Sustaining Interest and Vigilance in Organizational Improvement

Going Beyond Training: Sustaining Interest and Vigilance

Amilcar Zambrano (RCA Practice Lead DNV) explains:

‘Of course, you must deliver quick‐fix solutions when things go wrong. But to stop things repeating, you need to address the underlying causes. This may involve equipment redesign, process changes and training programmes. But very often, it involves some sort of behavioural change. And when the human factor is involved, you mustn't equate that to being solved only by training.

You should recognise that changing behaviour can require one‐to‐one coaching and other guidance and support. And even after that, effort will be required to maintain discipline over time. You need to be imaginative in how you “keep things alive” for staff because few people announce they have started taking shortcuts.'

John Bendermacher (CAE Euroclear) sums up the challenge:

‘When you're doing root cause analysis, it's possible to highlight “the emperor has no clothes” on certain issues. But this means you need to be acutely aware of the sensitivities politically and culturally of the things you're going to say and the actions you are going to propose.

Good root cause analysis is just the start; then, you need to work with the organisation to find practical “streetwise” solutions that stakeholders will support. And after that, there is the need to sustain effort and interest over time, which requires diligence and imagination, especially as people move on.’

Farhad Peerally (Associate Professor, University of Leicester) reminds us:

‘Remember the fundamental purpose of good RCA is to be able to propose better controls and measures over risks. This is why it's important to understand why things go right and keep sharing good practices. So, the practicality of what you suggest for improvement, and its long‐term sustainability in the organisation, must not be forgotten.’

Rolling out new policies and procedures and running training events have their place, but none of these will guarantee that people will do what they should.

A range of techniques provide further guidance on action planning after an RCA. These include:

• Root cause corrective action (RCCA).2
• RCA2 (RCA and action).3
• The Ford 8D framework.4

The value of these techniques is the way they emphasise:

1. the necessity of timely action if you want to address root causes;
2. the difference between quick‐fix solutions, compared to the measures that address longer‐term causal factors;
3. the need to sustain effort and track implementation progress;
4. ensuring improvement activities have had the desired effect on an ongoing basis (i.e. their effectiveness has been validated as much as is appropriate given the risk).