Human & Organizational Performance (HOP) – A visual, and the story behind it.

I like visuals. Visuals help me to better understand difficult topics, and specifically mental models. So, when I try to explain new ideas or theories to training participants, I often use visuals to get the key points across, and typically it works pretty well.

However, I have always struggled a little bit, when I tried to explain people (in a simple way) what Human & Organizational Performance or HOP is. I have tried to make the new ideas tangible, I have used personal stories, I have used Homer Simpson (‘Make it easy for Homer to do the right things well…”), and it worked ok, I think. But I did not have a good visual.

Then earlier this year Sam Goodman explained HOP in a way that really resonated with me: “Personally, I think of HOP as a collection of better beliefs, and ideas – from diverse and varying sources – applied through the lens of a core set of principles.”

It took a while but inspired by Sam’s quote I eventually started drafting ideas for a visual. I shared it with a few friends, and the feedback was mixed. Maybe it wasn’t ready yet, hence I had not included it in any presentation slides. Over the next couple of weeks, I made a few iterations, and I kind of liked it more and more, to the point when I included it in my workshop slide deck for the EHS Congress in Berlin a few weeks ago. But when the final version was due, I kicked the slide out again – managing time was critical, and I thought: “Maybe next time…”.

But then (before my own workshop) I attended Jean-Christophe Le Coze 's awesome workshop “How new is the ‘new view’ in safety?”, where he led the participants into the history of the ‘New View’. Then he explained HOP as follows:

“HOP translates the ideas in simple principles and tools to be implemented, for people without background in cognitive psychology, ergonomics or cognitive engineering, and beyond safety-critical systems.”

I was honestly surprised – that was very close to Sam’s quote, and to the visual I had kicked out of my presentation. So, I showed Jean-Christophe my idea, and he encouraged me to put it back in the slide deck again, and so I did. And when I eventually showed the slide in my workshop, and several mobile phones went up to take a picture I thought: “Ok, maybe I am not that far off. I’ll keep using it, and maybe even share it on LinkedIn.”

That’s what I am doing today. I know this mental model is not perfect (as we know, there are no good models), but it might be useful to some people out there who are interested in HOP, and wand to learn more about it. It also reflects my personal HOP journey quite nicely: Before I started exploring HOP in 2019, my reading interest into safety topics was on a pretty low level. But in order to better understand HOP, and what’s behind it, I realized I had to learn – a lot. So, I started reading and listening as I have probably never done before in my professional career (and I still do by the way).

In summary I have been on a steep learning journey since 5 years, and I’ve also learned that the theories and ideas HOP is pulling from are not new. I wasn’t simply aware of them – there had been no reason or trigger for me to dive into theories and mental models. But HOP became this trigger - I realized that I had to learn the basics, in order to be able to apply the new ideas in practice successfully. And in my opinion, if you apply them through a lens or filter of 5 simple principles, these safety and psychological theories are so much more accessible to the people we try to change - from management to shop floor.

So, here it is - let me know what you think.