2026 Community of Human and Organizational Learning 32nd Annual Conference

HOP, In a Box! – Accelerating Human and Organizational Performance Across Boundaries
When direct control isn’t possible, how can organizations help partners adopt Human Performance Improvement (HPI) principles? At Southern Company Gas, we faced this challenge with our contract partners and developed HOP, In a Box! a scalable approach grounded in the Principles of Human Performance Improvement and the use of Learning Teams to understand contractor utility damage events. 
 
This initiative delivered free, modular webinars and mobile resources to guide partners, many of which were small companies without resources to hire consultants, through building a business case, understanding HPI fundamentals, implementing strategies, and applying learning teams for event response. By making HPI tools accessible and copyright‑free, we enabled partners to integrate HOP concepts into their own organizations without mandates or barriers.
 
The result: measurable reductions in contractor facility damages and stronger learning cultures. This presentation shares how democratizing HPI resources can foster reliability, resilience, and sustained performance improvement across organizational boundaries.

Human and Organizational Performance (HOP) principles have been in existence for decades, distilled from research, field experience, and lessons learned across various industries. These principles are deceptively simple—recognizing human fallibility, understanding that context drives behavior, and valuing learning as a core mechanism for improvement. Yet knowing the principles and living them are two very different challenges.

Boulder Scientific Company, a specialty chemical manufacturer based in Mead, Colorado, faced significant challenges following its acquisition by a private equity firm in 2019. The firm's objective was to revitalize the organization, enhance its value, and position it for profitable resale, with a critical focus on overhauling its safety approach and outcomes. Initial efforts employing traditional safety methodologies not only failed to yield improvements but exacerbated existing issues, leading to deteriorating performance metrics.


Seeking an innovative solution, Boulder Scientific engaged G.R.I.T. USA Inc. to develop and execute a comprehensive Human and Organizational Performance (HOP) roadmap and implementation strategy. Now in the third year of this multi-phase initiative, the organization has achieved remarkable progress. By the conclusion of the second year, Boulder Scientific received recognition from the Society of Chemical Manufacturers & Affiliates (SOCMA) for its exemplary safety achievements, underscoring the efficacy of HOP strategies and methodologies in fostering a resilient safety culture.


This presentation will detail the HOP implementation process, highlighting key strategies that bridged strategic objectives with frontline operations. Attendees will gain insights into quantifiable return on investment (ROI) metrics, including reductions in incident rates, enhanced operational efficiency, and financial gains that supported the private equity turnaround goals. Furthermore, a structured five-year roadmap will be outlined, enabling organizations to transition to full independence from external consultants while sustaining long-term HOP integration. Through this case study, participants will acquire practical tools for driving cultural transformation, risk mitigation, and performance optimization in high-stakes industries.