MINDFUL LEADERSHIP

Andrew Hopkins

Australian National University

Leaders create cultures

►“Leaders create and change cultures, while managers and administrators live within them” (Edgar Schein).

►Leaders create cultures by “what they systematically pay attention to. This can mean anything from what they notice and comment on to what they measure, control, reward and in others ways systematically deal with”. (Schein)

Mindful leadership

►Mindful leaders:

► are pre-occupied with possibility of something going wrong

► know bad news does not move upwards

► lie awake at night, worrying

► feel “chronic unease”

Auditing

►Be sceptical of good news audits

►Commission audits to identify the most serious problems

►Go and find out for yourself

UK Oil and Gas industry:

“Boots on for Safety”

How often should you talk to workers?

► Senior executives 1 hour per week

►Middle managers 1 hour per day

► Front line supervisors 30% of time

Who should you talk to?

► random workers on the job, especially contract workers

►Health and Safety Representatives

What could you talk about?

►Mining company guide: Can you tell me about your job? What could go wrong? How could you prevent it? Who else could be affected? How can the job be done more safely? How could you get hurt? What kind of injury?

What could you talk about? (Alternative approach)

►Tell me about your job. What do you do?

►What could go wrong? What are the greatest dangers you face?

►Do you think we have these dangers sufficiently under control?

►Do you think there are any safety issues here that we are not dealing with adequately?

►Are there times when workers feel they need to take short cuts?

A second strategy to use on walkarounds

(especially important at major hazard sites)

►Lessons from Macondo (Gulf of Mexico blowout)

Distinction between - personal safety - process or major hazard safety

► Slips, trips, falls

Fires, explosions, blowouts

A more effective executive auditing strategy

► 1. Identify possible major accident events.

► 2. Identify controls. Think about possibility of auditing.

Simple bow tie diagram

A more effective executive auditing strategy

► 1. Identify possible major accident events.

► 2. Identify controls. Think about possibility of auditing.

► 3. Identify previous major hazard accidents or incidents. Check whether lessons have been learned.

► 4.Check on what will be happening during visit and whether it provides opportunities to audit behaviour.

► If VIP is not expert, enlist expert to act as “interpreter”.

Two different strategies for finding out

►Listening and learning

►Informal auditing

Mindful leaders will make reporting systems work

►What is being reported?

►Who is reporting? (Types of workers, types of sites )

►What is being done about reports

► If a reporting system works well,

it creates a culture of ownership; if not, we get a culture of alienation and apathy

Accident analysis

►Mindful leaders are aware of multi-causal nature of accidents

There is a puddle of oil on the shop floor

“5-Why” Investigation

Because the machine is leaking oil

Why?

Because the gasket has deteriorated

Why?

Because we bought gaskets made of inferior material

Why?

Because we got a good deal (price) on those gaskets

Why?

Because the purchasing agent gets evaluated on short term cost savings

Why?

Organisational design

►Mindful leaders devise organisational structures that empower the voices for safety

Group Chief Exec

CE Refining

and Marketing

Other CEs

VP world refining

VP US

Refining Other regional VPs Refining

Business Unit Leader

Texas City Refinery

4 other US refineries

Line managers HSSE Mgr

Process safety mgr

CE for functions

BU

2

VP HSSE VP

Tech.

BP ORGANISATIONAL CHART, SIMPLIFIED

BU

3

BU

4

BU

5

Group Chief Exec

CE Refining

and Marketing

Other CEs

VP world refining

VP US

Refining Other regional VPs Refining

Business Unit Leader

Texas City Refinery

4 other US refineries

Line managers HSSE Mgr

Process safety mgr

CE for functions

BU

2

VP HSSE VP

Tech.

BP ORGANISATIONAL CHART, SIMPLIFIED

BU

3

BU

4

BU

5

Group Chief Exec

CE Refining

and Marketing

Other CEs

VP world refining

VP US

Refining Other regional VPs Refining

Business Unit Leader

Texas City Refinery

4 other US refineries

Line managers HSSE Mgr

Process safety mgr

CE for functions

BU

2

VP HSSE VP

Tech.

BP ORGANISATIONAL CHART, SIMPLIFIED

BU

3

BU

4

BU

5

Cost cutting

► Mindful leaders are aware of the dangers

of cost cutting.

►They will take responsibility for risk assessing cost cuts

Incentive schemes

►Mindful leaders are aware of what kind of behaviour is being driven by company remuneration systems

Job overload

►Mindful leaders are sensitive to the dangers of job overload and employee fatigue

Summary

►Mindful leaders: ►Have chronic unease about how well systems are

working ► hence they try to find out for themselves ►They promote:

Sceptical auditing ► Reporting systems that pick up warning signs ► Accident analysis that asks “why” many times ► Org structures that empower voices for safety ► Proper risk assessment of cost cuts ► Bonus systems that focus attention on safety ► Sensitivity to job overload