Groundhog Day, the 1993 movie starring Bill Murray.  That's what we're talking about today.  Well not really - though there is a pretty clear link between today's discussion with Tim Allred on the habit of reflection, and that feeling of 'groundhog day'.  It will all make sense at the end, I promise!   Listen in as we cover: 1:08 Cocktails and reflection 2:02 Quick recap on Tim's last interview 5:36 The words at the end of each podcast are deliberate 7:43 Poking YSPspeak attendees to start reflecting 10:15 Succeeding in a VUCA environment 11:21 Tim's recent learning reflections on fixed vs growth mindset 15:51 Safety people traditionally lean towards fixed mindset 20:14 Growth mindset: More effort, more reward 24:02 Reflection isn't just for you, build it into the safety system 26:29 Reflection should be proportionate to the context 29:51 The roots of performance reviews (and why they mostly don't work) 32:06 Tim's 3 key points   Tim mentioned two books which are worth checking out: - The light and fast organisation, Patrick Hollingworth - Mindset: The new psychology of success, Carol Dweck   We also mentioned the Reflective Journalling Template.  It's a good place to start.  Get your copy here.   Let’s get to know each other! Connect with Safety on Tap on LinkedIn, or me Andrew Barrett.  If Facebook is more your thing, check out @safetyontap If you want to get in touch with me, send me an email! andrew@safetyontap.com  

  [GET YOUR BONUS]: Jen and the team at Jaxzyn showed us how to walk-the-talk, by creating a beautifully engaging summary of what we discuss in today's episode.  So it's a WHAT-TO-DO guide as well as a HOW-TO guide.  Clever! You can access that here.   Are you one of the few, who move the many? That's a seriously deep question.  Our guest today has a mission to help those few.   Jen Jackson leads Jaxzyn, an energy-filled business seeking to create amazing employee experiences and engagement.   Jen joins us today to share the exact model Jaxzyn uses to help massive, complex and global organisations embed safety into their DNA, and supporting those few people who move the many.   In this episode we cover: 2:37 The first thing that struck me about Jen 5:23 Jen and I play corporate BS bingo 9:45 Jackson explains Jaxzyn 13:09 Jen's challenge: embedding safety 17:19 Earning people's attention, starting with empathy 22:21 How to understand your audience 24:20 Understanding your audience can be a scary thing 28:56 Break the pattern using language and visuals 32:34 The Curiosity, Attention, Action & Reflection framework. 39:39 Jen's views on knowing success or meaningful progress       Let’s get to know each other! Connect with Safety on Tap on LinkedIn, or me Andrew Barrett.  If Facebook is more your thing, check out @safetyontap If you want to get in touch with me, send me an email! andrew@safetyontap.com  

  STOP! If you haven’t already, I suggest you head over to listen to Part 1 first, then come back for this one to finish it off (it will make much more sense that way!).   Gordon Bedford continues his daring challenge to the idea of risk, by explaining the concept of vulnerability in some more detail.  I probe the idea to see if it really has legs, which I won't spoil before you listen :-)   IN part 2 of the chat with Gordon, we cover: 2:18 Vulnerability in manufacturing 4:38 The meaning of words do matter 5:10 Risk suits cold, clinical and big numbers 6:26 Vulnerability suits anything involving people 7:43 Exploring vulnerability through hunches and experiments 9:27 Gordon puts it into practice in manufacturing 13:07 And then construction 15:10 What about 'so far as is reasonably practicable'? 17:00 Vulnerable, then Resilient, then Counter Vulnerable 24:35 How the 'vulnerability' experiment is going 29:46 How to connect with Gordon   Gordon mentioned a fantastic concept (Anti-Fragile) from a great book by the same name: Anti-fragile: Things That Gain from Disorder, by Nassim Nicholas Taleb.   Let’s get to know each other! Connect with Safety on Tap on LinkedIn, or me Andrew Barrett.  If Facebook is more your thing, check out @safetyontap If you want to get in touch with me, send me an email! andrew@safetyontap.com

  Have you ever had crazy thoughts, that you try and push out of your mind, but keep coming back?   Like, 'why don't we throw an entire idea, methodology and industry out, and do something different'?   Well you are not alone! I describe today's guest on the podcast as crazy - in a good way.   Listen in as Gordon Bedford mounts the case to relegate risk to the history books, and replace it with something much more effective, much more human:

3:05 Gordon's crazy idea

7:12 Raging against likelihood & 'acceptable risk'

9:04 Risk Fail #1: Fukishima

8:58 Vulnerability vs risk

18:11 Risk Fail #2: Benign risk leads to massacre

19:22 Learning from benign risk but highly vulnerable

21:09 6 people dead, but the risk assessment was right?

