Our clients manage operations where a major incident can have catastrophic ramifications. If businesses grow while maintaining the same approach to risk, it is generally accurate to assume the risk of a major incident will be directly proportional to that growth. In fact, most major incidents happen in large, successful organisations with entrenched procedures and cultures.
For 20 years we have investigated why some companies have major incidents and others don’t. The more we learn, the sharper and more focused our service offering gets. While others strive for perfection by promoting “best practices”, “talent selection” and “prevention strategies,” we do the opposite; we embrace failures. Organisations that do embrace failure and collaborate to manage them have two major benefits. First, they learn from failures to ensure they are not repeated. Second, they have a superior capability to break the chain of events leading from small failure to disaster before it´s too late. For an organisation, embracing failure means equipping staff to deal with the consequences, and to avert escalation.
Recent research papers conclude that company culture has become the top priority for CEOs worldwide. Still, the term “culture” is perceived abstract, even unprecise. We have developed statistically valid and reliable instruments based on data from more than 100,000 people in international companies monitored over time. These data give us the insight to benchmark the culture, and also the foresight on how to improve organisational culture.
Globally, in high risk industries, it has been known for a long time that human failure lies behind the majority of major incidents. However, unless we understand why people fail, we may not provide the right solutions to prevent them from happening in the first place. The model of auditing and training has been applied to control the risk of human failure. But investigations of major incidents show that the people involved in most cases knew the “manuals” and they also had the right competences. Will a new procedure or training course then help? We think the answer is “No”. In more and more industries staff have reached a training plateau, and they do not see the benefit of doing more of the same to reduce incidents. For organisations involved in high-risk operations in a rapidly changing world, we need to learn, on the job, all the time, and regard failures as a way to develop, innovate, change and control the risk of human failure.
Our data tell us how companies that avoid major incidents operate. In our third-generation instrument we have collected unique data about behaviours that are needed to make “management of failure” part of the organisational culture and sustain it. We are also able to model to what extent “management of failure” is part of the culture of an organisation, which in turn is highly correlated to data about major incidents. By adding hard data to the soft concept of organisational culture, we can benchmark behaviours as a starting point for change. We can also utilise the same data to enable a relevant learning process for all individuals in the entire organisation, to prevent company blind-spots occurring.
We have developed a concept for cultural change based on a few principles. The whole organisation should be communicated to at the same time, with the right data-driven learning content and in an engaging way, with learning as the critical focus. With the proper roadmap and strategy, supported by top managers, we are able to make changes in a company’s culture within two years, even with more than 100 000 employees and a complex structure with several business areas.
Culture change is complicated, but the change process must be simple. Our 8 SAYFR leadership behaviours act as the guide and a benchmark both to measure progress and simplify learning and communication. It also allows our clients to implement the concept on their own.
Diagnostic servicesThe data collected on culture has been used to develop instruments to benchmark and improve cultures and behaviours. These instruments continue to fuel data into our model and give rise to new solutions and services. Metrics are key to measure gaps and to understand whether attempts to change a culture are working.
High touch servicesLeaders directly impact people´s behaviours by setting priorities and by rewarding and sanctioning actions on a day to day basis. More indirectly, leaders impact by deciding on governance and systems , which in turn drive and reinforces behaviours. That is why the culture is the legacy of past leadership. Our high-touch services consist of:
Scalable servicesA top-down approach to changing culture is always an ideal strategy. However, when rapid change is needed, this approach can be too slow. By using a scalable approach and tools, it is possible to reach a more substantial part of the organisation quicker, and with a consistent message. Our digital services consist of Applications (Apps) to assist with:
Turn failures to the benefit of everyone.
Prevent human-made disasters across the globe.
Independence. Integrity. Creativity.
Our team delivers solutions and projects throughout the globe. With our technology partner Attensi, a scalable delivery model, unique data, and by partnering with our clients, we are now capable of delivering rapid and measurable change in organisational culture for companies with more 100 000 employees. This has been the result of living our values, our mission and our vision.
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