Embracing Differences

Listeners may recall a recent podcast with Professor Andrew Hopkins where we discussed the role of organisational structure in creating a culture. In this week’s podcast, we take this concept one step further with Gilsa Monteiro, a process safety specialist in one of the leading Oil and Energy companies in the world and a PhD student who understudied Professor Andrew Hopkins.

In this podcast, I speak with Cindi Nandlal, a close friend who serves as an HSE manager in a reputed organization in Trinidad and Tobago. Cindi shares her unique position as a senior HSE manager who is also appointed as a board member on three different boards. As I listened to her, I realized how much she has transformed from being who she was at the start of her career (a very 'black and white' person in her own words) to becoming an influential and successful leader. In every experience she narrates in this podcast, I observed an immense sense of self-reflection, empathy and humility – the traits of leadership. What struck me most was her sensitivity to the business context (including the use of language) and the need for business leaders to understand how the organization operates at different levels before attempting to influence change. It reminds me of a beautiful quote from Stephen Covey – 'seek first to understand, then to be understood'.

This is the second in a series of two podcasts with Rosa Carrillo. In this podcast, Rosa and I discuss the importance of psychological safety for leaders. Once again, we reflect upon our personal experiences and discuss the importance of having open conversations to create psychological safety in the workplace. 

This is the first in a two-part series of conversations between Rosa Carrillo and Nippin Anand. During their interaction, Nippin and Rosa experience the power of deep listening - an important but often neglected aspect of psychological safety.

The podcast explores the purpose and needs of accident investigations, suggesting novel strategies for improvement. It discusses the role of storytelling and diverse perspectives in investigations, as well as the concept of 'ritual' in coping with disaster. The host reflects on the conflict between fact-finding and prevention, and encourages listeners to share and access additional resources.

In this podcast, Gitte Damm (an aviation pilot and a CRM instructor) and I discuss the role of soft skills in safety-critical jobs. Based on years of research and experience in the maritime and aviation sector, we argue that soft skills are being designed and marketed as a replacement for experiential knowledge and skills which makes it problematic to achieve the intended purpose of CRM.

Welcome to another episode of Embracing Differences with me Nippin Anand where I am joined by the world-leading safety scientist, Professor Andrew Hopkins, who takes the bull by the horns and helps us understand why we should be spending more time and effort to understand the structure of an organisation, in an intelligent but very accessible manner.

This week I bring you a special podcast with Todd Conklin where I talk about why we decided to move from a reporting culture towards designing a safe space for co-workers to have conversations.

Greg Smith, an internationally renowned lawyer and expert in operational safety, dives deep into the issues surrounding safety management in this engaging talk. He highlights the pitfalls of excessive bureaucracy, illustrating how it can create complacency and disconnect from purpose. Greg critiques the gap between documented safety procedures and real-world practices, emphasizing the need for meaningful compliance over mere paperwork. Their discussion also unveils the 'safety paradox,' revealing how a focus on compliance often undermines true safety outcomes, stressing the urgent need for reform in safety protocols.

Professor Lee Clarke, an expert in disaster management at Rutgers University, shares insights on why organizations fail. He challenges traditional views on efficiency and profitability, emphasizing that failure often stems from a disconnection between structure and social expectations. Using historical maritime disasters as cautionary tales, he highlights the importance of safety protocols and adaptive capacity. Clarke also discusses the complexities of decision-making, the need for transparency, and fostering humility and equity in organizational culture.