27:35 How does vulnerability work in more familiar contexts?

28:53 Road safety already uses vulnerability

Once you’ve listened to PART 1, head over and listen to PART 2 of this interview, when Gordon unpacks some his idea with some practical examples. Let’s get to know each other! Connect with Safety on Tap on LinkedIn, or me Andrew Barrett.  If Facebook is more your thing, check out @safetyontap If you want to get in touch with me, send me an email! andrew@safetyontap.com

  STOP! If you haven't already, I suggest you head over to listen to Part 1 first, then come back for this one to finish it off.   This is the second part of the two-part interview with Brian Barrett, my Dad.  We started with the background to Dad leading his organisation to the very end, until it was amalgamated into a new council, and the challenges he faced leading when he had little control over so much of the change.  We shift into his humbling experience of getting feedback from people in his organisation, and that one person was so moved, they painted a portrait of him. Dad also shares his insights into leading work health and safety, and how his organisation leveraged amazing improvements off the back of their WHS focus.   In today’s episode we cover:

2:18 Ever wonder how you'll lead right to the tumultuous end?

4:44 At the very end, what will people say to you?

10:13 At the very end, will your people be moved to get not one, but two portraits painted of you?

11:35 At the beginning, what did the end of leadership look like to you?

15:34 Leadership and WHS: Get the basics in place first, but it comes down to asking questions

20:38 To the people: "You know your business better than we do as leaders"

22:08 Stem the bleeding first

24:21 The human side of better health and safety

25:43 It all boils down to engaging people as experts in their own work

29:41 You manage processes, you lead people

30:29 Tough advice for people working under leaders who aren't interested

33:18 Don't just be busy….be fearless - you may be surprised at the response you get

Let’s get to know each other! Connect with Safety on Tap on LinkedIn, or me Andrew Barrett.  If Facebook is more your thing, check out @safetyontap If you want to get in touch with me, send me an email! andrew@safetyontap.com  

  It's a great honour to interview my Dad, Brian Barrett this week, a leader who I think has plenty of insight to offer. This first part of the two-part interview, we cover off leading in an organisation you know will cease to exist - from which we can all take something away, including what NOT to do should you find yourself in that situation (actually, it has much a broader lesson). In today's episode we cover:

2:09 Why on earth would Dad do a podcast interview with me

3:45 The mechanics of mergers in NSW local government

5:56 First serious failure in communication (clean out your desk)

6:59 Preparing for merger, when you legally aren't allowed to

10:50 Leading people through uncertainty

14:59 Government as 'supply-chain' leader (or not?)

19:56 Planning which missed the vital ingredient

20:18 "One of the worst pieces of implementation of public policy in 39 years" and the reply which will shock you

26:30 Stand up and say it, there will be plenty of others who are thinking it

28:58 Recruitment fail - not providing feedback to all candidates

Once you've listened to PART 1, head over and listen to PART 2 of this interview, when Dad really sinks his teeth into what good safety looks like to him.   Let’s get to know each other! Connect with Safety on Tap on LinkedIn, or me Andrew Barrett.  If Facebook is more your thing, check out @safetyontap If you want to get in touch with me, send me an email! andrew@safetyontap.com

Make your life easier - Subscribe on iTunes or Stitcher!

I feel that in my attempts to improve my own effectiveness, which hopefully translates into better health and safety outcomes, I have spent way more time trying to understand what's going on outside people (the workplace, the environment, the design of work), than on the inside of people, and our brains in particular.

I'm not sure that makes sense, given how complex, and how powerful, our brains are.

Today's guest Amanda Wang Valentine shares her quest to better understand what's happening in our brains, with a focus on attention.  Listen here to see how she is pushing the edges of current health and safety practice.

