During a recent in-house Human and Organisational Performance (HOP) Fundamentals course, an Operational Supervisor introduced himself as a "traditional" leader. He said it with a smirk, almost as if he knew what was coming. The room laughed with him, and he earned a few extra points for self-awareness.
The supervisor then sat back in his chair, folded his arms and shared how he had worked his way up from the shop floor – building his career on being direct, decisive and 'holding people accountable'. If someone wasn't meeting expectations, he'd let them know. He wasn't afraid to raise his voice, have difficult conversations or, when necessary, let people go. It was the leadership style he'd always known and, in many ways, it had helped him get to where he was.
As the day unfolded, there was a noticeable shift in his presence. His posture softened, his facial expressions changed, he became curious through the conversations and questions he was asking with others around his table. As knowledge was shared, it was clear that the ideas behind HOP weren't being resisted – they were actively prompting him to question some of the beliefs and leadership habits he'd relied on for years.
At the end of the course, after most people had packed up and left, he waited behind. He told the facilitator he was surprised by how much the course had challenged his thinking, in just one day. Then he said something that stuck:
"I know what HOP is. I get it. But I need help with how to actually do it."
That's where many leaders find themselves, right now.
Understanding the HOP principles is one thing. Applying them in the middle of a difficult conversation, responding to an event without blame, facilitating meaningful learning or leading differently under pressure – fighting against our natural responses – that's where the real challenge begins.
That single conversation was the spark for creating our new Operational Learning Workshop.
This workshop is for people who already understand the foundations of HOP and Operational Learning and are ready to build practical capability. It's less about learning the theory and more about practising the conversations, techniques and facilitation skills that bring Operational Learning to life.
If you've ever found yourself thinking, "I get what to do, now show me how to do it", this workshop was built for you.
Introducing the Operational Learning in Practice Workshop
Learning from both everyday work and operational events can help organisations identify opportunities for improvement by engaging the people closest to the work.
This practical two-day Operational Learning Workshop equips participants with the mindset, skills and tools to embed Operational Learning into the way work is led, managed and improved. Through active discussions, practical exercises and real workplace examples, participants will explore how to apply Operational Learning principles to existing activities, such as investigations, safety conversations and everyday operational interactions, while also developing confidence in using new tools and approaches to better understand work as it is really done.
What you’ll learn and take away
The Operational Learning Workshop is designed to turn Human & Organisational Performance (HOP) and Operational Learning concepts into practical skills you can use in everyday work.
Rather than focusing only on learning after incidents, the workshop explores how organisations can create more opportunities to learn from everyday work, better understand how work really happens, and use those insights to improve systems and performance.
Build practical Operational Learning skills
Through hands-on activities, discussion and real-world scenarios, you’ll develop practical skills for facilitating better learning conversations and engaging with the people closest to the work.
You’ll learn how to:
- Facilitate more effective Operational Learning conversations
- Ask better questions that uncover the context surrounding work
- Identify opportunities to learn from normal, everyday work, not only when something goes wrong
- Use practical Operational Learning activities and tools within your existing systems
- Explore the factors that influence how work is actually performed
- Turn learning and workforce insights into meaningful opportunities for improvement
Strengthen how you learn from events
The workshop also explores how HOP and Operational Learning can strengthen event learning and incident investigation.
Rather than replacing existing investigation processes, participants are introduced to an Event Learning framework and practical approaches that can be integrated into current methods.
You’ll explore new questions, analysis approaches and learning techniques that help build a richer understanding of what happened, how it made sense to the people involved, and what can be learned from the conditions surrounding the work.
On Day 2, you’ll put these concepts into practice through a case study, giving you an opportunity to apply the Event Learning framework before taking it back to your own organisation.
You don’t need to be a HOP expert
Prior HOP training is not essential to attend the Operational Learning Workshop.
The workshop begins with a refresher of key Human & Organisational Performance (HOP) principles and Operational Learning concepts before moving into practical application.
For the best outcomes, we recommend having some foundational knowledge of HOP through courses such as HOP Fundamentals, HOP & Learning Teams, or HOP Fundamentals eLearning. However, if you already have a basic understanding of HOP, or simply bring curiosity and a genuine willingness to learn from the experiences of your people, you’ll be well positioned to get value from the workshop.
Bring Operational Learning into your organisation
The aim is not simply to leave with more knowledge, but to leave with practical approaches you can begin applying to the way your organisation learns.
For in-house delivery, the Operational Learning Workshop can also be customised to your organisation’s industry, operational context, existing systems and current Operational Learning maturity. Examples, scenarios and activities can be tailored to make the learning directly relevant to your teams and the work they do.
By the end of the workshop, you’ll have a stronger foundation in Operational Learning, greater confidence in facilitating learning conversations, and practical tools for learning from everyday work, strengthening event learning and turning workforce insights into organisational improvement.
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