WINING HEARTS AND MINDS

Because we want to

Intrinsic motivation and safety

Patrick Hudson Delft University of TechnologyLeiden University

Time

Nu

mb

ers

of

Inci

den

ts

Technology

Systems

Culture

• Engineering• Equipment• Safety • Compliance

• Integrating HSE

• Certification• Competence• Risk

Assessment

• Behaviours• Leadership • Accountability• Attitudes• HSE as a profit centre

Introduction

•The original requirement in 1998– A workforce that is intrinsically

motivated in HSE

•What does this mean?– People who want to do the right things– Not just because they are told what to do– People doing the right things naturally

rather than forcing them

Structure

• Conditioning, reward and motivation• Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation• Problems with rewards• Goals and Tasks• Safety Cultures• What safety cultures do• From “in place” to “how we do

things”

Conditioning• Classical

– Pavlov – simple stimulus-response

• Operant– Skinner – rewarding spontaneous behaviour

• Positive and negative reinforcement– Reward and punishment

• Schedules– Frequent, intermittent

• Extinction

Rewards

• Positive rewards make behaviours more likely• Negative rewards make behaviour less likely• Negative rewards attract immediate attention• Positive rewards generalise• Negative rewards generate behaviours aimed

at avoiding the consequences– Speed cameras

How do you motivate people?• The classical view (Banking?)

– Give people rewards to drive their performance

– The greater the reward, the better the performance

• The psychologists’ view– Match people to what they want to do– Make them feel appreciated– Pay them for what they don’t enjoy

Goals

• Final goals– what you really want to achieve

• Intermediate goals to achieve a final goal

• Planning involves setting up intermediate goals (tasks & targets)

Task types

• Easy – Difficult (ability or competence based)• Physical – Mental (muscles vs brains)• Interesting – Boring (importance, time)• You want to do it – you don’t want do

it )personal)• Everybody wants to do it - Nobody wants to

do it (competition)• Safe - Dangerous

Motivation

• The driving (motive) power to make someone perform a task

• Extrinsic motivation– Performing tasks to achieve an exterior goal– Tasks need not be interesting or enjoyable

• Intrinsic motivation– Performing tasks felt to be interesting and

enjoyable– Goals are primarily internal

Problem with reward

• People performing tasks who are intrinsically motivated generate their own reward

• Extrinsically rewarding people for those tasks only replaces the intrinsic rewards

• After extrinsic reward the intrinsic motivation is reduced!!

Intrinsic Motivation

• Feeling of control• Feeling of competence• Self-efficacy• Respect

Locus of Control

• Internal– People feel in control/command of

their own actions and consequences

• External – People feel that they are driven by

events

Self efficacy

• The feeling that you can achieve your goals– Those goals might be set by others, but it’s

best if you feel you set them yourself

• And, that you are doing it, not someone else

• Related to internal locus of control• Very powerful positive feeling related to

achieving success in performance

Demotivation

• Failure to achieve your goals• Removal of positive rewards on

failure• Leads to extinction but may

generalise negatively to other behaviours

Motivation

• Motivation is difficult, especially for psychologists

• There is a lot more than pep talks and extra money

• People are most motivated to do what interests them

• People remain motivated when they feel they are in charge

IN SHORT MOTIVATION IS HARD

The HSE Culture Ladder

CALCULATIVEWe have systems in place to

manage all hazards

PROACTIVESafety leadership and values drive

continuous improvement

REACTIVESafety is important, we do a lotevery time we have an accident

PATHOLOGICALWho cares as long as

we're not caught

Incr

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Info

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Incr

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rust

and

Acc

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abili

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GENERATIVE (High Reliability Orgs)HSE is how we do business

round here

PATHOLOGICAL

REACTIVE

CALCULATIVE

PROACTIVE

GENERATIVE

Safety Culture Ladder

chronic uneasesafety seen as a profit centrenew ideas are welcomed

we are serious, but why don’t they do what they’re told?endless discussions to re-classify accidentsSafety is high on the agenda after an accident

the lawyers said it was OKof course we have accidents, it’s a dangerous businesssack the idiot who had the accident

resources are available to fix things before an accidentmanagement is open but still obsessed with statisticsprocedures are “owned” by the workforce

we cracked it!lots and lots of auditsHSE advisers chasing statistics

Specific actions you can take• Work on communication systems - in both directions• Use your incident database – evidence-based management• Make the Work Safety program work• Take hazard identification and analysis seriously• Make full use of HSE & toolbox meetings• Take the HSE department seriously• Have consequence management for errors and non-compliances

– for management as well as workers• Have good relations with contractors – they run the risks• Audit properly – move from auditing paper to implementation• Set impossible benchmarks - fight complacency

• Don’t do everything at once

Going up the ladder - how do we get there?• We need to develop good safety habits• These build upon previously established skills• Proposal is that organisations concentrate on doing

things rather than just trying to have better attitudes• There is a progression up the ladder

– In place ( -> Reactive)– In operation (-> Calculative)– Effective (-> Proactive)– Permanent and continuously improving (->

Generative)• Attitudes will improve as people experience success

The HSE Culture Ladder

CALCULATIVEWe have systems in place to

manage all hazards

PROACTIVESafety leadership and values drive

continuous improvement

REACTIVESafety is important, we do a lotevery time we have an accident

PATHOLOGICALWho cares as long as

we're not caught

Incr

easi

ngly

Info

rmed

Incr

easi

ng T

rust

and

Acc

ount

abili

ty

GENERATIVE (High Reliability Orgs)HSE is how we do business

round here

The HSE Culture Ladder

CALCULATIVEWe have systems in place to

manage all hazards

PROACTIVESafety leadership and values drive

continuous improvement

REACTIVESafety is important, we do a lotevery time we have an accident

PATHOLOGICALWho cares as long as

we're not caught

Incr

easi

ngly

Info

rmed

Incr

easi

ng T

rust

and

Acc

ount

abili

ty

GENERATIVE (High Reliability Orgs)HSE is how we do business

round here

In Place

In Operation

Effective

Permanent

What do we try to achieve?

• Attitude change - at all levels in the organisation– Not just the workforce– Not just senior management

• Change through action, not talk• Building on success - we can do it!• Consolidation - changing the habits of a

lifetime

How does this link to Intrinsic Motivation?

• Selection of agreed and feasible tasks– Give people choice in what they do

• Success with small steps rather than one big one– Break the progression down into feasible steps

• Control in the hands of those who perform– This is hard for management to give up their

power

• Why doesn’t everyone do this?

Conclusion

• Motivation is hard, harder than pep talks and rigid focus on success

• Developing intrinsic motivation requires senior management to give up power

• Moving slowly up the ladder, fuelled by success, is the best way to become a true culture of safety

• You can do it!