Culture of intervention v1.2

Creating a Culture of InterventionMichael Allen & Phillip Ragain

Creating a Culture of InterventionAgendaOverview of InterventionThe Mechanisms Driving CultureChanging CultureMaking Intervention Part of Your Culture

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Safety InterventionInterventionWhat is it?Why is it important?


Safety InterventionHow often do people speak up when they see something they think is unsafe?


Safety Intervention

People speak up only 39% of the time.

(2010 Study of Safety Intervention)Read the Study in EHS Todayhttp://ehstoday.com/safety/management/study-safety-intervention-0701


Culture: Like the water we swim inWe do not normally think about it.We do not normally notice its influence.

What Is Culture?


Taken-for-granted behaviorsThings that we do without considering whether they are right, wrong, proper or improper.

What Is Culture?


A generative safety culture is one in which people have internalized safety. It is something that they personally care about feel personally responsible for both supporting and improving.Generative: Intervene, never walk by an unsafe condition (If I see, it I fix it.)

As a concept, it is often confusing and nebulous.If we can understand the mechanisms that drive it, we can make adjustments.

What Is Culture?


I am usually a stalwart proponent of deciding upon a single, unambiguous and agreed-upon definition of something before going forward. But for our brief time together, I want step out of the conceptual clouds (is it our shared personal values, our common behaviors? Is it an internal, interpretive, cognitive phenomenon, or an outward, social, behavioral phenomenon? Do we look inside of the person, outside of the person, both?) and get our feet firmly planted on the ground by looking at the fundamental mechanisms at the foundation of this real but confusing thing we call culture. If we understand the basic mechanisms that produce culture, then we can make adjustments to it.

Where does culture come from?It is the product of our brains doing what they always do.

The Mechanisms


Where does culture come from?It is the product of our brains doing what they always do.Problem SolveAutomate+

Generalize+The Mechanisms


Problem Solve

Our brains figure out a way of doing things that works in a given situation.The Mechanisms


Demonstration 1: Ask, Without using a pen and paper, tell mewhat is 63 x 7? (Its 441.) After getting an answer, ask people to describe what it felt like as they were figuring out this answer? Could they Feel the wheels turning? It took a bit of energy. Now ask, what is 2+2? Figuring this out feels different.

How many of you felt a slight mental stimulation then? If we could have put a camera on you, we would have seen your pupils dilate as you problem solved. This happens when our brain activates what we can call the Executive system. Its the problem solving system of the brain.

Demonstration 2: How many of you have ever literally put a square peg into a round hole? Probably none of you. Look at this picture. What would you do? How would you get this peg into the hole?{Wait for answersomething like, shave down the edges of the peg.}Youve never done it before, but you were able to quickly assess the situation, connect it with prior knowledge and understanding of the physical world, and produce a solution to the problem.

Our brains are continually trying to solve these two problems:How do I fit in (cohere)?How do I achieve my goals?

?Problem SolveThe Mechanisms


Cohere: It means Fit in. As Aristotle famously and perceptively noted, Humans are social animals. When we dont cohere, its uncomfortable. In fact, it is flat-out stressful and we do a lot to avoid this kind of stress.

Recognitionfrom OthersSafety RulesPhysical LayoutResourcesCommunicationThreat of DisciplineDeadlinesAgendasWhat Others DoToolsEquipmentCareer OpportunityBonus SystemPay CheckTemperatureTime PressureWorkplace LayoutIncentive ProgramThe Mechanisms


Brain Diagram: Prefrontal Cortex (Problem Solving & Logic) is part of the brains executive system Its primary job is the orchestration of thoughts and actions to meet goals. It takes inventory of the complex landscape, and figures out a way to thrive.

