Archive for category: Human Performance Management

The Invisible Human Errors That Nobody Notices

October 19, 2017/in Human Performance Management, Talent Management/by StrategyDriven

Human error is everywhere and often difficult to avoid without implementing the proper tools. More often than not, human error is the reason number One for the purchase of high-quality tech software solutions, so that a variety of business processes can be automated for best quality. Other entrepreneurs suggest deploying careful recruiting methods to ensure that you get only highly qualified professionals to work with you. However, while it seems that human error is another work for lack of skills and attention, it would be incorrect to assume that there is no other kind of human error. In fact, the workplace is full of invisible mistakes and behaviors that are perpetuated under your very eyes but that you don’t see. They can be damaging to your team, your production and your overall business. It’s time to start the hunt for the invisible human errors that eat away your employees’ health and sanity, day after day.

Do you know what’s going on in your office?

Unhealthy stress management

We get it: Every workplace is a stressful environment, from the impossibly short deadlines to the difficult client. The workload piles up, your staff stays longer hours, and somehow the stressful situation seems to normalize any unhealthy stress management behavior, from heavy drinking to the abuse of hard substances. It may be invisible to the naked eye, but you should pay close attention to people’s habits and natural warmth to detect the early signs of an addictive behavior. More often than not, a drug test can confirm your suspicion. That’s why it’s essential as a manager to monitor workloads and offer stress management classes before it’s too late.

Emotional abuse

Millions of employees of all ages, ethnic and racial backgrounds hate going to work. Why should they like it, when staying at home all day might sound a lot more appealing, you ask. These employees hate the workplace because they’ve fallen victim of emotional bullying, from colleagues, managers or subordinates. The problem with this form of emotional abuse is that it directly attacks a person’s competence, integrity and dignity over an extensive period of time in such a way that it can go unnoticed. The victims live in a state of psychological terror, which can be aggravated by bad-mouthing, isolation, criticism, etc. This destructive attack can lead to depression, anxiety disorder and extended sick leaves. It’s your responsibility to keep your eyes open for any peculiar behavior so that you can offer support to those who need it and help them to stop the abuse.

Air pollution inside the office

So you’ve got a trendy office in town with an air con and a fantastic view of the city? That’s great but how pure and fresh is your air? Fungal spores, chemicals and smoke can be harmful to human health as they create what is called indoor air pollution. If your office has not implemented any air purification solution — from using specialist plants to sophisticated ventilation systems — it’s likely that your team might be suffering from the sick-building syndrome.

In conclusion, it’s vital that companies rethink their health and safety protocols to offer sufficient coverage for several invisible human errors that impact both business growth and personal wellness.

Human Error: The One Thing Holding Your Business Back

September 7, 2017/in Human Performance Management/by StrategyDriven

Photo courtesy of Pexels

Running a successful and efficient company is all about time management and reducing errors. A business that spends as much of the day being as productive as possible will always be set for success. The same can be said for a company that doesn’t make a lot of errors, therefore doesn’t waste time correcting these errors.

Sadly, there is one thing that can cost your business and hold you back; human error. Yes, while employees are essential for your business, they are guilty of making errors from time to time. One simple mistake could cause disruption in your company that leads to half a day being wasted as you all try and fix it.

As a consequence, it should be a top priority for businesses to reduce human error. Is this even possible? Of course, it is, and here are two easy ideas you can use:

Use Software For Certain Tasks

To completely eradicate the risk of human error in some tasks, you can use software. This is particularly useful regarding various human resources tasks such as paying employees and managing staff absences. These are tasks that often have the most mistakes occurring. As it says on the HRIS Payroll Software website, the right software can free up time and minimize errors. By relying on a computer to do certain tasks, you haven’t got to worry about employees making mistakes.

Software isn’t going to work for every single task in the office, but it will be a great solution to plenty of HR or accountancy tasks. Essentially, anything that can be automated or done by a piece of software doesn’t need to be done by a human.

Hire Better Employees

A simple way to reduce human errors is to ensure you hire the best people for every job. Companies that rush through the hiring process usually end up with employees that make a lot of mistakes. You must ensure you hire the best person and that they prove their worth. Someone with a good track record and lots of experience in the same role is ideal for your business. They know what they’re doing right from the start and will make far fewer mistakes than someone who might be in their first ever job.

