Teys Australia

Teys Australia partnered with Ringo to conduct a comprehensive culture survey that would provide insights into adopting HOP principles and their impact on the workforce.  This survey combined quantitative and qualitative tools to gather data, with a specific focus on questions related to the five HOP themes:

Learning is Vital: In this principle, continuous learning and improvement are emphasised, along with creating a safe environment where employees feel comfortable reporting errors without fear of retribution.

People and Mistakes: This principle prioritises system improvement over punishing individuals for errors and recognises that learning from mistakes is essential for enhancing performance and safety.

Blame Fixes Nothing: Employees should feel comfortable reporting errors or near-misses without fear of punishment, and organisations should support and encourage open reporting to drive improvement.

Systems and Context Drive Behavior: Learning from mistakes is critical to improving safety and performance, emphasising the importance of understanding the context in which behaviour occurs.

Response to Failure Matters: Organisations should encourage employees to report incidents and errors without fear of punishment or retribution, fostering a culture of trust and open communication.

Participants were asked about the following focus areas:

• their comfort level in reporting errors or near-misses without punishment or retribution;
• the organisational support for reporting errors or near-misses;
• the organisation’s commitment to creating a continuous learning and improvement culture.
• whether the organisation prioritised system improvement over punishing individuals for errors;
• how much learning from mistakes contributed to performance and safety, and
• whether the organisation’s approach to learning from mistakes was assessed as a critical safety and performance improvement component.

The culture survey yielded valuable insights.  It was found that the HOP principles had been well accepted by both management and workers at Teys Australia’s.  Employees reported high comfort in reporting errors and near-misses, indicating a positive shift towards a culture of trust and learning.  The organisation’s commitment to continuous learning and improvement was also well-perceived.

Moreover, employees recognised the effectiveness of focusing on system improvement over punishing individuals for errors, affirming the importance of learning from mistakes in enhancing safety and performance.  

Teys Australia’s approach to responding to failure was widely seen as encouraging and supportive, reinforcing the open reporting culture. Some minor opportunities for improvement essentially were identified as system tweaks. Teys Australia’s journey in implementing HOP principles at one of their key facilities has been successful.  The culture survey highlighted a significant improvement in the organisation’s learning, safety, and performance approach.  

The positive response from management and workers demonstrates that fostering a continuous learning and improvement culture is achievable and highly effective in achieving organisational goals.  Teys Australia continues to build on this success, with the HOP principles firmly integrated into their operations and a commitment to sustaining a culture of trust and learning.  Teys also intends to use the Ringo process to measure the achievement of the objectives and open it up to the broader set of elements within the five HOP principl.