2026 Community of Human and Organizational Learning 32nd Annual Conference

Assorted Breakfast Pastries, Whole Fresh Fruit, Scrambled Eggs, Bacon, Breakfast Potatoes, yogurt parfaits, BYO breakfast soft taco, BYO vegetable breakfast soft taco, cinnamon swirl French toast 

In the final two minutes of the championship game, during a special operations raid, or amidst a cascading alarm failure in a control room, the environment changes, but the human machinery required to survive and thrive does not. Whether you are a quarterback, a Navy SEAL, or an industrial operator, individual mental toughness is only half the equation. The true competitive advantage lies in collective agility—the ability of a team to learn, adapt, and execute as a single organism under pressure. Dr. Jon Metzler (CMPC) bridges the gap between these high-consequence worlds. Drawing on experience with the US National Teams, the US Army, and corporate leadership, this session deconstructs the psychological frameworks used to win championships and survive battlefields. We will explore how to move beyond relying on "heroic" individuals to building systems of organizational learning where mental performance is culturally embedded. We will also examine the "who" behind the "how"—introducing the Certified Mental Performance Consultant® (CMPC) not just as a coach for individuals, but as a cultural architect qualified to engineer the shared mental models and psychological safety required for high-reliability performance.

Safety professionals are often the most technically competent people in the room, and at the same time, struggle to gain influence.
We were trained to control hazards, write procedures, and audit compliance. But organisations are not technical systems. They are social ones, communities of people whose behaviour is shaped by trust, status, and perceived value, not instruction.
While rebuilding a 30-year-old Land Rover Defender for a 5,000-mile journey to the Arctic Circle, Andy discovered something revealing about expertise in complex systems. With enough knowledge to feel confident in fixing a steering problem, he replaced the part that seemed to be the solution, but the problem persisted. An experienced engineer explained the truth: steering is not a component; it is a system. Knowing one part is not the same as understanding how the whole behaves.
Organisations behave the same way.
Drawing on evolutionary psychology, resilience thinking, and boardroom experience, this keynote reframes organisational learning as an influence challenge: how to work with the organisation as a community. We explore leadership trust as a social risk assessment: “If I invest time, attention, or budget here, will it increase my status and business performance?” Once safety and learning professionals understand that calculation, influence becomes intentional and performance can scale.
This keynote is developmental and deliberately identity-shifting. It moves participants from solving safety problems themselves to designing environments where others willingly contribute their expertise. Attendees will leave with a simple, immediately testable five-question influence sequence that builds cross-functional ownership, increases perceived value, and turns participation into contribution rather than enforcement.
Growth requires risk. Community requires trust. And when decision-making shifts from control to contribution, organisations function as communities, and safety and performance improve together.

Title: From Discipline to Discovery: The Transformation of the “Hatchet Lady” and the “Snake in the Grass”
Abstract:
Once known across their organizations as the “Hatchet Lady” and the “Snake in the Grass,” Stephanie Swindle and Lynn Huckabey had reputations for swift discipline and tough accountability. But their journey took an unexpected turn. Through experience, reflection, and a few hard lessons, they discovered a more powerful approach to driving results—one rooted in learning, collaboration, and understanding human performance.
In this dynamic session, Lynn and Stephanie share how they traded reaction for response, blame for curiosity, and control for connection. They’ll reveal how involving those closest to the work in event analysis and solution development leads not only to better outcomes but also to stronger teams and safer operations.

Come ready to laugh, learn, and be inspired by two former enforcers turned champions of human performance. Discover how embracing the power of learning can transform even the toughest critics into true believers.

It's a myth that safety is just a cost of doing business. For industries that do hazardous work, safety is integral to strategic execution. But too often, strategic pressures and organizational dilemmas undermine effective hazard identification and mitigation, operational learning, and psychological safety. Safety leaders and executives must learn why and how to build safety into organizational strategy as a key contributor to the value chain. This session will explore: 

• Why safety capacity is fundamental to effective organizational strategy development and execution
• How to build the case for greater consideration of safety at the c-suite and board levels
• How to create strategic alignment between safety and business decisions by focusing on value creation

In this highly anticipated mystery session, attendees will gather to explore the rich, complex themes of Cake and Ice Cream — a title chosen with the same level of information we currently have about the actual presentation. Will it be inspiring? Will it be educational? Will it involve sprinkles? Only the speaker knows, and they have chosen secrecy as their brand.

Do you want to make a direct IMPACT! on our annual conferences? Join us once again in the ballroom for our annual conference debrief. Share with us what we did right and areas where we can improve. The feedback we receive each year is reviewed and often implemented in our quest for continuous improvement.

New this year:
Our agenda books will feature a "Map to Conference Success." If you complete this Map and show us during the debrief session, you'll have the opportunity to win CHOLearning swag!