We've all been told about the power of positive leadership, servant leadership etc. But what if much of what we believe about these styles is more of an illusion.

Today, we're diving into research that suggests the evidence for positive leadership styles might be more steeped in how leaders are judged, not just what they do, leading to a re-evaluation of how we understand leadership effectiveness.

Today's study is: Fischer, T., Dietz, J., & Antonakis, J. (2024). A fatal flaw: Positive leadership style research creates causal illusions. The Leadership Quarterly, 35(3), 101771.

More research at SafetyInsights.Org

Intro/Output "Dark Synth Wave" by ElephantGreen (PixaBay.com)

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Want to add a garnish of Safety-II inspired thinking into debriefs? Check out this 4 min quickisode.

Today's article is: Bentley, S. K., McNamara, S., Meguerdichian, M., Walker, K., Patterson, M., & Bajaj, K. (2021). Debrief it all: a tool for inclusion of Safety-II. Advances in Simulation, 6(1), 9.

More research at SafetyInsights.Org

Intro/Output "Dark Synth Wave" by ElephantGreen (PixaBay.com)

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What if many of the ideas we cling to about leaders, are more zombie ideas - outdated concepts that refuse to die?

What if some of these ideas are holding back progress in moving forward with more calibrated and effective principles of leadership?

Today's study is: Haslam, S. A., Alvesson, M., & Reicher, S. D. (2024). Zombie leadership: Dead ideas that still walk among us. The Leadership Quarterly, 35(3), 101770.

More research at SafetyInsights.Org

Intro/Output "Dark Synth Wave" by ElephantGreen (PixaBay.com)

Make sure to subscribe to Safe As on Spotify/Apple, and if you find it useful then please help share the news, and leave a rating and review on your podcast app.

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This special quickisode unpacks Haddon's 10 energy countermeasures.

This approach provides an alternative or compliment to the hierarchy of control, and focuses directly on eliminating, minimising or marshalling the exchange of hazardous energy.

No specific reference - except for William Haddon Jn's legendary work. Check out his 10 countermeasures:

1. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC1067540/pdf/injprev00009-0043.pdf
2. http://www.mtpinnacle.com/pdfs/Revisiting%20Haddon%E2%80%99s%20Conceptualization.pdf

More research at SafetyInsights.Org

Intro/Output "Dark Synth Wave" by ElephantGreen (PixaBay.com)

Make sure to subscribe to Safe As on Spotify/Apple, and if you find it useful then please help share the news, and leave a rating and review on your podcast app.

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We chase certifications, implement systems, but what impact are we really having on operational performance?

Is achieving certification, like ISO 18001 or 45001, really about improving the governance, assurance, or performance of systems, or is it more about window dressing and legitimacy, being seen to be doing the right thing?

Today's pod covers: Dyreborg, J., Thorsen, S. V., Madsen, C. U., & Hasle, P. (2024). Effectiveness of OHSAS 18001 in reducing accidents at work. A follow-up study of 13,102 workplaces. Safety Science, 177, 106573.

More research at SafetyInsights.Org

Intro/Output "Dark Synth Wave" by ElephantGreen (PixaBay.com)

Make sure to subscribe to Safe As on Spotify/Apple, and if you find it useful then please help share the news, and leave a rating and review on your podcast app.

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We often put leadership on a pedestal - the silver bullet for all organisational ills.

But what does the evidence suggest? What influence does various aspects of leadership have on various organisational safety measures?

This episode explores the research behind leadership, before we move into a couple of more critical leadership studies in future eps.

Today's pod covers: Lyubykh, Z., Turner, N., Hershcovis, M. S., & Deng, C. (2022). A meta-analysis of leadership and workplace safety: Examining relative importance, contextual contingencies, and methodological moderators. Journal of Applied Psychology, 107(12), 2149.

More research at SafetyInsights.Org

Intro/Output "Dark Synth Wave" by ElephantGreen (PixaBay.com)

Make sure to subscribe to Safe As on Spotify/Apple, and if you find it useful then please help share the news, and leave a rating and review on your podcast app.

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Risk in safety is often framed in matrices as likelihood x consequences. It holds an allure of (semi)objectivity - the numbers are the numbers.

But what is the role of emotion and feelings within our risk judgements? Today's article argues that what we 'feel' about risk precedes and influences what we 'think' about risk.

This pod's article is: Slovic, P., Finucane, M. L., Peters, E., & MacGregor, D. G. (2013). Risk as analysis and risk as feelings: Some thoughts about affect, reason, risk and rationality. In The feeling of risk (pp. 21-36). Routledge.Feel free to shout me a coffee to support my site &podcasts: https://buymeacoffee.com/benhutchinson

More research at SafetyInsights.Org

Intro/Output "Dark Synth Wave" by ElephantGreen (PixaBay.com)

Make sure to subscribe to Safe As on Spotify/Apple, and if you find it useful then please help share the news, and leave a rating and review on your podcast app.

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Why did they do that, what an idiot! What if our inability to understand the apparent stupidity of an action, after the fact, is more an issue with us, than with the decisions or actions of the person you're judging?

What are better ways--specific tools--to unpack the critical decisions and actions, and make sense of the local rationality of people caught within these situations?

Today's pod unpacks two articles:

1. Klein, G. A., Calderwood, R., & Macgregor, D. (1989). Critical decision method for eliciting knowledge. IEEE Transactions on systems, man, and cybernetics, 19(3), 462-472.
2. Roe, L. Why it made sense at the time: Local rationality questions for healthcare investigations.

Feel free to shout me a coffee to support my site &podcasts: https://buymeacoffee.com/benhutchinson

More research at SafetyInsights.Org

Intro/Output "Dark Synth Wave" by ElephantGreen (PixaBay.com)

Make sure to subscribe to Safe As on Spotify/Apple, and if you find it useful then please help share the news, and leave a rating and review on your podcast app.

I also have a Safe As LinkedIn group if you want to stay up to date on releases.