The best thing you can do is take your time when hiring someone. Review their resume, check their employment history, talk to their previous employers, bring them in for an interview, etc. I’d even go as far as to say you should give them a trial run before actually hiring them full-time too. This shows if they’re good enough for your business and will highlight their mistake-making ability.

There may only be two ideas here, but they’ll go a long way to helping with any human error problems you have. As it was mentioned at the beginning of the piece, human error causes disruptions and wastes time. By reducing the likelihood of employee errors, you can stop holding your business back and drive forward in the right direction.

Reduce the Risks in Your Workplace Right Now

March 12, 2017/in Human Performance Management, Tactical Execution/by StrategyDriven

There are so many risks and dangers present in the workplace. As the owner of the company, it’s up to you to minimise them. It’s so easy to just coast along and tell yourself that everything’s fine and dandy. But sooner or later, your lack of safety precautions will catch up with you, and those risks will start to have a real impact on your employees and your business. Here are some great ways in which you can reduce the risks in your workplace right now.

Have Someone Oversee Safety Practices Each Day

Rather than leaving safety and security responsibilities up to each person as they carry out their work, why not hire a person to oversee all of those safety practices? They will then be solely responsible for all of the safety issues in the workplace. It will take a load off the mind of your other employees, and you will know exactly who to go to when there is a safety problem. Each day, they will be able to focus on this and nothing else. Although it will mean spending a bit more money on staffing, it’s something that could really be worthwhile.

Photo courtesy of Wikimedia

Set Rules for the Use of Any Dangerous Machinery

If there is any potentially dangerous machinery in your workplace, you should ensure there is a clear set of rules in place for using it. Everyone should know exactly what to do and what not to do when they are using machinery that poses them a threat. They should be kitted out with the right personal protective equipment. And you can even get lanyards for dangerous roles. These snap off easily so that they don’t get caught in any machinery that is being used by an employee. Make the rules readily available, and offer extra training too if necessary.

Clear the Floor

The floor is where the majority of the dangers lie in waiting in the workplace. Many people don’t take blocked walkways and cluttered floor space anywhere nearly as seriously as they should. If you want to make sure that the floor is clear at all times, survey it each week and look for things that could be hazardous. For example, things shouldn’t be stacked up too high near to where people do their work. When that’s the case, a fall could result in someone getting hurt. And fire escapes definitely need to be kept 100% clear at all times.

Photo courtesy of Jeff Wilcox via flickr

Be Proactive, Not Reactive

This is a good general rule to follow when it comes to safety in the workplace. When you are reactive rather than proactive, you will end up not taking extra steps to improve safety until you’re prompted to by something going wrong. That’s far from the ideal situation to be in because it means that you didn’t take risks as seriously as you should have done in the first place. Assess your workplace and carry out risk assessments to spot problems before, not after, they result in someone getting hurt. It’s a sensible and safe approach to take.

Human Performance Management Best Practice 13 – Independent Verification

June 23, 2015/in Human Performance Management, Premium/by Nathan Ives

Recent industrial accidents remind us of the critical importance of proper equipment operation. While some operational errors result in immediate negative impacts, the consequence of other errors may be delayed for a time.[wcm_restrict plans=”41245, 25542, 25653″]

Latent errors are those mistakes that do not become manifest in an adverse impact at the time the error is made. Because latent errors can result in equipment damage, personal injury, or loss of life, actions should be taken to minimize/eliminate their occurrence. One latent error reduction technique is independent verification.

Application

Independent verification is a human error reduction tool used during those operations potentially having adverse consequences at some time after the initial system manipulation, equipment tagging, and/or document creation/alteration. Examples of these types of operations include:

changing the position of equipment controller settings (auto/manual/off, etcetera)
applying or removing removal of clearance/danger tags to equipment components
updating procedures, prints, or schematics

In order for independent verification to be effectively applied, organizational leaders need to identify those discreet activities both specifically and characteristically for which this performance tool should be used. Note that performing an independent verification for all activates diminishes its importance and so care should be taken when formulating the specific lists. (See StrategyDriven Human Performance Management Warning Flag article – Peer Checking Everything)

Definition

Independent verification is performed by an individual qualified to perform the initial operation who checks the appropriateness of the initial operation separated by both space and time. The person performing the independent verification uses the same error reduction techniques as the initial performer such as self-checking. (See StrategyDriven Human Performance Management Best Practice – Self Checking)

