Exercising competence safely
How organisations can strengthen judgement through realistic, low-risk practice.
Where the shift becomes practical
By this point, a pattern should be emerging.
Competence under pressure isn’t strengthened by explanation alone. It isn’t revealed by attendance records. And it isn’t reliably improved by repeating the same training more often.
That idea can make some people uneasy, so it’s worth being clear about what it does - and just as importantly, what it does not.
Exercise, not exposure
There’s a difference between exposing people to risk and exercising their capability.
Exposing people to risk means putting them in harm’s way and hoping experience teaches the lesson. No responsible organisation does that intentionally.
Exercising competence means creating a safe environment where the decisions carry weight - but the consequences do not.
Think of it like a simulator in aviation. The value isn’t in seeing a realistic cockpit. It’s in rehearsing the moment where something starts to go wrong - and deciding what to do next.
The same principle applies in any high-consequence role.
Why “safe” matters so much
If practice feels punitive, people protect themselves. They play safe. They avoid uncertainty. They perform to what they think is expected.
People are encouraged to try, to fail, to reflect, and to improve. When people trust that the purpose is learning - not judgement - they engage honestly. And honest engagement is what reveals the real gaps.
Exercising the right things
Not everything needs to be exercised. In fact, trying to simulate every task or procedure is usually a mistake.
The focus should be on critical decisions - the moments where:
- ✓the consequences are serious
- ✓the signals are subtle
- ✓and the wrong choice feels reasonable at the time
These moments are often few in number, but they carry disproportionate risk.
Variation builds resilience
One of the quiet weaknesses of traditional training is consistency. Every learner sees the same example, the same scenario, the same outcome. Real work is rarely that tidy.
Effective exercise introduces variation:
- ✓the same task under slightly different conditions
- ✓familiar hazards appearing in unfamiliar ways
- ✓routine jobs that don’t quite behave as expected
This variation doesn’t confuse people - it prepares them. It teaches them to recognise patterns rather than memorise answers.
From exercise to evidence
Something else happens when competence is exercised properly.
Not just that someone completed a course, but that:
- ✓their decision-making improved
- ✓their hazard recognition sharpened
- ✓their responses became more consistent
This evidence is a by-product of good practice, not a bolt-on - and because it’s grounded in behaviour, it carries more weight when it matters.
Keeping it proportionate
Exercising competence does not require large programmes, heavy infrastructure, or constant intervention. In many cases, short, focused exercises - repeated thoughtfully - are enough to shift behaviour.
The aim is not perfection. We’re looking for reliability.
Small improvements in how people recognise and respond to risk can have an outsized impact on safety outcomes.
Where this leaves us
So far, we’ve looked at:
- ✓why competent people still make the wrong choice
- ✓what effective practice actually looks like
- ✓why traditional evidence falls short
- ✓and how competence can be exercised safely
The final piece of the puzzle is how all of this fits into real organisations - with real constraints, real budgets, and real priorities.