DeadlinesToolsRecognitionfrom OthersSafety RulesPhysical LayoutResourcesCommunicationThreat of DisciplineAgendasWhat Others DoEquipmentCareer OpportunityBonus SystemPay CheckTemperatureTime PressureWorkplace LayoutIncentive ProgramCONTEXT

The Mechanisms


Systems

The MechanismsThese are the organizational influences on peoples decisions and behaviors.RulesProceduresIncentivesSchedule / Timing


Surroundings

The MechanismsThese are the physical influences on peoples decisions and behaviors.EquipmentResourcesClimateLayoute


Others

The MechanismsThese are the social influences on peoples decisions and behaviors.ModelingPressurePraise & CriticismHelp


These are the personal influences on peoples decisions and behaviors.KnowledgeMotivationAbilityAttentionHabits

Self

The Mechanisms


Our brains then automate the efforts that work within a given context.Automation

The Mechanisms


Brain Facts: The brain is 2% of the bodys weight, but consumes 20% of its energy.A typical adult human brain runs on about 12 watts per day.

The prefrontal cortex is like your computers RAM (Random Access Memory). It has a maximum capacity (which helps to explain phenomena like Inattentional Blindness), and when it is to your bodys advantage to keep this capacity available for solving new, unexpected or peculiar challenges.

Example of Inattentional Blindness (aka Cognitive Capture)One interesting experiment displayed how cell phones contributed to inattentional blindness in basic tasks such as walking. The stimuli for this experiment was a brightly colored clown on a unicycle. The individuals participating in this experiment were divided into four sections. They were either talking on the phone, listening to an mp3 player, walking by themselves or walking in pairs. The study showed that individuals engaged in cell phone conversations were least likely to notice the clown. This experiment was designed by Ira E. Hyman, S. Matthew Boss, Breanne M. Wise, Kira E. Mckenzie and Jenna M. Caggiano at Western Washington University.

Brain Model: When the strategy for meeting a goal works, it is embeddedelsewhere in the brain [red arrows pointing in from prefrontal cortex to hippocampus (memory)], freeing the executive prefrontal cortex to focus on new challenges.

When a successful strategy becomes habituated, youre free to go off and solve new challengesmaking you increasingly better adapted to thrive within your particular environment. In other words, you learn.

Our brains then automate the efforts that work within a given context.These become our taken-for-granted behaviors.Automation

The Mechanisms


Changing Culture


Acculturation is like learning to drive a car. Its stressful, confusing and tiring at first, then in no time, you find yourself leaving work and miraculously arriving safely in your driveway without remembering how you got there.

Our brains are truly amazing, and they work the same magic whether youre behind the wheel of a car or navigating the complicated social landscape of your organization. The one thing we can rely on, though, is that our brains will quickly adapt to and habituate the unwritten rules for succeeding in that social landscape.

What happens with automated behaviors when you change the context? (E.g., youre driving on the right side of the road.)

Change Context and you Change CultureChanging Culture


Culture of Intervention





Step #3Analyze the working context to understand why employees do not intervene.SystemsSurroundingsOthersSelf

SystemsSurroundingsOthersSelf



DISCUSSIONWhat keeps people from speaking up in your organization?Culture of Intervention


Culture of InterventionReactanceSocial IncongruenceConfirmation Bias++The Perfect Storm of Inhibitors


Culture of InterventionReactanceSocial IncongruenceConfirmation Bias++




Culture of InterventionReactanceThe urge to resist or do the opposite of what someone tells you to do.


Culture of InterventionAcross industries, people become noticeably defensive 28% of the time that someone intervenes.Thats about 1 out of every 4 times


Culture of InterventionAcross industries, people become noticeably angry 1 out of every 6 times that someone intervenes.




Culture of InterventionSocial IncongruenceThe stress that we feel when we are in tension with others.




Culture of InterventionConfirmation BiasWe are extremely good at justifying what we have already concluded.


Culture of InterventionConfirmation BiasNo one else has said anything, so it must not be that big of a deal.


Culture of InterventionConfirmation BiasHe is an experienced employee. He knows the risk hes taking.




Culture Change StrategyStep #4Identify ways to change the context so that speaking up about safety issuesis socially expected and accepted, and leads to personal success.SystemsSurroundingsOthersSelf

SystemsSurroundingsOthersSelf



DISCUSSIONHow could you change the context so that speaking upIs socially expected and accepted?Leads to personal success?Culture of Intervention


Creating a Culture of InterventionMichael Allen & Phillip Ragain

Leadership & Management

Culture of intervention v1.2