2026 Community of Human and Organizational Learning 32nd Annual Conference

An incident happened.
Miscommunication, misunderstanding, or other complex errors were involved.

How do you learn from it to prevent similar events in the future?

~ Simple techniques like the "Five Whys" often fix the blame, but don't fix the problem.
~ Root Cause Analyses (RCAs) are often too complex and expensive.
~ Learning Teams are popular, but have some unique drawbacks, too.

Join us in this half-day workshop to get a practical alternative:

Event Reviews.

Watch this quick 2-minute intro video.
https://vimeo.com/867774531?share=copy


Download a 4-page article on Event Reviews. It was published by the International Institute of Risk and Safety Management in London to over 8,000 companies in 90 nations.
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/8crz7p77qg1y8aao7oc9l/Final-Event-Review-article-by-Jake-Mazulewicz-in-IIRSM-Sentinel-April-2025.pdf?rlkey=d0hlcnaxa24c2ip0saiujof32&e=1&dl=0


Watch this fun, 15-second video to see 250+ people react to my Event Review presentation.  
https://vimeo.com/1029754069?share=copy

How do the safest and most reliable teams in the world build reliability, safety and trust at the same time? Can we practice classic AND modern approaches to safety & reliability together? How can we actually apply the best ideas from: Human & Organizational Performance (HOP), High Reliability Organizations (HROs), and Resilience Engineering?

In this interactive half-day workshop, you'll see how pilots, paratroopers, wildland firefighters, and other high-reliability teams across the globe have applied these seven practical steps, and how you can, too.

1) Take a Learning-Based Approach
2) Build Psychological Safety
3) Lead After Action Reviews (AARs)
4) Transform Investigations
5) Apply Defenses
6) Improve Systems
7) Build Resilience

Watch this quick, 90-second intro video.
https://vimeo.com/1028906615


Includes a copy of this 50-page, pocket-sized HOP Handbook for Leaders.
https://www.reliableorg.com/category/all-products


Also includes a chance to get a free, signed copy of my new book!
https://www.amazon.com/Seven-Practical-Steps-Reliability-Technical/dp/B0FP99Z41N

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.

When it comes to Human and Organizational Performance (HOP) and those initiatives and programs built around it, the problem is that there are many competing ideas, and most people think it’s got to be one or the other. 
This often leads to “new program” fatigue and disillusionment, which greatly undermines a Safety Professional’s influence. 
I intend to demonstrate how I have methodically built a thriving Human and Organizational (HOP) safety culture into one of the most difficult industries for such a thing, The Utility Line Clearance industry. 
I will lay out how I linked ten existing and newly created safety initiatives / pillars to beat the new program fatigue and disillusionment. 
We will discuss the strengths and weaknesses of each of the initiatives and how to reinforce the weakness and get maximum leverage from the strengths.
When it comes to the ideas of differing approaches, I say - if it works, it works.

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.