Hearts and Minds - Toolkit - Driving for Excellence

English

Dutch

Spanish

Portuguese

Russian

German

Arabic

French

Norwegian

Chinese

Korean

Italian

Swedish

Understanding your Culture

The implementation of an HSE management system can be assessed in many ways but while hard work and a systematic approach will result in full implementation of the HSE-MS, on their own they are not enough. They form the necessary basis, but have to be complemented with a good company culture that lets them flourish. In such a culture people:

Are always alert to expect the unexpected.
Fully understand what they should do.
Are open for suggestions.
Believe their actions make a difference to themselves and to others.
Managers do not manage, but show genuine leadership.

This booklet helps you to develop an understanding of the culture in your organisation. Using it in meetings and workshops will give you a clear view of both the present and desired cultures, and what personal behaviours individuals can adopt to reduce the gap.

Culture can be divided into five levels of development, from the ‘Pathological’ to the ‘Generative’, as shown in the picture above:

Pathological: people don’t really care about HSE and are only driven by regulatory compliance and/or not getting caught.
Reactive: safety is taken seriously, but only after things have gone wrong. Managers feel frustrated about how the workforce won’t do what they are told.
Calculative: focus on systems and numbers. Lots of data is collected and analysed, lots of audits are performed and people begin to feel they know "how it works". The effectiveness of the gathered data is not always proven though.
Proactive: moving away from managing HSE based on what has happened in the past to preventing what might go wrong in the future. The workforce start to be involved in practice and the Line begins to take over the HSE function, while HSE personnel reduce in numbers and provide advice rather than execution.
Generative: organisations set very high standards and attempt to exceed them. They use failure to improve, not to blame. Management knows what is really going on, because the workforce tells them. People are trying to be as informed as possible, because it prepares them for the unexpected. This state of "chronic unease" reflects a belief that despite all efforts, errors will occur and that even minor problems can quickly escalate into system-threatening failures.

The characteristics of organisations are described at each level and typical descriptions are given for 18 'dimensions' that can be used to identify the current level of your organisation (the colours correspond with those used in the HSE-MS picture).

If you would like to order the full brochure click here or if you are a Shell employee please click here.