IAEA International Atomic Energy Agency

Leadership for Safety

Identified major issue Subsidiary issue Not relevant

Leadership

?

?

Operational attitudes

and behaviour

Business environment

Competence

Risk management

Issues on role of

regulators

Oversight

Organisational

learning

Communication

Use of contractors

Source: M. Weightman

Events and failing issues

Conclusion drawn from a research review of severe

accidents on how leadership issues relates to safety

Demonstrating a real commitment that process safety is a

core value;

Setting a consistent example and communicating values and

expected behaviours – high visibility – actions match words ;

Maintaining a ‘controlling mind’ and being ‘an intelligent

customer’ - stepping back to assess the big risks;

Effective Safety Management Systems which is ‘not just

paper’ and not ‘over bureaucratic’ - clear accountabilities;

Informed questioning and maintaining strong oversight;

Recognition of external pressure and change issues.

Leaders have a major impact on safety and staff perceptions.

Issues include:

Source: Prof. Richard Taylor

University of Bristol

IAEA

Paradoxes for leaders in nuclear organizations

PARADOX

1) Routinized Work and Motivating Tasks

2) Abstract and Tangible

3) Administrative Tasks and Visible Leadership

4) Delegation and The Approval Chain

5) Error Free and Report Errors

6) Imitation and Innovation

7) Openness and Public Trust

8) Priorities and Distractions

9) Procedural Adherence and Questioning Attitude

10) Production & Safety

11) Short Term Business Results and Organizational Capacity Building

12) Reactive and Proactive

Source: IAEA Nuclear Energy Series draft Leadership in Nuclear Organizations

IAEA Source: K.Dahlgren Persson

Challenges facing Nuclear Leaders Some examples

Triggered from outside of the organisation

• Ageing workforce and Knowledge management

• Ageing NPPs - Mix of new and old technology

• Potential goal conflicts - economy and safety

• Political situation

• Society/national culture versus required safety culture

• Mass media – especially in case of events

• Young generation’s values - NPPs remote from cities, no life time loyalty

• Multicultural workforce

• Regulatory demands

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Challenges facing Nuclear Leaders, cont. Some examples

Triggered from inside of the organization

• Keep engagement/motivation up in a rule based organisation

• Keep engagement/motivation up when independent control is conducted

• Foster an open climate for reporting, speak about failures, questioning attitude

• Correct inappropriate behaviour

• Encouragement of conservative decision making

• Encouragement of a root cause focused thinking - many “why’s”

• Broad understanding of safety – systemic view (ITO/MTO)

• Constantly put safety on the agenda and avoid safety discussion to be abstract, take the discussion to a concrete dimension

• Be reflective about message sent out in the organisation – e g Safety and economics/production, avoid delegating it to workers

Source: K.Dahlgren Persson

IAEA

IAEA Safety Standards – Fundamental Safety Principles

Principle 3: Leadership and

management for safety

“Effective leadership and management for safety

must be established and sustained in organizations

concerned with, and facilities and activities that give

rise to, radiation risks.”

IAEA

Definitions of Leadership

“Leadership is the process of creating clarity and consistency

of direction and making that direction important, exciting, and

worthy to others.”

~ Lawrence M. Miller, USA

“Leadership is not simply a process of acting or behaving, or a

process of manipulating rewards. It is a process of power-

based reality construction and needs to be understood in

these terms.”

~ Mats Alvesson, Sweden

IAEA

Leadership Framework Core assumptions

• Leadership is distributed. That is, leadership is not solely the purview of the CEO, but can and should permeate all levels of the firm.

• Leadership is personal and developmental. There is no single way to lead. The best way to create change is to work with the particular capabilities that you have , while constantly working to improve and expand those capabilities.

• Leadership is a process to create change. Leadership is about making things happen, contingent on a context. Leaders may create change by playing a central role in the actual change process, or by creating an environment in which others are empowered to act.

• Leadership develops over time. It is through practice, reflection, following role models, feedback, and theory that we learn leadership.

