Where this fits in the real world

By now, you may be thinking, “This all makes sense - but where does it fit in the real world?”

Most organisations don’t have the appetite, time, or budget for a major redesign of training and assurance. And in many cases, they shouldn’t. A competence initiative that consumes resources, disrupts operations, or asks people to change what already works is unlikely to succeed.

Start with what really matters

A pragmatic starting point is to resist the urge to fix everything.

Instead, ask a simpler question:

For many organisations, this might be a single decision such as whether to continue a job when conditions shift, whether to pause and escalate when something feels off, or whether to bypass a step to recover lost time at the end of a shift.

Every organisation has a small number of decisions that sit at the edge of consequence. They don’t happen often, but when they do, the outcome matters disproportionately.

Focusing on these moments achieves two things:

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  it keeps effort proportionate
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  and it makes the value immediately clear to those responsible for safety and operations

This is not about adding more training. It’s about improving reliability where it matters most.

Work backwards from behaviour

Once a critical decision is identified, work backwards.

What does good look like in practice?
What does early recognition of risk look like?
Where do people typically hesitate, rationalise, or misjudge?

These questions are far more useful than asking what content needs to be delivered. They also tend to surface insights that experienced supervisors already have, but haven’t always been able to formalise.

Keep it small, then repeat

One of the advantages of exercising competence is that it scales quietly.

A single, focused exercise can be:

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  introduced to a small group
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  observed carefully
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  refined
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  and then reused with variation

This allows organisations to learn as they go, rather than committing upfront to something untested. It also builds confidence internally. People can see what changes and what doesn’t - before decisions are made about wider rollout.

Involve line managers early

Competence doesn’t live in training departments. It lives on the job.

Line managers play a critical role, not as trainers, but as the people who can notice change over time. Their involvement is often the difference between insight fading and behaviour sticking.

Crucially, this doesn’t require managers to become experts. It requires clarity about what to look for and why it matters.

Measure only what you can use

One of the easiest ways to undermine a good initiative is to over-measure it.

Start with evidence that helps you learn:

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  where decisions improved
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  where confusion remained
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  where further support might help

If a measure doesn’t inform action, it probably isn’t needed.

Expect discomfort — and treat it as a signal

Any attempt to make competence more visible will surface discomfort. People may feel exposed. Leaders may worry about what the evidence will show.

The key is to frame the work correctly: not as a test to pass, but as a capability to strengthen. Not judgement, but insight.

Building momentum quietly

Pragmatic change rarely arrives with a big announcement. It builds through small wins: a decision handled better, a hazard recognised earlier, a pause taken when it mattered.

Over time, those changes accumulate into something powerful: confidence that competence is being strengthened — not assumed — and evidence that holds up under scrutiny.

Where we go next

Starting pragmatically is about making progress without disruption: focus on what matters, practise the decisions that carry consequence, and build evidence that improves performance rather than simply reassuring on paper.