1. High Performance and Reliability in Organisations; can a Lean culture become as embedded as Safety? Ken Powell Bourton Group

2. Lean and Safety Sustainability
- Drawing a parallel in progress for Construction
Lean Performance
Safety
British industry has seen large reductions in work-related injury between 1974* and 2015:
Fatal injuries to employees have fallen by 86%
Reported non-fatal injuries have fallen by 77%
Huge improvement in safety within the construction industry.
*(Health & Safety at Work Act)

3. High Reliability Organisations
High reliability organisations “recognise, adapt to and absorb variations, changes, disturbances, disruptions, and surprises – especially disruptions that fall outside of the set of disturbances the system is designed to handle”
Woods & Hollnagel, 2006, p.3

4. Competing Behaviours for both Safety and Lean Sustainability ?
Here is a way to model the dual behaviors.
If your culture (informal organization) safety/ human performance….which is extremely hard to measure, then the formal side will establish a “production focused” priority.
Explain how they can be competing behaviors:
Mission and goals are easy to measure.
Values and beliefs are hard to measure.
Mission and goals achieve results.
Values and beliefs protect results.

5. Sustainability and Blind Drift…… Sleepwalking into Disaster
The slow and steady uncoupling of local practice from written procedure
Working with clients in nuclear construction sector
Illusion of control – measuring accident stats doesn’t stop accidents – auditing maintenance procedure adherence can

6. Exercise
The slow and steady uncoupling of local practice from written procedure
Lean Performance
Safety
In pairs – discuss and list the reasons for this uncoupling for Lean Performance and Safety

7. How Leaders Shape Culture…
How Leaders Shape Culture…. What People Pay Attention to in their Leaders
What leaders pay attention to, measure, or control
Reactions to critical incidents or crisis
Criteria used to allocate scarce resources
Deliberate attempts at role modeling, teaching, and coaching
Criteria for reinforcement and discipline
Criteria used to select, promote or terminate employees
How do your leaders behave towards Lean and Safety?
Tools are presented in order of effectiveness
These are leader behaviours, body language, most likely to influence values and beliefs of subordinates.
Values and beliefs about hazards (safety culture) will emerge/evolve from persistent application of principles via the socialization process (relationships). (Schein, organisational Culture and Leadership)
Bypasses organisational filters.
Formal statements of organisational philosophy, creeds, and charters are attempts by management to state explicitly what their values and assumptions are. However, this is the least effective way of defining the organisation’s culture. (organisational Culture and Leadership, p252)
Casual remarks and questions; what leaders don’t pay attention to. “…what I ask questions about sends clear signals to my audience (subordinates) about my priorities, values, and beliefs.” (Schein. organisational Culture and Leadership, 1992, p232)
Leader behaviours that express what you pay attention to with respect to human performance:
Facilitate open communication
Promote teamwork
Eliminate Hidden organisational weaknesses
Reinforce preferred preventive behaviours
Value error prevention

8. The Next Phase.... What should our journey to ‘Zero Waste’ look like?
What’s next for Lean – factory thinking?
How can we use the tools from the safety arena?
Focus on Human Performance – ‘the sharp end’ – engagement of those carrying out the work
Safety – Zero Harm
Lean Performance

9. Factors Hindering Lean Reliability
Living with workarounds, long-term deficiencies
Gaps in training program curriculum
No standard operating procedure writer’s guide
Overemphasis on maintenance vs. operations
No recurring technical training
Reactive accountability
Lack of rigorous self- assessments / audits
No field observation and coaching
Individual focus during root cause analyses
* LTA – Less Than Adequate.

10. Mindless Compliance
“The fastest way to get yourself killed on a manned space flight is to not follow standard operating procedure.”
“The second quickest way to get yourself killed is to always follow standard operating procedure.”
Karol Joseph “Bo” Bobko
We need to have a culture where employees are empowered to think for themselves but with a framework of procedures……

11. Can we Equip Everyone with Waste Goggles?
Uncertain/ Unsure
Healthy Uneasiness/
Wariness/Alertness
Too Certain/
Too Sure
Questioning Attitude Meter

12. Conclusions and Discussion
Draw a parallel with safety – Zero Waste
Be aware of the potential “slow and steady uncoupling of local practice from written procedure” – this causes waste
Remember the Factors that Hinder Lean Reliability e.g. Living with workarounds
Drive culture through employees – the sharp end and Leader through their behavior
Leader behaviours that express what you pay attention to with respect to human performance:
Facilitate open communication
Promote teamwork
Eliminate Hidden Organisational weaknesses
Reinforce preferred preventive behaviors
Value error prevention