Our HOP team recently delivered Human & Organisational Performance training to a cross-section of business leaders across the Asia-Pacific region of global technology leaders, ABB.

HOPLAB facilitated virtual HOP training with close to 20 safety professionals from ABB, initiating the first step in a local area HOP Pilot for the global group.

Operating in over 100 countries, ABB is a leading technology provider, transforming society and industry through the fields of electrification, process automation, motion and robotics. ABB sought out Southpac International in late 2020 following a seed of interest in Human & Organisational Performance from their Global HSE Operations Manager in Process Automation Energy Industries. Guided by HOPLAB to pitch HOP to the senior leadership, they were able to secure support to commence an organisation-wide first pilot program, aimed at improving the culture and organisational performance.

Located across nine countries, the pilot participants were introduced to the fundamentals of Human & Organisational Performance and the continual benefits of Operational Learning over a 5-day course.

Navigating various timezones and accommodating the needs of the business, Southpac utilised virtual platforms to facilitate the course and keep participants highly engaged, tailoring the course content specifically to ABB’s organisational context.

About ABB’s HOP Pilot

Wanting to learn more about the work conditions within their operations – especially around risks, difficulties and competing pressures – ABB has embraced HOP to help understand what contributes to mistakes happening, and how work is achieved every day. The aim is to learn and improve, gaining clearer insights into operations that will better inform their HSE system, with HOP creating shared learnings and solutions that will also improve work across regions and functions. Their overall focus for HOP within ABB is to create an environment for success – not just to avoid failure.

The initial training was designed to equip ABB pilot participants with the knowledge of Human & Organisational Performance and the skills to be able to embed HOP principles and operational learning methods such as Learning Teams within their area of responsibility – initiating the process at a local level to allow for ownership. The training covered HOP and Learning Teams in detail and applying this to ABB, with findings and solutions from the process then shared and integrated into their existing systems.

The information and feedback gained from the pilot will be used to assess further implementation of the HOP approach within ABB, globally.

What happens next?

Following HOP training with the pilot group, HOPLAB provided various resources to ABB to set participants up for success in the pilot and beyond. These tailored resources, such as Learning Teams Guides and HOP slide decks, will support participants as they pursue learning projects to share their experiences of applying HOP and utilising Learning Teams.

For a company of their scale with teams located across multiple continents, with guidance from HOPLAB at the senior leadership level, ABB know that incorporating HOP across their business will be a phased rollout – as different areas of the business become ready and willing to embrace operational learning as the new approach to safety. As teams interact and conversations about HOP develop, the aim of these readily-available resources is to increase awareness of HOP principles and Learning Teams, including the tangible benefits and success stories that are already being seen within operations at ABB.

What they said

After the 5-day virtual HOP training, ABB’s Global HSE Operations Manager, Mitchell Cini, reflected:

“It doesn’t take phenomenal ability to realise that a person who is given blame learns how to avoid the blame next time, while a person who gives blame learns nothing. As a result, things continue to go wrong…”

– Bill Salot

“This quote underpins our week of virtual culture change workshop focusing on addressing the complexities of human and organisation interactions. Better known in our safety world as HOP.

“Thank you Joerg Theis for providing executive sponsorship for this regional pilot program, and thank you HOPLAB for delivering an engaging and paradigm-changing virtual training to our business leaders in Asia. The learning materials are fantastic. I am now a total advocate for Southpac services.“

Read about the phases of HOP and how we can help make transformational change happen for your organisation through a HOP or Learning Teams Pilot.