Creating Space For Quality – Site Leadership Team (SLT) Workshop

A recent significant GMP quality incident resulted in a request from the Site Leadership Team ‘SLT’ to work with the front-line workers to understand and change their behaviours. 

The SLT viewed non-compliant behaviours involved in the incident as well-meaning and intended to get the job done but were at a loss to understand why people would take such risks and why they would not communicate these challenges. 

Taking a systems approach, and knowledge that leaders work ‘on’ the system and employees work ‘in’ the system, we engaged the site leadership team and the front-line using HOP leadership workshop as a vehicle to uncover new insights and learn to effect the required change.

Our Objective

  • To help the ’SLT’ learn how to understand the actual conduct of work and risks managed in processes they are accountable for by bridging between work-as-imagined and work-as-done and how the specific process had ‘drifted into failure’.
  • To bring new insight for the SLT about how they influence and challenge the culture by reinforcing beliefs and permitting and promoting behaviours.
  • Provide a training and experiential workshop to help bring behaviours to life and find opportunities to explore and improve the quality system that controls product quality and regulatory compliance.

Our Results

  • Leaders realised that change starts with self and that they needed to change.
  • Leaders identified they had in effect two roles: an operational role and a site leader role. The site leader role required space for quality focusing on understanding work-as-done, and system improvement.
  • Leaders were able to effectively describe the journey and drift into failure from a system point of view. This was not only for this incident but to bring the insight to prevent future incidents through more effective risk management using human performance.
  • Employee engagement rose as measured in a site survey. This was influenced by system improvements, e.g.: to promote raising issues in real time, and providing time and space for teams to have conversations about quality and risk.

Background

The significance of the GMP non-compliance and poor decision making that could have potentially put patients at risk uncovered a gap in the SLT’s quality system. Nothing they measured indicated the risks people were taking in their work to achieve goals – all of their KPI’s were lag measures.

There was a gap between work as ‘imagined’ and work as ‘done’.
Rather than blame the individuals, who were very competent and committed employees, the SLT were interested to learn how it made sense to their team to make this non-compliant decision and what other issues were there to be understood.

Before the workshop the leaders still believed that the cause of the issue was the front-line team – they had no insight to believe otherwise. They believed people were the problem to solve. They were working ‘in’ the system.

The team’s capability in human factors and human performance were limited. They were keen to find out how other sectors like Aviation and Nuclear Power were applying this body of work.

Background

The significance of the GMP non-compliance and poor decision making that could have potentially put patients at risk uncovered a gap in the SLT’s quality system. Nothing they measured indicated the risks people were taking in their work to achieve goals – all of their KPI’s were lag measures.

There was a gap between work as ‘imagined’ and work as ‘done’.
Rather than blame the individuals, who were very competent and committed employees, the SLT were interested to learn how it made sense to their team to make this non-compliant decision and what other issues were there to be understood.

Before the workshop the leaders still believed that the cause of the issue was the front-line team – they had no insight to believe otherwise. They believed people were the problem to solve. They were working ‘in’ the system.

The team’s capability in human factors and human performance were limited. They were keen to find out how other sectors like Aviation and Nuclear Power were applying this body of work.

What We Did

We listened to the client to understand their view.

We set up a pre-training introduction discussion with the individual SLT members for 30 mins each to build a rapport between trainer and team. We found out about current approaches to issues and challenges, how they celebrate success and how they personally create space for quality and experience of human factors tools and approaches.

We designed a bespoke workshop with a mission to create space for quality and a framework of targeted sessions linked to company values, regulations and human performance principles.

What We Did

We listened to the client to understand their view.

We set up a pre-training introduction discussion with the individual SLT members for 30 mins each to build a rapport between trainer and team. We found out about current approaches to issues and challenges, how they celebrate success and how they personally create space for quality and experience of human factors tools and approaches.

We designed a bespoke workshop with a mission to create space for quality and a framework of targeted sessions linked to company values, regulations and human performance principles.

One Day Course

This one-day workshop was split into 5 sessions each with a stimulus, e.g.: game, video, talk, linked with 5 Principles of human performance (also reflected in their company behavioural standard):

  1. Leading and learning from Human Performance
  2. Learning from mistakes how do we respond?
  3. Systems and context drive behaviour
  4. Learn to improve
  5. Role modelling through communication -the power of moments
 

The key activity was an interactive game where the SLT were divided into two teams to design, brand and build a model car. There are three roles. Success is measured in 3 dimensions. How far the car travels, the innovative design and the effective communication from the team.

One of the most engaging activities we planned was a team game that involved building cars and testing them. The game’s learning objectives included:

  • Emphasise key behaviours of managers, supervisors and builders required to work successfully together.
  • Highlight the need for managers to understand issues employees face, harness their knowledge and encourage feedback.
  • Emphasise that employees and supervisors need to report issues upwards in a timely way.
  • Provide understanding of the impact of making strategic decisions in a timely manner.
  • Impact of effective communication and how to do this well.
    Importance of speaking up urgently and not assuming people are aware of the dangers.
 

The day ended with reflection and application to identify opportunities for Human Performance Strategies to trial so that results can be reflected upon collectively as a group.

One Day Course

This one-day workshop was split into 5 sessions each with a stimulus, e.g.: game, video, talk, linked with 5 Principles of human performance (also reflected in their company behavioural standard):

  1. Leading and learning from Human Performance
  2. Learning from mistakes how do we respond?
  3. Systems and context drive behaviour
  4. Learn to improve
  5. Role modelling through communication -the power of moments
 

The key activity was an interactive game where the SLT were divided into two teams to design, brand and build a model car. There are three roles. Success is measured in 3 dimensions. How far the car travels, the innovative design and the effective communication from the team.

One of the most engaging activities we planned was a team game that involved building cars and testing them. The game’s learning objectives included:

  • Emphasise key behaviours of managers, supervisors and builders required to work successfully together.
  • Highlight the need for managers to understand issues employees face, harness their knowledge and encourage feedback.
  • Emphasise that employees and supervisors need to report issues upwards in a timely way.
  • Provide understanding of the impact of making strategic decisions in a timely manner.
  • Impact of effective communication and how to do this well.
    Importance of speaking up urgently and not assuming people are aware of the dangers.
 

The day ended with reflection and application to identify opportunities for Human Performance Strategies to trial so that results can be reflected upon collectively as a group.

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