2026 Community of Human and Organizational Learning 32nd Annual Conference

Part 1 of 2

Many Lean process improvements deliver short-term gains but struggle to sustain in dynamic, high-variability environments like utility operations. This session explains why improvement efforts often drift back to old habits. Why integrating HOP/HPI principles makes process improvement durable, people centric, and resilient under real life conditions. We’ll share how combining Lean methods with Human and Organizational Performance shifts improvement from “tools and events” to learning built into daily work, where crews and leaders solve problems together. Attendees will leave with insights on improvement, people, and systems so results are sustainable when attention or focus is gone.

Part 2

Most of us think we have a pretty good idea of where our teams are on the HOP journey. Then we step into the field and see how work gets done, and we realize our assumptions don’t always match reality. When that gap exists, training can turn into information being delivered instead of learning that helps people doing the work.

This session shares an approach that focuses on observing normal work and listening to the people doing it every day. By spending time with crews and lone workers, leaders begin to see the real decisions, pressures, risks, and local normalized behaviors that shape performance. These observations then become the starting point for conversations that help everyone better understand how HOP tools can support the work instead of feeling like something extra.

Facilitators are given guidance to help keep discussions focused on curiosity and learning, especially when conversations drift toward blame or frustration. One of the most powerful parts of this approach is when leaders share their own experiences where a HOP tool could have helped them get a better outcome. That vulnerability helps others open up, often realizing they’ve faced similar situations, which builds connection and makes learning feel safe and relevant.

Participants will leave with ideas they can use to design assessments and training. Including identification, support, and tools to support confidence, strengthen questioning attitudes, and create shared understanding between leaders and frontline workers. The goal is learning the reality of the field and helps HOP work where it matters most.

If you only learn from accidents, you’re already too late.
 
Every day, people prevent harm by noticing something feels off, speaking up, or changing the plan at the last second. These moments—close calls—are rich with insight, yet they often vanish without a trace. Close Call Mining is the deliberate practice of finding and learning from those moments before luck runs out.
 
This talk challenges the belief that “nothing happened” means “nothing to learn.” You’ll learn how to surface close call stories that matter, support workers in recognizing early warning signs, and ask better questions that reveal risk while there’s still time to act.
 
Because the most powerful learning happens before someone gets hurt.

Introduction to Recurrence Scoring


Objective: To introduce a standardized, dynamic recurrence scoring system for action plans, designed to improve risk assessment and management. This system aims to provide a clear, quantifiable measure of residual risk based on the effectiveness of implemented corrective and preventative actions.


Key Concepts:
I.    Initial Recurrence Score: A baseline risk value tied to the significance of an issue.
a.    Definition: The initial recurrence score reflects the inherent risk level of an issue before any mitigating actions are taken. It is directly linked to the Significance Level (SL) assigned to an issue.
II.    Residual Recurrence Score: A quantifiable measure of remaining risk after the implementation of preventative actions. This score is dynamic and reflects the impact of actions over time.
a.    Applicability: The residual score applies only to issues where a cause analysis has been conducted and preventative actions are subsequently identified. Issues with only trend codes will not have a residual recurrence score.
III.    Preventative Actions: The focus of this scoring mechanism, aiming to prevent reoccurrence.
a.    Action Score Definition: The score assigned to an action should be a percentage of the initial recurrence score. For each action, the default score will be the lower end of its category's range. The Issue Owner will have a slider to adjust this action-specific score within the defined range for its category.


Conclusion
This recurrence scoring framework provides a robust and transparent method for assessing and managing recurring risks. By quantifying risk, allowing for expert modification, and visually representing progress, it will significantly enhance decision-making and accountability within action plan management.

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.

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.

Neurodivergent, Neurotypical, Neurodiverse – These terms keep popping up in social media as a rapidly increasing contingent of the public self identifies as having an atypical neurotype. What does this mean for those of us working in Safety, Quality, and Organization Learning roles? How do we make the most of this new awareness to raise our social Intelligence Quotients and foster both deeper understanding and greater team efficiency.


Disclaimer: I am not a clinician. I am not a neuroscientist. What I am is a Late diagnosed Autistic with ADHD who has become a consumer of content put out by the neurodivergent community, both scientific and social. Everything I take in is carefully curated and catalogued in the ever-curious, correlation-based, content management system in my brain. However, frequently this data is repackaged in a way that people have found relatable, meaningful, and informative, so I keep building binders and developing abstracts.   In this 50 minute breakout I will provide some social context for Understanding the differences in Communications and Processing styles for our Neurodivergent teammates and start a dialogue about how to better integrate their unique perspectives into our learning teams.