In today's episode we cover:

1:52 Living in Hollywood, attitudes to water & legalised marijuana

4:40 The land of the free, including everyone's right to an opinion

7:10 Amanda's journey to where she is now (it includes our Prime Minister)

11:44 The link between Intel, Netflix and Morgan Freeman

15:56 Shifting focus from physical hazards to our brains

17:41 Optimising cognitive skills

20:21 The birth of enHone's idea

23:52 Tough Q1: Where's the evidence?

28:32 Tough Q2: Will the safety 'buyers' be too risk averse (fearful) to try this?

34:33 My confession about a recent failure

37:15 The existential challenge: It's not all about safety

38:08 Tough Q3: What are the ethical/legal/industrial challenges to improving attention?

44:02 The first easy question: Amanda's suggestions for additional reading

On those few books we discussed, here's the links if you want to check them out:

The brain that changes itself, by Norman Doidge

Nudge, by Richard Thaler

SWITCH, by Chip & Dan Heath

I’d love you to subscribe, rate and review the podcast on iTunes, this helps spread the good word, so help me help you help a friend!   Let’s get to know each other! Connect with Safety on Tap on LinkedIn, or me Andrew Barrett.  If Facebook is more your thing, check out @safetyontap If you want to get in touch with me, send me an email! andrew@safetyontap.com

  Make life easier for yourself.  Subscribe on iTunes or Stitcher!   Kobi Simmat tells it straight.  If you don't like feeling just a little bit uncomfortable about the ineffective status quo, probably best not to listen. ALTHOUGH....you must be ok with being a little uncomfortable, since that's the space where growth occurs.  And that's why you listen to this podcast.  So maybe this is just right for you.   In this chat, we cover:

1:33 Kobi's view on WHS

4:25 Open cheque book leads to financial haemorrhaging into 'safety'

5:47 Kobi and I on how effective video and audio are

6:57 Master & apprentice vs more paperwork

7:59 NOT Auditors - Best Practice Assessor

8:51 Ban document control non-conformances

10:08 The System, must recognise failure in the form of practice

10:47 The bad reputation of the certification industry vs a best practice mindset

16:27 Learning by using FOMO

16:37 Using certification for good or evil in procurement

20:01 The death of the certification industry?

24:02 Show me your dashboard

27:03 Kobi's view of the future of workplace health and safety

31:41 Kobi's top tips for improving WHS

I'd love you to subscribe, rate and review the podcast on iTunes, this helps spread the good word, so help me help you help a friend!

  Let’s get to know each other! Connect with Safety on Tap on LinkedIn, or me Andrew Barrett.  If Facebook is more your thing, check out @safetyontap If you want to get in touch with me, send me an email! andrew@safetyontap.com  

  Make life easier for yourself.  Subscribe on iTunes or Stitcher!   Starkers (Naked).  You know what it feels like to be really open and honest? Well, you get 100% ME in this episode, come behind the curtain as I share a bit of general reflection, about podcasting, answers to common questions I get, and a little bit about how I'm improving the podcast moving forward.   In this chat, we cover: 2:10 I confess - Podcasting wasn't in my plan 3: 12 The magic of podcasting (you'll be surprised with what I think) 4:34 What we can learn from the grass not being greener on the other side 8:49 What I actually do apart from hosting Safety on Tap 10:56 Show respect to people through preparation 12:38 The skill of asking questions 15:26 Collaboration: A recipe for success 19:08 Co-opetition vs competition 21:52 Reflecting on the National Safety Convention 23:34 Innovation through reverse thinking - Less safety on this podcast 24:36 Tell me who you want to hear interviewed and I'll make it happen 26:55 Shout-out to a few listeners for their feedback   I'd love you to subscribe, rate and review the podcast on iTunes, this helps spread the good word, so help me help you help a friend!   Let’s get to know each other! Connect with Safety on Tap on LinkedIn, or me Andrew Barrett.  If Facebook is more your thing, check out @safetyontap If you want to get in touch with me, send me an email! andrew@safetyontap.com

Peter Gahan leads the leading organisation on leadership in Australia, the Centre for Workplace Leadership.  He's also go a firm eye on the future, to support research, turning it in practice, for effective leadership to support work which is changing so quickly all around us.   In this chat, we cover: – The future of work (it's closer than you think) – What Peter thinks about leadership, including a simple and understandable definition of leadership to help us improve. – Some of the disruptive things in business impacting, and impacted by, leadership - like corporate democracy and modern performance reviews   You can hear more of Peter at the National Safety Convention – get your tickets here.   Let’s get to know each other! Connect with Safety on Tap on LinkedIn, or me Andrew Barrett.  If Facebook is more your thing, check out @safetyontap If you want to get in touch with me, send me an email! andrew@safetyontap.com  

