That requires you to be open.
In being open to learning from success in practice, you want to explore matters such as:
the context within which that success is occurring (understanding the nature of the
environment, the operational objectives, the milestones and KPIs, stakeholders involved, types of hazards and risks being faced, controls planned to be in place, controls actually in place, processes, equipment, training etc)
normalised deviance - the distinction between the 'work as planned' and the 'work as done'
adaptation - how workers may be required to adapt every day to make their operations work in practice to meet the demands placed upon them
what kind of autonomy the workers have to perform their roles and how it is that they have been (or simply feel) empowered to work effectively
whether workers are being provided with what they need to do their work ( resources including time, money and processes)
In asking those questions and identifying lessons for improvement of your approach to safety, you want to think about:
whether it is possible to narrow the gap between work as planned and work as done
whether work is being done safely using a different method to the approach identified in the documented system, and in light of that, whether there is a need to change the personnel's approach to the task or whether it is possible change the system/process/procedure to match practice (noting that we should not prefer the former), and
whether it is possible to streamline the systems more broadly in other contexts to adapt our systems to match how those workers are operating in practice?
You want to prompt that listening exercise in a way that means people are engaged in the process of opening up to you in a way that is honest, open and transparent. This obviously requires you to work quite differently to the skill set you bring to bear in incident investigation. Here, you are required to facilitate an open conversation about excellence.
Consider formulating your approach in learning from success in projects based on an open dialogue:
Set the passion and excitement for learning from personnel as the experts – Tell them how fantastic they are. Recognise the excellence in their achievements and tell them you want the whole business to be able to learn from their approach and experiences. Use language such as 'Talk me through how it all works?' When we make them the experts, people are willing to explain how things work and the challenges they really face in practice. This leverages from what we know about positive reinforcement. Resist the urge to be the expert: you are learning from them. Not the other way around.
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