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February 11, 2025
We are conditioned from a very young age (via our education system largely, but perhaps by society in general) that ‘right’ is good, ‘wrong’ is bad. Opportunity to value ‘wrong’ and learn from it is thwarted. Introducing a system whereby ‘wrong’ is valuable is very challenging because this conditioning is run into head on!
January 30, 2025
A large intensive farming maintenance team will undergo a major change in the week commencing Jan 28 in the way they plan their daily work. They will embark on a high collaboration / low tech system (no computers) to plan their (routine) work. Our preparation has been very deliberate and ticked certain boxes, mostly human ones.
December 14, 2024
What I (Ben) find is if we are ‘on track or in front’ of the plan we’re happy to let others know (usually with a big green tick). If we’re ‘behind or off track’ then the information must seemingly be pried from us; it is nowhere near as freely forth coming.
November 24, 2024
Sixteen participants (plus observers) in four teams with one focus process per team for one week. The task at hand? Practice a routine for development of Work Standards via a series of learn by doing cycles. The goal – by the weeks end, be able to continue on their own with some ongoing guidance.
November 3, 2024
Story Construction are early in their endeavours to develop the countermeasure skill to the problem or risk of ‘don’t know, can’t do (well)’. A group of ten (field and engineering) staff very recently undertook practice of the Job Instruction routine in order to develop their training skills.
October 22, 2024
I (Ben) am working with Cabonne Shire Council. Recently we broke down an invisible wall within management and I wasn’t expecting it. Let me explain.
August 12, 2024
Is the term ‘problem solving’ a misconception in itself? Does it create the wrong picture in our minds right from the start? What are the main phases? What were the answers to these questions at a food production facility recently and how were they put into practise?
July 27, 2024
Recent follow up coaching with both the Australian Federal Police and Cabonne Shire Council has revealed the importance of taking small steps from the learners perspective.
May 23, 2024
Terry Hatfield recently started his practice of Job Instruction to further improve his on-the-job training skills. One of his early practice sessions was teaching Ashlie Hauf (HR, recruiting) the construction industry skill of tying rebar. His ‘recipe’ (Job Instruction Breakdown in our world) was more robust after his practice. READ MORE please to learn why and how this happened.
April 20, 2024
Here is my (Oscar) mini keynote from the KataCon10/TWI Summit 2024 where the theme was Deliberate Practice. Listen please as I retell the story of Qantas flight 32 which on November 4th 2010 took off from Singapore bound for Sydney with 470 people on board. At 7,400 ft there was a huge BOOM likened to an air-to-air missile hitting engine #2. Captain DeCrespigny landed the plane safely 2 hours later. DeCrespigny spoke of how his fast mind and slow mind were major factors in avoiding what would have been the world’s worst aviation disaster. How did he develop his critical fast mind actions that underpinned ‘fly the plane, stay alive’? The answer is through Deliberate Practice…
April 10, 2024
In the news article titled ‘Making ‘good (normal)’ regarding the output easy to see’ on February 8, 2024 I said that I would provide an update in April 2024 with the learnings we’ve had. The site is a large beverage factory and we focused on homogenisation.
March 5, 2024
In supporting development of skill in the workplace, how might we make best use of a world crowded with ‘e-options’?
February 8, 2024
I (Ben) have just started working with a new client. What we’re initially focusing on is making ‘go (normal)' regarding the output easy to see. Just as the example illustrates, when ‘go' is made easy to see …
January 15, 2024
Richard De Crespigny (pilot, QF32) quotes Anders Ericsson (2007) as saying deliberate practise is ‘specific and sustained efforts to do something you can’t do well, or even at all’. De Crespigny then goes onto describe this from a commercial pilot’s perspective where there’s quite a bit at stake!
December 12, 2023
On October 18th I (Ben) posted an article titled 'Are you giving credit when due?' This is a follow-up on that article.
November 9, 2023
Might the ability to conduct a practical workplace experiment be a) vastly overlooked and b) absolutely essential to improvement or even just change? We believe so; our evidence follows.

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