2026 Community of Human and Organizational Learning 32nd Annual Conference

Part 1 of 2

Abstract/Description - This course provides up and coming, and experienced HOP Practitioners with a deep understanding of Human and Organizational Performance (HOP) principles. Participants will explore the latest science-based approaches to managing human error, systemic drivers of safety outcomes, and effective leadership strategies for improving organizational performance. Designed for practical application, the workshop equips attendees with tools to reduce errors, enhance engagement, and drive operational excellence.

Learning Objectives 

• Understand and apply HOP principles to improve safety outcomes.
• Differentiate between errors, violations, and events while recognizing systemic drivers.
• Use the "3-Ts" framework—Traps, Triggers, and Tools—to prevent and mitigate errors.
• Employ performance modes and mental models to analyze and influence workplace behavior.
• Enhance incident analysis by leveraging new perspectives and methodologies.
• Build psychological safety and a culture of trust and continuous learning and continuous improvement.

Methodology

• Each participant will receive a comprehensive workbook to take notes in and a Pocket Guide as an ongoing reference to the education they receive
• An interactive introduction of the attendees
• Introduce FIT and a history and background of HOP deployments and integrations
• Educate the attendees on the practical application of the principles of HOP
• Storytelling and facilitated discussions on the differences between error, violation, deviation, active errors, and latent errors
• Deep dive into the mental models we as humans use to perform work which illustrates the performance hazards safety professionals can use to help people improve
• Interactive exercises around the mental models and error traps to help relate the concepts to the individual participants
• A final exercise called "3-2-1" 3 takeaways, 2 things to change immediately, 1 thing to talk to their immediate manager/supervisor about what they learned
• Call to action
• Access to further learning and support resources

Part 2

Abstract/Description - This course provides up and coming, and experienced HOP Practitioners with a deep understanding of Human and Organizational Performance (HOP) principles. Participants will explore the latest science-based approaches to managing human error, systemic drivers of safety outcomes, and effective leadership strategies for improving organizational performance. Designed for practical application, the workshop equips attendees with tools to reduce errors, enhance engagement, and drive operational excellence.
 
Learning Objectives 

• Understand and apply HOP principles to improve safety outcomes.
• Differentiate between errors, violations, and events while recognizing systemic drivers.
• Use the "3-Ts" framework—Traps, Triggers, and Tools—to prevent and mitigate errors.
• Employ performance modes and mental models to analyze and influence workplace behavior.
• Enhance incident analysis by leveraging new perspectives and methodologies.
• Build psychological safety and a culture of trust and continuous learning and continuous improvement.

 
Methodology

• Each participant will receive a comprehensive workbook to take notes in and a Pocket Guide as an ongoing reference to the education they receive
• An interactive introduction of the attendees
• Introduce FIT and a history and background of HOP deployments and integrations
• Educate the attendees on the practical application of the principles of HOP
• Storytelling and facilitated discussions on the differences between error, violation, deviation, active errors, and latent errors
• Deep dive into the mental models we as humans use to perform work which illustrates the performance hazards safety professionals can use to help people improve
• Interactive exercises around the mental models and error traps to help relate the concepts to the individual participants
• A final exercise called "3-2-1" 3 takeaways, 2 things to change immediately, 1 thing to talk to their immediate manager/supervisor about what they learned
• Call to action
• Access to further learning and support resources

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.

We know that Organizations are “data-driven,” yet safety and HOP are frequently reduced to lagging indicators or fragmented sets of leading metrics that struggle to influence real decisions.


This is where Microsoft Power BI can serve as a powerful translator.


Power BI (Business Intelligence) enables safety and HOP practitioners to integrate large volumes of disconnected, messy data and transform them into meaningful information that supports leadership decision-making. When the language of leadership is data, Power BI helps translate the realities of work into insights leaders can see, explore, and act upon. This helps us escape the over simplified binary world of red and green indicators. 


In this session, participants will explore how Power BI can be used to visualize and connect key HOP concepts, including rapidly degrading margins, SIF conditions, system drift, variability from plan (work-as-done vs. work-as-imagined), learning signals, and energy control effectiveness. Many organizations already collect the data needed to support this kind of analysis; the challenge is making it visible and useful.


Attendees will be introduced to practical learning pathways for Power BI, examples of AI-assisted development, and prototype data models (star schemas) specifically designed to support HOP and safety sensemaking. The session will focus on connecting and visualizing information that you already have to improve forecasting and decision quality.

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.

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.

How much money do large corporations spend on coffee each year?  The answer is often millions of dollars.  Compare that to their investment in disciplined organizational learning... and you will see that coffee frequently wins by a large margin!

This is not an indictment of coffee!  But it does raise an important question: Why do organizations routinely underinvest in the systems that reduce failure, strengthen margins, and build resilience?

Organizations invest in training, investigations, learning reviews, and improvement initiatives.  Yet few can clearly articulate the return on those investments.  As a result, organizational learning is often reactive and compliance-driven rather than positioned as a strategic capability.  That gap represents a significant lost opportunity.

This session explores how to quantify what truly counts.

Rather than reducing learning to financial metrics alone, we will examine ROI as a systems design question: How does organizational learning reduce problem burden, strengthen safety and operational buffer, improve decision quality, and enhance long-term performance.  And how do we measure impact?

Participants will explore a practical framework built around three elements:

• Problem Burden – The quantitative and qualitative costs of recurring failures, inefficiencies, and unmanaged risk
• Learning Capability Investment – The investment required to build and sustain disciplined learning systems
• Return – Risk reduction, stability, decision quality, and operational resilience

Through real-world examples across high-risk industries, we will examine:

• How to model the cost of reactive learning
• How to view organizational learning as a strategic investment
• How to communicate learning value in the language of decision makers
• How to avoid “learning activity” that produces motion without measurable impact