2026 Community of Human and Organizational Learning 32nd Annual Conference

In this session, attendees will learn emerging modern safety science principles through the experience of Children’s Hospitals’ Solutions for Patient Safety (SPS), the leading North American safety network aiming to eliminate serious harm in children’s hospitals. Through an all teach, all learn philosophy, SPS member hospitals are applying proactive safety approaches to achieve breakthrough results. While rooted in healthcare, the principles and tools discussed are broadly applicable to safety-critical work across industries and align with HOP principles. 
Learners will be introduced to SPS proactive safety tools and will be provided an overview of how this structured approach promoted learning from everyday work in network hospitals. Participants will then engage in interactive activities and learn how to apply two specific proactive safety tools: proactive safety huddles and walk-through talk-through. These easy-to-use tools support the creation of safer, more reliable systems by learning from normal work at the frontline in complex operational environments. Proactive safety huddles are an interdisciplinary huddle used to anticipate and mitigate potential risks before an undesirable event occurs. Walk-through talk-through is a method for learning directly from frontline team members about gaps between work-as-done and work-as-imagined for a specific critical task, leading to opportunities for system optimization. 
Proactive safety huddles and walk-through talk-through are specifically designed to support and enhance the performance of our frontline workforce, setting a path to excellence in organizational outcomes. Practical applications will be highlighted so that participants can take these proactive safety tools back to their organizations and immediately put them into use.

Part I of II

In high-risk work, we often separate what can harm us (energy) from how work actually gets done (human performance). This disconnect creates blind spots that no amount of compliance or coaching can fully close.


This session explores how to bridge that gap by integrating energy-based safety with Human & Organizational Performance (HOP). Using practical field examples and operational scenarios, we’ll examine how unseen energy sources and normal human adaptations intersect—and why that intersection is where safety is truly won or lost.
Participants will walk away with:

• A clearer way to identify and think about energy hazards beyond the obvious (gravity and motion)
• Insight into how system conditions shape human decisions and exposure to energy
• Practical approaches to align hazard recognition, system design, and human performance in real work

Rather than focusing on eliminating error or controlling behavior, this session reframes safety as a function of designing systems that account for both energy and the realities of human work.
If we want better outcomes, we need better alignment between energy, systems, and people.

Every single one of us has an internal script that tells us we aren’t good enough.  Every. Single. One.  And our fear of naming our fear is holding us back.  When was the last time you heard a leader say, “Give me a moment. I’m experiencing fear, and I’m worried it will impact what I do next?” Instead, we allow fight or flight to sweep us into our unconscious patterned behaviors: command and control, anger, disengagement, overthinking- the very things that reinforce a culture of disconnection and fear.  Around and around we go. This cycle is compounded by the fact that we are inundated with knowing about leadership—articles, frameworks, titles of the “good” types of leaders, endless “you should’s.” Guess what? We know. We KNOW! We want to be those leaders. Desperately. And yet we feel stuck. It turns out that knowing what makes us strong leaders isn’t enough.  We cannot KNOWLEDGE ourselves into new behaviors, and we feel guilty that we can’t.  


It takes two things to break this cycle:
We must acknowledge fear in the moment (it is a normal part of the human experience anyway)
We must have skills we can rely on when things get “hot.”


Let’s begin with a practice Brene Brown practice calls “Above/Below the line,” (Strong Ground, 2025). Brene and her team use the model below (attributed to Robert Kiyosaki) to reinforce the power of acknowledging fear (the “line”) and choosing to stay ABOVE it by intentionally selecting our behaviors instead of allowing our own “below the line” unconscious behaviors to drive.  Brene refers to the pause and acknowledgement of fear as the divider.  This line separates the moments when we are able to act as coach creator, or challenger, from our more common fear-driven defaults of hero, victim, or villain. If you are confident you never react as hero, victim, or villain- we encourage you to challenge that belief.  


Awareness of fear is the first step.  It plants our feet on the line and introduces the possibility of choosing an intentional response. Staying above the line requires a whole lot more than just insight/knowledge.  In fact, if you are like us, it can feel like an all-out cat fight!   Staying anchored above the line requires us to endure discomfort. It turns out that change does not happen at the speed of our knowing—but at the speed of our nervous systems- those same nervous systems often flooded by “I’m not good enough”. Even when emotions are raw, this requires us to hold discomfort, to pause, and to stay present with ourselves.  We think of it like the ability to hold our own hands.  


No one can do this work for us. Psychological safety in the environment is necessary—but insufficient. We must find our own pause buttons and learn to press them in the moments that matter— unlocking capacity by naming that we are experiencing fear, challenging the beliefs that we are not good enough,  and trusting our own ability to engage intentionally.   Only then can we move from our patterned reactions to intentional action—to build trust with those around us, which enables learning. This is how we get unstuck.




Fear-driven “below the line” patterns look like telling, power-over, disengagement, silence, anger, over-emotion, over-analysis, and overwork. These behaviors disconnect us from others and further dysregulate our nervous systems in a self-reinforcing loop. We don’t choose them consciously.  We don’t wake up in the morning and set a goal to be the hero, or to assume a victim mentality. We have learned those patterns throughout our lives, and in some settings they are even reinforced/rewarded.  We all have been in huddles that celebrate the heroes who let fear drive and circumvent a system.  


