In 1969, Laurence Peter and Raymond Hull authored the book, The Peter Principle.  To summarize their research findings and developed principle, their concept sounds like this: in many organizations,…

Feedback is a critical component of helping others improve their performance. Information about what behaviors to repeat or do differently in given situations allows for continuous improvement over…

A recent article in the Wall Street Journal highlighted a troubling trend on our nation’s airport tarmacs. Safety incidents among ground crew workers are on the rise. The article starts by describing…

Relying on annual performance reviews to measure and motivate employees generally does not work. This enduring truth and some of the underlying reasons were highlighted in an article from the Spring…

The world around us is constantly changing. The markets we operate in, current economic conditions, world events, access to material goods and competition are all things leadership considers when…

The debate about whether developing habits should be a goal in safety has been going on for decades. A recent article in Professional Safety (Making Safety a Mindful Value, Not a Mindless Habit, June…

A reoccurring question I get while facilitating in-person workshops is whether the strategies and tactics discussed in class can be applied to other settings—be it spouse, kids, or family dog. While…

Common Leadership Errors: Failing to Create Sustainability Organizations are constantly evolving to keep up with a changing world. This evolution can include refinements to strategy, systems,…

The role of leadership inside organizations is to help achieve the mission, vision, and business objectives. Leaders define what winning looks like. They then are responsible for creating momentum,…

What happens in your organization when a human error occurs? By human error I mean an undesired behavior that could, or does, lead to some undesired consequences for the performer, people around them…

I recently had the opportunity to do an assessment with a company that is a safety culture exemplar. At ADI, we work with a lot of companies that have sophisticated safety management systems, but…

The concept of providing feedback is nothing new.  Performance feedback has been studied for well over 40 years and shown to be an effective and low-cost method for improving performance.  We’ve used…

ADI regularly incorporates perception surveys into our work. Surveys are cost-effective and have several applications such as assessing organizational culture, doing a pulse check on the reliability…

There is no doubt that how results are produced is just as, or more important, than the results themselves.  How work is done, the behaviors people do to produce an outcome, is a driver of long-term…

Complacency as a concept in safety has been around for some time. That said, I’ve noticed an uptick in client discussions highlighting employee complacency as a contributing factor in recent…

This is the first in a new blog series from Bryan Shelton. Check in on the first Tuesday of every month for new blogs in the series. Our brains are designed to learn and adapt quickly to our…

In my experience, mistakes can be our greatest teachers under two conditions. We must take the time to understand both why they happened, and how to change our behavior to prevent repeating them. I’d…

Many people make New Year’s resolutions dedicated to making themselves better in some way. Whether it’s to lose weight and get fit; become a better leader; or be a better spouse, parent, or friend.…