as having a courageous conversation or behavioural observation.

Powerful conversations for risk and safety are critical, Socratic questioning is a great way to kick off, as listening is the most important part of conversations, open questions allows this. E.g.

What is the nature of ...?

What do we already know about this?

Can you give me an example?

Are you saying ... or ...?

How did you choose those assumptions?

Please explain why/how ...?

How can you verify or disprove that assumption?

What would happen if ...?

Do you agree or disagree with ...?

Why is that happening?

How do you know this?

Show me ...?

Can you give me an example of that?

What do you think causes ...?

Another way of looking at this is ..., does this seem reasonable?

What alternative ways of looking at this are there?

Why it is ... necessary?

What’s another way of looking at this?

Am I making sense? Why not?

Why do you think I asked this question?

What does that mean?

Then what would happen?

What are the implications of...?

How does ... affect ...?

• Conversation should not be about telling or dictation. Conversations should be more open and transparent this way we can learn the perceptions of others, their views, and how they make sense of the world. Being positive even in negative situations is important, there is nothing worse than feeling like you’re in trouble or what was done was deliberate. Most situations have good intentions. Another important point to think about is how others may interpret what you are saying. Do they really understand what you mean, or are they hearing what you are saying differently? How can you ensure they get what you mean?

Make the most of National Safe Work Month this October and add some real value to the point Safe Work Australia are suggesting. If there is more information you would like to know about any of the suggested points drop us a line at http://www.humanrysk.com.au/contact-us.html

Let’s put some good back into safety this October!