Richard Coleman knows a thing or two about digital disruption.  He has put a number of practical and very cool digital technologies to good use for health and safety, and has his finger on the pulse with the broader digital landscape.   Make no mistake, digital disruption is happening, is only getting bigger & faster, and it creates great opportunity, or poses a great threat to current health and safety approaches - Richard invites us to choose opportunity.   In this chat, we cover: – What we mean by digital disruption (if you think you know, you're probably wrong like I was) – The role of health and safety driving and supporting adoption of new and emerging technologies – The drastic impact disruptive technology can make in eliminating risks, changing the way work is done, and introducing a range of new risks - How prepared current health and safety is (both the approach, and the professionals) for disruption that has already begun   Peter is our there making a difference in the world - which I suppose should also be the aim of anyone caring for the health and safety of people? Plenty for us to identify with.   You can hear more of Richard at the National Safety Convention – get your tickets here.   Let’s get to know each other! Connect with Safety on Tap on LinkedIn, or me Andrew Barrett.  If Facebook is more your thing, check out @safetyontap If you want to get in touch with me, send me an email! andrew@safetyontap.com  

Peter Baines has seen some pretty tragic stuff in his time, and has learned a thing or two about leadership in challenging and disruptive environments. Listen in as Peter, from charity Hands Across the Water, shares with us what he has learned.  The biggest surprise for me was that these leadership lessons will apply to almost everyone, as work and life get more and more disrupted.  No tsunami required.   In this chat, we cover: – Where Peter cut his teeth as a forensic police officer, identifying victims of mass disasters all over the world – Peter's key factors for great leadership, a sneak peek from the presentation he will be delivering at the National Safety Convention in September 2016 – A very person-centred approach to leadership - no fancy programs, visions or rhetoric - straightforward concepts that anyone can focus on - The similarities between the Corporate Social Responsibility context and the health and safety context, including alternative ways to measure value   Peter is our there making a difference in the world - which I suppose should also be the aim of anyone caring for the health and safety of people? Plenty for us to identify with.   You can hear more of Peter at the National Safety Convention – get your tickets here.   Let’s get to know each other! Connect with Safety on Tap on LinkedIn, or me Andrew Barrett.  If Facebook is more your thing, check out @safetyontap If you want to get in touch with me, send me an email! andrew@safetyontap.com

  What do Dr David Borys and Animal, from the muppets, have in common?   Listen in as Dr David Borys, from RMIT University (amongst a few other places!) fill us in on the talk he is giving for the 2016 Wigglesworth Memorial Lecture, entitled Two windows to clarify the enigma that is health & safety PLUS a sneak peek at the 'intelligent risk management' workshop he is also running during the Convention.   In this chat, we cover: - The connection with David and Animal the muppet (no, I'm not calling him a muppet…!) - A contrasting perspective on health and safety 40 years ago, and David's view today - David's take on what we know, whether all that knowledge has actually helped improve health and safety, and why - How David took on James Reason and left him without a good response - Some simple and free ideas for us to try and improve health and safety (you won't be disappointed!)   Whether you are getting along to the 2016 National Safety Convention or not, you'll enjoy this chat with David.  Enjoy! Let’s get to know each other! Connect with Safety on Tap on LinkedIn, or me Andrew Barrett.  If Facebook is more your thing, check out @safetyontap If you want to get in touch with me, send me an email! andrew@safetyontap.com

The first time I've interviewed someone who has brought Lego into the conversation - now that's imagery I can understand! Listen in as Loren Murray, from Creative Works Group share with us her insights into how we can create a health and safety career worth chasing. In this chat, we cover: - How Loren fell out of the safety church, and what happened next (this has no analogy with actual falls incidents…) - Her key points from the upcoming Young Safety Professionals panel at the National Safety Convention in September 2016 - How to create a career you love (and why Loren loves her own!)   If you want have more than just a job in health and safety, you'll get some great insights from this chat with Loren.  Enjoy! You can hear more of Loren at the National Safety Convention - get your tickets here.   Let’s get to know each other! Connect with Safety on Tap on LinkedIn, or me Andrew Barrett.  If Facebook is more your thing, check out @safetyontap If you want to get in touch with me, send me an email! andrew@safetyontap.com

