It has long been understood that the workplace requires focused attention on safety issues to be resilient. Consequently ‘safety culture’ became part of organisational culture. Honest reporting of mistakes and accidents (negative surprises) was a crucial pillar within this approach to facilitate ‘Learning From Incidents’ (LFI). This led to specific reporting requirements. However, human nature is such that people are inclined to pass the blame for incidents to others rather than acknowledging them. The term ‘Just Culture’ was coined to articulate this complexity of interactions in the workplace and the need for openness in order to facilitate learning based on correct operational assessments. It is imperative that both management and the workfloor develop a more compassionate relationship with failure.
The rationale for a ‘Just Culture’ is simple. If we hope to respond to the challenges of fundamental uncertainty, whether a fragile monetary/financial system or a fragile health or pension system, then unethical decisions, unfair policies, harmful behaviours and dishonest reporting are not going to result in making these systems more resilient. Importantly as much as these principles play on the macro and meso level, they do so equally on the micro level for personal development.
This workshop explores the intricacies of this balancing act with lectures, interactions and practical examples. The course contains two modules.