So, first we must acknowledge our own fears and build our ability to endure discomfort.  Then, we reach for specific skills we have already practiced in a safe environment. 
 
Connection-building “above the line” behaviors—curiosity, listening, and genuine questions—interrupt this loop and create the conditions for learning and trust. One of our anchors in this work has been the book Humble Inquiry by H Shein, which offers a practical pathway for staying “above the line” by inviting curiosity in place of certainty, especially when fear is present. Schein emphasizes asking genuine, open questions that reduce defensiveness, build trust, and keep relationships intact—creating the conditions where people speak more freely and notice fear without being driven by it. In this way, Humble Inquiry becomes a framework for interrupting patterned reactions and intentionally choosing connection, learning, and shared understanding.


When the three of us coach teams, we use a set of balancing skills (think of them helping you balance on top of the line).  We print the icons on a physical piece of paper for each team member so they have something tangible to hold onto.  And then we practice together in safe spaces.  This work is not magic. 
You don’t have to be born with these skills. You CAN learn them.  And it takes practice.  


Maybe this ignites fear for you.  Maybe this feels scary or overwhelming because it is so counterculture. Can you acknowledge your fear so you can climb onto the line?   Can you imagine tolerating the discomfort of the unfamiliar or unpredictable, and then choosing your next move from a clear set of explicit skills you know will build trust with those around you instead of breaking it down?  We believe you can.  

Part 1 of 2
Significant risks hide in our daily successes, but we don't have to wait for incidents to occur to learn -- we can learn every day through good habits, routines, and structured daily debriefs. Drawing on concepts from his 2026 book, Safety Science for Outdoor & Experiential Education, Steve Smith will provide an overview of HOP Principles and invite participants to practice debriefing through two different lenses - a traditional approach, and a HOP-informed approach. What are effective ways to use daily debriefs and guiding questions to understand the difference between work-as-imagined and work-as-done? This session will be 50% presentation, 50% hands-on-practice and applying the concepts from the presentation to actual, recent events and participant experiences, in the spirit of learning, not blaming.

In this information packed session, participants will gain a deeper understanding of the elements that drive worker adaptability during the performance of their tasks. We will look at both the physical and performance hazards impacting individuals during task performance. Provide definitions to abide by so there is no debate on what is being talked about. And lastly provide a process that can be followed immediately upon return to work so they can determine drivers of worker adaptability. 

In this session, attendees will learn emerging modern safety science principles through the experience of Children’s Hospitals’ Solutions for Patient Safety (SPS), the leading North American safety network aiming to eliminate serious harm in children’s hospitals. Through an all teach, all learn philosophy, SPS member hospitals are applying proactive safety approaches to achieve breakthrough results. While rooted in healthcare, the principles and tools discussed are broadly applicable to safety-critical work across industries and align with HOP principles. 
Learners will be introduced to SPS proactive safety tools and will be provided an overview of how this structured approach promoted learning from everyday work in network hospitals. Participants will then engage in interactive activities and learn how to apply two specific proactive safety tools: proactive safety huddles and walk-through talk-through. These easy-to-use tools support the creation of safer, more reliable systems by learning from normal work at the frontline in complex operational environments. Proactive safety huddles are an interdisciplinary huddle used to anticipate and mitigate potential risks before an undesirable event occurs. Walk-through talk-through is a method for learning directly from frontline team members about gaps between work-as-done and work-as-imagined for a specific critical task, leading to opportunities for system optimization. 
Proactive safety huddles and walk-through talk-through are specifically designed to support and enhance the performance of our frontline workforce, setting a path to excellence in organizational outcomes. Practical applications will be highlighted so that participants can take these proactive safety tools back to their organizations and immediately put them into use.

Part II of II

In high-risk work, we often separate what can harm us (energy) from how work actually gets done (human performance). This disconnect creates blind spots that no amount of compliance or coaching can fully close.


This session explores how to bridge that gap by integrating energy-based safety with Human & Organizational Performance (HOP). Using practical field examples and operational scenarios, we’ll examine how unseen energy sources and normal human adaptations intersect—and why that intersection is where safety is truly won or lost.
Participants will walk away with:

• A clearer way to identify and think about energy hazards beyond the obvious (gravity and motion)
• Insight into how system conditions shape human decisions and exposure to energy
• Practical approaches to align hazard recognition, system design, and human performance in real work

Rather than focusing on eliminating error or controlling behavior, this session reframes safety as a function of designing systems that account for both energy and the realities of human work.
If we want better outcomes, we need better alignment between energy, systems, and people.

Note:  This is Part II of a two‑part session and is designed to be attended after Part I.

