Why Learning Teams are a great way to get started with Safety Differently…

Here in the Southern Hemisphere, Learning Teams are the popularized method to get started with Safety Differently proper.

They make a good starting point because as opposed to some other New View Safety tools and methods, there is less perceived legal risk.?

In addition, they easily fit with worker engagement and participation duties, plus as their name suggests, organizational learning supports the meeting of due diligence requirements.

Check out this page from Worksafe New Zealand’s website promoting a well known Learning Team case study:

https://www.worksafe.govt.nz/the-toolshed/case-studies/wepr-case-studies/involving-everyone-in-learning-reaps-benefits/

Why use Learning Teams?

In essence, a Learning Team is a discrete exercise with a clear objective that supports the introduction of the new mindsets and ways of working together.

Because Safety Differently at it’s core frames up collaborative leadership, you're aiming to evolve from the top down, command and control management style we know so well.

A Learning Team provides a structure and process to problem solve with the people who know best – the people who do the actual work. After all, they’re the experts!?

What are the outcomes?

I recently co-facilitated a Learning Team that ended up saving a company a six figures sum by examining frequent incidents they were having with a machine.

Going through the Learning Team process bought out not just the problems they were having, but also focused on where they were succeeding. The successes were the key to finding better solutions.

Just like human centered design, the teams become the focal point and they were given the task of creating potential solutions. Subject matter experts supported them in implementing the novel solutions.

What are the benefits??

From experience, Learning Teams generate great benefits. Most importantly, teams absolutely love to be given the opportunity to be listened to, heard, and trusted.?

Second, leadership get to see first hand how capable their teams actually are. The process in itself creates the mindset shift.

From here, the trick to ongoing success is carrying on with this methodology until a genuine cultural shift has occurred.

Evidence of success will come in the form of:

·??????people speaking up more,

·??????leadership will have better intel about what’s going on at the coalface,

·??????problems get nipped in the bud,

·??????money gets spent on the most pertinent issues,

·??????administrative burden eases,

·??????due diligence requirements are better met.

How do Learning Teams work?

The trick with Learning Teams is selecting the right topic. It’s a bit of an art in and of itself. This thing is, the real problem emerges out of the process.

And the whole point of a Learning Team is that the “real problem” hasn’t been dealt with by other means.?

Here’s a commonly used innovation model – the Double Diamond Method - which ensures the problem is properly explored and understood before solutions are looked into.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_Diamond_(design_process_model)

There will be a great many places to start in your organization to have a first effective Learning Team. Getting going will be the subject of a future blog post.

In the meantime, hussle up your Business Lead, and encourage them to try this systematized process of listening. What are you waiting for?

Good luck on your Safety Differently journey!

www.monihogg.com