Independent verification checks are commonly documented to reinforce and because of the importance of this function. Typically, the independent verifier will sign/initial next to the initial performer’s signature/initials in the associated procedure, work instruction, tagging record, document change log, and etcetera. Fully mature error reduction programs will provide an independent verifier signature/initial space next to those specific steps to be verified in associated documents.[/wcm_restrict][wcm_nonmember plans=”41245, 25542, 25653″]

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About the Author

Nathan Ives is a StrategyDriven Principal and Host of the StrategyDriven Podcast. For over twenty years, he has served as trusted advisor to executives and managers at dozens of Fortune 500 and smaller companies in the areas of management effectiveness, organizational development, and process improvement. To read Nathan’s complete biography, click here.

Human Performance Management Best Practice 12 – Conservative Decision-Making

March 18, 2014/in Decision-Making, Human Performance Management, Premium/by Nathan Ives

Not all decisions are made in the boardroom. Employees make decisions that affect the organization, its reputation, and financial well-being every day. It is important that these decisions be well aligned with the organization’s values and mission goals. Thus, employees should embody a conservative decision-making approach; being adverse to incurring risks that would make their actions unaligned with the organization’s direction.[wcm_restrict plans=”41239, 25542, 25653″]

Conservative decision-making should be a natural way of thinking for all members of an organization, whether the result of a formal decision-making process or a more instantaneous judgment. The decisions made by executives, managers, and employees should be well aligned with the organization’s values and mission goals. To achieve this then, there must be in place clearly defined value and mission goal statements, robustly supported and reinforced by organizational performance measures and standards and expectations that provide guidance and reinforcement for adherence for the organization’s guiding principles. Furthermore, routine coaching and feedback must take place from superior to subordinate, between peers, and from subordinate to superior such that adherence to the organization’s values and goals is continuously reinforced (need a different word here). Lastly, the promotion of conservative actions is aided by the clear translation of the organization’s values and goals into the policies, programs, and procedures individuals follow every day. Figure 1 highlights several aspects of vision and goal translation from the executive suite to the shop floor as well as the continuous monitoring and feedback mechanisms that reinforce these principles. Executed effectively, this translation and reinforcement embues the organization’s members with the ideals that should govern their decisions and actions.

Figure 1: Conservative Decision-Making Model

Principles for Conservative Decision-Making

By employing the following principles, executives, managers, and employees can better ensure their decisions conservatively align with their organization’s values and goals.

Time Critical Decisions

Production and cost shall not override safety
Do not challenge established safe operating conditions/parameters
Question and validate available information
Use all available resources, including offsite personnel as necessary
Develop contingency actions if time allows
Do not proceed in the face of uncertainty

Non-Time Critical Decisions

Recognize when conditions exist that could challenge safety, reliability, reputation, and/or financial risk
Gather and analyze information from relevant sources and key stakeholders in order to clearly define and provide options for resolution
Critically and objectively consider the short and long-term risks, consequences, and aggregate impact associated with the various decision options
Develop an implementation plan that includes contingencies and compensatory measures to maintain or enhance safety and/or risk margins
Clearly identify the decision-makers and their roles and responsibilities
Communicate the basis for decisions throughout the organization
Periodically evaluate the effectiveness of decisions

Final Thought…

Individuals commonly feel a reluctance to take a conservative action when those actions may reduce production or in some way diminish bottom line results. It is extremely important that such cases of conservative decision-making be positively reinforced through tabletop discussions and celebration of the making of such decisions when they occur. This reinforcement can take place via several venues. First and foremost, company executives and managers must lead by example. Many company CEOs issue annual personalized letters to all employees reinforcing the principles of conservative decision-making and highlighting several instances over the past year when such actions were taken. Training programs should seek to inject a reinforcement of conservative decision-making including the addition of real life examples whenever possible. Managers and supervisors have additional opportunities to reinforce a conservative approach through daily or weekly briefings, tailgate sessions, and pre-evolution job briefings. And performance incentive programs should balance the recognition of safety, production, and cost performance. In all of these cases, the most powerful message is to celebrate the conservative decisions and actions taken by members of the organization. In the absence of such examples, others from similar companies or industries can be used to reinforce the concept.[/wcm_restrict][wcm_nonmember plans=”41239, 25542, 25653″]