Source: Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

Sloan Leadership Model

• Sensemaking –

diagnosing, framing,

understanding

• Relating – developing

relationships

• Visioning – encouraging

new hopes, goals, values

• Inventing/Implementing –

building new ways of

working together

Action contingent on context and leadership style

Relating

Sense-

making

Visioning

Inventing/

Imple-

menting

Source: Prof John S. Carroll 2014

IAEA

Key Leadership Capabilities

1) Sensemaking: making sense of the world around us, coming to understand the context in which we are operating. What is going on ? (most leaders lack a sense of what is going on) They need to be able to communicate what is happening.

2) Relating: developing key relationships within and across organizations. This core capability centres on the leader’s ability to engage in inquiry (ability to listen and understand what others are thinking and feeling), advocacy (taking a stand and trying to influence others of its merits while also being open to alternative view) and connecting (ability to build collaborative relationships with others and to create coalitions for change).

3) Visioning: creating a compelling vision of the future. While “sensemaking” creates a map of what is, visioning is a map of what could be. Good leaders are able to frame visions in a way that emphasizes their importance along some key value dimensions.

4) Inventing: creating new ways of working together to realize the vision. Creating the processes and structures needed to make the vision a reality. It involves implementing the steps needed to achieve the vision of the future

Every leader has his or her distinct way of using these capabilities to make change happen

Source: Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

IAEA

Difference between management and leadership

“The difference between management and

leadership can be stated simply whereby

‘management’ is a function and ‘leadership’ is a

relation. Management ensures that work is

completed in accordance with requirements, plan

and resources. It is through leadership that

individuals may be influenced and motivated, and

organizations changed. Managers may also act as

leaders.”

Source: IAEA Safety Standards: GS-G-3.5

IAEA

Manager or Leader?

Management = a function

• Planning/Budgeting

• Organizing/Staffing

• Task Distribution/Follow-up

• Controlling/Problem Solving

Leadership = a relationship

• Create shared understanding

• Establishing Direction

• Aligning People

• Motivating and Inspiring

To manage means to accomplish activities and master routines,

while to lead means to influence others and create shared

understanding as driver for change

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Leadership and Management for safety

Culture

Processes

Outcomes

Leadership

Management

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Leadership for safety

“Leadership is not simply a process of acting or behaving, or a process of manipulating rewards. It is a process of power-based reality construction and needs to be understood in these terms.”

The Leader’s Role:

1) Define reality: Where are we today?

2) Define the vision: Where do we want to be?

3) Define how we will get there

You must know what characteristics and attributes you want to

see in the workplace, and what you want the safety culture to achieve.

IAEA

Leadership and Safety Culture

So how can leaders influence safety culture?

“Leadership is not simply a process of acting or behaving, or a process of

manipulating rewards. It is a process of power-based reality construction

and needs to be understood in these terms.”

To answer we need to understand what drives human behaviour on a

individual and collective level

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The root of behaviour

Behaviour

Values

Attitudes

Understanding

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Leadership and behaviour change

Behaviour

Values

Attitudes

Understanding

Behaviour

Values

Attitudes

Understanding

Leader Worker

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Leadership and behaviour change

Behaviour

Values

Attitudes

Understanding

Behaviour

Values

Attitudes

Understanding

Leader Worker

Dialogue

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Leadership and behaviour change

Behaviour

Values

Attitudes

Behaviour

Values

Attitudes

Leader Worker

Shared

Understanding

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Behaviours and culture

Behaviour

Values

Attitudes

Understanding

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Dialogue as a Leadership tool for cultural change

Behaviour

Values

Attitudes

Understanding

Behaviour

Values

Attitudes

Understanding

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GLOBE ( Global Leadership and Organizational

Behavior Effectiveness) research program

• Started in 1991

• Use quantitative methods

• Studied 17000 managers

• More than 950 organizations

• 62 different cultures

IAEA Source GLOBE research program

Universally desirable leadership attributes

• Trustworthy

• Positive

• Confidence builder

• Foresight

• Intelligent

• Win-win problem solver

• Administrative skilled

• Excellence oriented

• Just

• Plans ahead

• Dynamic

• Motivational

• Decisive

• Communicative

• Coordinator

• Honest

• Encouraging

• Motive arouser

• Dependable

• Effective bargainer

• Informed

• Team builder

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Universally undesirable leadership attributes

• Loner

• Irritable

• Ruthless

• Asocial

• Non-explicit

• Dictatorial

• Non-cooperative

• Egocentric

Source GLOBE research program