2026 Community of Human and Organizational Learning 32nd Annual Conference

What if the early warning signs of an unwanted event were always there and we’re the reason they go unnoticed?
In the animal kingdom, survival often depends on the ability to change perspective. A chameleon doesn’t just blend into its environment, it actively adjusts how it sees, focuses, and responds to changing conditions. In our workplaces, however, familiarity can dull perception. Over time, “routine work” becomes unnoticed, allowing risks and opportunities alike to hide in plain sight.

This engaging, interactive session invites participants from all roles to deliberately shift how they observe normal work, the everyday routines, adaptations, and decisions that keep operations running. Grounded in Human and Organizational Performance (HOP) principles, the session moves beyond incident-driven learning to explore how we can learn from successful work.

Participants will leave with eight practical strategies to sharpen observation skills, helping them notice subtle changes, hidden hazards, and system signals that are often overlooked. These tools can be applied immediately to strengthen learning, improve communication across roles, and turn everyday work experiences into meaningful, proactive improvements - no matter where you work or what you do.

When it comes to Human and Organizational Performance (HOP) and those initiatives and programs built around it, the problem is that there are many competing ideas, and most people think it’s got to be one or the other. 
This often leads to “new program” fatigue and disillusionment, which greatly undermines a Safety Professional’s influence. 
I intend to demonstrate how I have methodically built a thriving Human and Organizational (HOP) safety culture into one of the most difficult industries for such a thing, The Utility Line Clearance industry. 
I will lay out how I linked ten existing and newly created safety initiatives / pillars to beat the new program fatigue and disillusionment. 
We will discuss the strengths and weaknesses of each of the initiatives and how to reinforce the weakness and get maximum leverage from the strengths.
When it comes to the ideas of differing approaches, I say - if it works, it works.