Understanding Risk Compensation — Because Error Proofing Isn’t Enough Road safety is an excellent example of a system where many have tried to change the public’s behaviour and stop things from going wrong. Error proofing is a common approach, making things easy to get right and difficult to get wrong, but it isn’t without its […]
Coercion, Fear and Ebola
A frightening disease There is an outbreak of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Healthcare workers are desperately trying to contain the infection. The first signs of the disease appear within a couple of weeks of infection. They include fever, headaches and sore throats. Vomiting and diarrhoea follow, then internal and external bleeding […]
Why Companies Die
The Entrepreneur: A person who takes direct responsibility for turning an idea into a profitable new product or service. The Intrapreneur: An employee who takes direct responsibility for turning an idea into a profitable new product or service. Spot the difference? Is this the same job? There is only a vowel between them after all […]
A Sense of Perspective
Fear of the new We don’t like things that are new or unusual. It is part of our nature. When we were cavemen, it paid to be risk averse. New things could bite us, so we preferred what we knew. The status quo made us feel safe. That is why we invest in risk and control departments. […]
Danger of Death
Things gone wrong One of the simplest ways to improve performance is to stop things from going wrong. If you can change people’s behaviour and remove errors, defects or accidents, then performance will improve. It doesn’t matter if you work in a bank, a supermarket or collect bins for a living. Fewer errors equals better […]