    Are you a story teller? No? It's not as childish as you might think.  Listen in as we hear from one of Australia's foremost safety story tellers, Dr Drew Rae, about the importance of stories in our professional practice.   In this chat we hear about: - good, and less good, story telling for safety, - drowning horses, - rocket ships - the fashion of safety, and - being curious (not the first time that's come up on this podcast!) Now let’s get to know each other! Connect with Safety on Tap on LinkedIn, or me Andrew Barrett.  If Facebook is more your thing, check out @safetyontap

Do you stop, and truly think about how your going, how effective you are, what's working, what's not, and what's got to change? Tim Allred, founder of Young Safety Professionals in Australia, shares his reflection on the value of this kind of reflection! Isn't that appropriate! In this chat we cover: - the start of the Young Safety Professionals group and the benefits of a peer community - the natural tendency for younger people to ask WHY - exciting young speakers at the upcoming  2016 National Safety Conference, including Tim, and yours truly! - individual reflection which helps you improve whatever it is that you do - the courage for and the approach, to experimenting and research which everyone can do in their day to day work to test effectiveness As a special gift to our listeners, Tim is giving away his reflective journaling template, for free! If you want a copy email me andrew@fidesa.com.au, and I'll send it to you right away! And let's get to know each other! Connect with Safety on Tap on LinkedIn, or me Andrew Barrett.  If Facebook is more your thing, check out @safetyontap

  Do you ever feel a bit dull, without much 'oomph', plodding rather than sprinting through your work? Listen in as I get SMASHED (in a good way!) by energy, ideas and actionable improvements from Ali Uren, the change-maker at Kiikstart. We cover a lot of ground - from the courage to let go of what's not working, to personal risk assessments, through to getting dirty hands in the business planning process and creating delightful experiences for our customers.  If you only take a pinch of value from this interview you will still be a richer, more effective person! Let’s get to know each other! Connect with Safety on Tap on LinkedIn, or me Andrew Barrett.  If Facebook is more your thing, check out @safetyontap If you want to get in touch with me, send me an email! andrew@safetyontap.com  

Alanna Ball felt a little lost in health and safety, she wanted to belong to a family, a tribe. There was no tribe for her, so she led others who were in a similar place to form a tribe: Women in Safety.  What a tribe! Join us in the interview for a great insight into the importance of a professional family or tribe, and the opportunity for you to leverage other work-families and work-tribes to drastically improve health and safety. We also get two FREE slices of conference-goodness, from the the 2016 South Australian Health and Safety Conference, with thanks from conference organisers Informa.  I chat on the couch with a very vivacious Professor Ian Maddocks (Australian of the Year, no less), who shares some very thought-provoking insights into the amazing opportunities, and things to consider for, ageing workforce, and John Cvetko, a client relationship manager who knows a thing or two about improving health and safety outcomes through a sharp focus on our customers. Let’s get to know each other! Connect with Safety on Tap on LinkedIn, or me Andrew Barrett.  If Facebook is more your thing, check out @safetyontap If you want to get in touch with me, send me an email! andrew@safetyontap.com

"Where shall I begin, your Majesty?" he asked.  "Begin at the beginning," the King said gravely, "and go-on until the end: then stop".

Thanks Lewis Carroll, the King, and the White Rabbit who asked such a great question in the first place! Since this is episode ZERO (not that kind of zero...) of the Safety on Tap podcast, I thought it gentlemanly that I tell you a little about my WHY....and a little bit more about me. Towards the end I also share two short-but-great interviews, which I recorded at the 2016 South Australian Health and Safety Conference, with thanks from conference organisers Informa. Marie Boland, Executive Director of SafeWork SA shares with us how she is disrupting her organisation from the inside, and David Clarke, CEO of the Safety Institute of Australia, makes the case for professional certification and the momentum of the health and safety profession in Australia. Not to be missed! Let's get to know each other! Connect with Safety on Tap on LinkedIn, or me Andrew Barrett, and check out the website for much more www.safetyontap.com If you want to get in touch with me, send me an email! andrew@safetyontap.com