Every single one of us has an internal script that tells us we aren’t good enough. Every. Single. One. And our fear of naming our fear is holding us back. When was the last time you heard a leader say, “Give me a moment. I’m experiencing fear, and I’m worried it will impact what I do next?” Instead, we allow fight or flight to sweep us into our unconscious patterned behaviors: command and control, anger, disengagement, overthinking- the very things that reinforce a culture of disconnection and fear. Around and around we go. This cycle is compounded by the fact that we are inundated with knowing about leadership—articles, frameworks, titles of the “good” types of leaders, endless “you should’s.” Guess what? We know. We KNOW! We want to be those leaders. Desperately. And yet we feel stuck. It turns out that knowing what makes us strong leaders isn’t enough. We cannot KNOWLEDGE ourselves into new behaviors, and we feel guilty that we can’t.


It takes two things to break this cycle:
We must acknowledge fear in the moment (it is a normal part of the human experience anyway)
We must have skills we can rely on when things get “hot.”


Let’s begin with a practice Brene Brown practice calls “Above/Below the line,” (Strong Ground, 2025). Brene and her team use the model below (attributed to Robert Kiyosaki) to reinforce the power of acknowledging fear (the “line”) and choosing to stay ABOVE it by intentionally selecting our behaviors instead of allowing our own “below the line” unconscious behaviors to drive. Brene refers to the pause and acknowledgement of fear as the divider. This line separates the moments when we are able to act as coach creator, or challenger, from our more common fear-driven defaults of hero, victim, or villain. If you are confident you never react as hero, victim, or villain- we encourage you to challenge that belief.


Awareness of fear is the first step. It plants our feet on the line and introduces the possibility of choosing an intentional response. Staying above the line requires a whole lot more than just insight/knowledge. In fact, if you are like us, it can feel like an all-out cat fight! Staying anchored above the line requires us to endure discomfort. It turns out that change does not happen at the speed of our knowing—but at the speed of our nervous systems- those same nervous systems often flooded by “I’m not good enough”. Even when emotions are raw, this requires us to hold discomfort, to pause, and to stay present with ourselves. We think of it like the ability to hold our own hands.


No one can do this work for us. Psychological safety in the environment is necessary—but insufficient. We must find our own pause buttons and learn to press them in the moments that matter— unlocking capacity by naming that we are experiencing fear, challenging the beliefs that we are not good enough, and trusting our own ability to engage intentionally. Only then can we move from our patterned reactions to intentional action—to build trust with those around us, which enables learning. This is how we get unstuck.




Fear-driven “below the line” patterns look like telling, power-over, disengagement, silence, anger, over-emotion, over-analysis, and overwork. These behaviors disconnect us from others and further dysregulate our nervous systems in a self-reinforcing loop. We don’t choose them consciously. We don’t wake up in the morning and set a goal to be the hero, or to assume a victim mentality. We have learned those patterns throughout our lives, and in some settings they are even reinforced/rewarded. We all have been in huddles that celebrate the heroes who let fear drive and circumvent a system.


So, first we must acknowledge our own fears and build our ability to endure discomfort. Then, we reach for specific skills we have already practiced in a safe environment.

Connection-building “above the line” behaviors—curiosity, listening, and genuine questions—interrupt this loop and create the conditions for learning and trust. One of our anchors in this work has been the book Humble Inquiry by H Shein, which offers a practical pathway for staying “above the line” by inviting curiosity in place of certainty, especially when fear is present. Schein emphasizes asking genuine, open questions that reduce defensiveness, build trust, and keep relationships intact—creating the conditions where people speak more freely and notice fear without being driven by it. In this way, Humble Inquiry becomes a framework for interrupting patterned reactions and intentionally choosing connection, learning, and shared understanding.


When the three of us coach teams, we use a set of balancing skills (think of them helping you balance on top of the line). We print the icons on a physical piece of paper for each team member so they have something tangible to hold onto. And then we practice together in safe spaces. This work is not magic.
You don’t have to be born with these skills. You CAN learn them. And it takes practice.


Maybe this ignites fear for you.  Maybe this feels scary or overwhelming because it is so counterculture. Can you acknowledge your fear so you can climb onto the line?   Can you imagine tolerating the discomfort of the unfamiliar or unpredictable, and then choosing your next move from a clear set of explicit skills you know will build trust with those around you instead of breaking it down?  We believe you can.  

Part 2

Significant risks hide in our daily successes, but we don't have to wait for incidents to occur to learn -- we can learn every day through good habits, routines, and structured daily debriefs. Drawing on concepts from his 2026 book, Safety Science for Outdoor & Experiential Education, Steve Smith will provide an overview of HOP Principles and invite participants to practice debriefing through two different lenses - a traditional approach, and a HOP-informed approach. What are effective ways to use daily debriefs and guiding questions to understand the difference between work-as-imagined and work-as-done? This session will be 50% presentation, 50% hands-on-practice and applying the concepts from the presentation to actual, recent events and participant experiences, in the spirt of learning, not blaming.

In this information packed session, participants will gain a deeper understanding of the elements that drive worker adaptability during the performance of their tasks. We will look at both the physical and performance hazards impacting individuals during task performance. Provide definitions to abide by so there is no debate on what is being talked about. And lastly provide a process that can be followed immediately upon return to work so they can determine drivers of worker adaptability.