2026 Community of Human and Organizational Learning 32nd Annual Conference

Note:  There is an afternoon offering of the same session.

A highly interactive workshop where participants practice Humans at Work tools to redesign systems, improve planning, and learn from everyday work—moving beyond concepts to real-world application


This four-hour workshop is designed as a hands-on, project-based learning experience where participants practice Humans at Work (HAW) methods, apply tools, and leave with tangible skills they can use immediately.


Participants will explore ten key philosophical and practical shifts that distinguish the Humans at Work approach from traditional performance improvement processes, and will actively connect organizational practices—planning, learning, controls, and leadership behaviors—to the principles that drive them. Through guided exercises, small-group projects, and real-world scenarios, participants will redesign tasks, surface system constraints, map gray zones, and practice everyday learning and error management methods.


The workshop emphasizes learning how to do, not just learning what to remember. Participants will work with tools for improving planning prior to task execution, learning from everyday work, identifying performance-influencing factors and latent organizational conditions, and applying the Control Paradox to organizational design.


Exercises will focus on discovering structural blind spots, redesigning defenses, and shifting from person-focused fixes to system-focused improvements.

Note:  There is a morning offering of the same session.

A highly interactive workshop where participants practice Humans at Work tools to redesign systems, improve planning, and learn from everyday work—moving beyond concepts to real-world application


This four-hour workshop is designed as a hands-on, project-based learning experience where participants practice Humans at Work (HAW) methods, apply tools, and leave with tangible skills they can use immediately.


Participants will explore ten key philosophical and practical shifts that distinguish the Humans at Work approach from traditional performance improvement processes, and will actively connect organizational practices—planning, learning, controls, and leadership behaviors—to the principles that drive them. Through guided exercises, small-group projects, and real-world scenarios, participants will redesign tasks, surface system constraints, map gray zones, and practice everyday learning and error management methods.


The workshop emphasizes learning how to do, not just learning what to remember. Participants will work with tools for improving planning prior to task execution, learning from everyday work, identifying performance-influencing factors and latent organizational conditions, and applying the Control Paradox to organizational design.


Exercises will focus on discovering structural blind spots, redesigning defenses, and shifting from person-focused fixes to system-focused improvements.

Description.
The availability of data to frontline managers in an organization has the potential to be a powerful way to improve performance of clinical teams.  Often, data platforms provide aggregated data that allows senior leaders to monitor (and fret about) the status of a problem.  Our prior platforms did not prioritize the day-to-day and week-to-week needs of our frontline leaders in managing the performance in their clinical area.  We developed a data platform specifically designed to support the work of frontline clinical managers in improving the reliability and resilience of the delivery of care of evidence-based bundle elements.  Displayed data elements are actionable and clearly communicate current system conditions at the local level. 7-day rolling bundle compliance is clearly displayed in order to create a rapid-cycle feedback loop for teams and allow early detection of a change in performance. 
Clinical outcome data is displayed using run charts to denote performance over time, as these are easier for frontline leaders to interpret when compared to more traditional process control charts. The design is simple and uniform across all hospital-acquired conditions (HACs).  Performance data are aggregated to communicate broader organizational performance to the executive team in a simple display that communicates current performance and highlights ongoing challenges.  We also made the platform available to all team members as a large interactive display to generate engagement with the data and foster a commitment to data transparency across the organization.
We have seen dramatic improvements in compliance with evidence-based bundles and reductions in hospital-acquired conditions since the data platform was deployed 18 months ago. The data platform operationalizes multiple principles of resilience engineering and joint cognitive system design.

Three key takeaways / learning objectives

• Designing a platform that prioritizes and supports the work of frontline clinical managers effectively is an important means of driving broad improvement across a large organization.
• Displaying data by clinical unit in a way that is transparent leverages the pride that people take in the areas in which they work to drive and manage local performance.
•  The integration of rapid feedback loops (7-day rolling data) supports local learning and allows teams to rapidly detect and respond to drift in performance.  Moving from statistical process control displays to 12-month rolling outcome data allows progress to be easily communicated rapidly across the organization.

 
Measurable results
We have seen dramatic increases in local compliance with evidence-based bundles and reductions in hospital-acquired conditions in the 18-months since the platform was deployed. Our 12-month rolling HAC rates are currently amongst the lowest since they began to be tracked in the organization, despite record-setting clinical volumes. We would be happy to share performance data during the presentation.

Description.
The availability of data to frontline managers in an organization has the potential to be a powerful way to improve performance of clinical teams.  Often, data platforms provide aggregated data that allows senior leaders to monitor (and fret about) the status of a problem.  Our prior platforms did not prioritize the day-to-day and week-to-week needs of our frontline leaders in managing the performance in their clinical area.  We developed a data platform specifically designed to support the work of frontline clinical managers in improving the reliability and resilience of the delivery of care of evidence-based bundle elements.  Displayed data elements are actionable and clearly communicate current system conditions at the local level. 7-day rolling bundle compliance is clearly displayed in order to create a rapid-cycle feedback loop for teams and allow early detection of a change in performance. 
Clinical outcome data is displayed using run charts to denote performance over time, as these are easier for frontline leaders to interpret when compared to more traditional process control charts. The design is simple and uniform across all hospital-acquired conditions (HACs).  Performance data are aggregated to communicate broader organizational performance to the executive team in a simple display that communicates current performance and highlights ongoing challenges.  We also made the platform available to all team members as a large interactive display to generate engagement with the data and foster a commitment to data transparency across the organization.
We have seen dramatic improvements in compliance with evidence-based bundles and reductions in hospital-acquired conditions since the data platform was deployed 18 months ago. The data platform operationalizes multiple principles of resilience engineering and joint cognitive system design.

Three key takeaways

• Designing a platform that prioritizes and supports the work of frontline clinical managers effectively is an important means of driving broad improvement across a large organization.
• Displaying data by clinical unit in a way that is transparent leverages the pride that people take in the areas in which they work to drive and manage local performance.
•  The integration of rapid feedback loops (7-day rolling data) supports local learning and allows teams to rapidly detect and respond to drift in performance.  Moving from statistical process control displays to 12-month rolling outcome data allows progress to be easily communicated rapidly across the organization.

 
Measurable results
We have seen dramatic increases in local compliance with evidence-based bundles and reductions in hospital-acquired conditions in the 18-months since the platform was deployed. Our 12-month rolling HAC rates are currently amongst the lowest since they began to be tracked in the organization, despite record-setting clinical volumes. We would be happy to share performance data during the presentation.

Frontlines workers are hired to complete tasks. Sometimes those tasks are completed in dynamic environments working close to high energy. Cognitive overload is a real issue for workers adapting to solve problems, especially if a task is unfamiliar.

What if we told you that human error isn’t the problem – it’s the key to improvement?  Welcome to the world of Human and Organizational Performance (HOP), where failure isn’t a dead end but a doorway to learning.  In this engaging and eye-opening session, we’ll break down the core principles of HOP, exploring how organizations can shift from a culture of blame to one of resilience, adaptability, and continuous improvement.   Through real-world examples, interactive discussion, and practical takeaways, you’ll discover why traditional safety and performance models fall short – and how embracing a HOP mindset can drive better outcomes for individuals, teams, and entire organizations.  Whether you’re new to HOP or looking to reinforce foundational concepts, this session will challenge the way you think about mistakes, accountability, and success.