Episode 7

From reporting towards conversations: learn how to create reliable leading indicators of safety and business

February 9, 2021

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This week I bring you a special podcast about why we decided to move from a reporting culture towards designing a safe space for co-workers to have conversations.

Before I do, allow me to start with a personal story that has inspired me to begin this journey.

It goes back more than fifteen years when I was a seafarer. A frequency converter on the aft winch had failed during testing when we were just about to win a big contract. The chief engineer reported the matter to the office and the immediate response was, “who is the electrician onboard and why did he leave the tests for the last minute?”

The Chief engineer invited engine staff to his office. While the engineers were busy reviewing manuals and drawings, the chief engineer asked the motorman, “Reynold what do you think?” In less than a second Reynold responded, “Chief maybe we should try the frequency converter in the forward store as a temporary replacement, it looks the same. Can I go and check?”

Reynold fixed the problem, and we won the contract.

Fast forward fifteen years and I wonder what if the chief engineer did not create that safe space? And if he did, what if Reynold was not invited?

That’s why we created Confidus – a humble attempt to create that space where people from within your organisation can come together to learn and share experiences. A combination of artificial and actual intelligence means that you can even make collective sense of those experiences.

There is no need to wait for an accident, a near miss or a defect to happen. People who do the work will tell you where the next improvement opportunity lies. Our job is to listen and learn from them. That’s why we never saw it as another app. It’s a shift in thinking from reporting observations towards having conversations.

Here’s the link to Confidus.

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If you want to know why we thought this shift in thinking was needed, check out my latest podcast with Todd Conklin.

Don’t believe a word what I say, it was only meant to make you think.

And we would love to hear what you think!

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