The 5 Principles of Human Performance: A contemporary updateof the building blocks of Human Performance for the new view of safety

by Todd Conkllin

Conklin’s book is an interesting and informal discussion with the reader about the 5 Principles of Human Performance principle by principle, chapter by chapter. These 5 theroies about how humans perform in organiations are principles, the building blocks of Human Performance, through which we have established a new way to think about safety and reliability in our worlds. …and changing the way we think about work is a vital step towards improvement.Work never stops and work is never normal. This idea would scare a mere-mortal manager, but an enlightened leader knows the power of continuous learning and improvement. Work is constantly in motion, therefore learning must continue. Work is never the same, therefore we never really know how work is being done. If we don’t know how we perform work how will we know how we can improve?The 5 Principles of Human Performance are, in a sense, a repository of the central values of Human Performance. Keeping these principles at the core of our thinking, training, and practices will allow the basic building blocks of this philosophy to help organizational programs reduce the normal philosophical drift that is present and predictable in all safety programs. Having these espoused principles keeps us all honest and keeps our Human Performance effort on track and successful.

117 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 22, 2019

Reviews

[Thaqib Moosa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book, very basic breakdown of the principles. Written a bit like a technical report/academic text so little bit dry to read.

Overall, I would have appreciated more case studies and perhaps written in a more easy to read format.

The principles themselves are very good and keep the focus on systems/processes rather than people, which is a great strategy. I have enclosed the 5 principles below.

1 Error is normal. Even the best people make mistakes.

2 Blame fixes nothing.

3 Learning and Improving is vital. Learning is deliberate.

4 Context influences behavior. Systems drive outcomes.

5 How you respond to failure matters. How leaders act and respond counts.

The Audible version is read by the author and at the end includes a discussion by the author of the motivations behind writing the book, the context of where and how he wrote it (at a cafe in Argentina with a great view :D) and his justification for how he distilled his message down to the five chosen principles. This was a really good bonus. Would highly recommend going for the Audible edition just for that.

[Fred Leland · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great resource

This book cover the five basic principles of human performance and he does so in a well researched and experienced way. The book is short and does not cover all aspects but for those looking to make positive changes in their organizations will learn much of bailie from reading this book. In my profession “policing we all to often look to punish the individual who made and error when we should be looking at the system and it’s roll in creating the conditions that influenced errors. The book is a great introduction into human performance.

[Merete Miles · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enlightening

A different way to look at safety focusing on why the system allows for failure rather than individual behavioral failure and the importance of continuous learning. Per the author this is common sense that is not common. A must read for safety leaders. I would have liked more practical samples from companies instead of so much explanation of theory but still good.

[Lesley Ann Hawson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good primer or revision to HOP

Short easy to read (re)introduction to the 5 principles of HOP and its place in the new view of safety, written in Conklin’s easy to digest style. Highly recommend for all leaders of organisations. The typos are annoying….until I began to think perhaps they are there to demonstrate “error is normal”….

[Yichun Ng · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a really simple yet compelling read.
I read this initially for work but realized that there are so much truth in these principles which are easily adaptable and applicable. Must read for anyone in the safety space or simply want to improve learning within one’s organisation.

[Merete Miles · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good overview of the benefits of HOP

[Jack Tift · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great concepts covered, but hard to look past the numerous typos throughout.

[Alexandria Sheffield · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great overview of HOP principles