Methodology
Look at the whole system before proposing anything.
Seven dimensions and one sequence. It is the framework we use to read an operation.
The seven dimensions
Behavior is explained by its context.
When something goes wrong at a mine site, the comfortable question is who made the mistake. The useful question is what made that decision seem reasonable at that moment. These seven dimensions are where we look for the answer.
Person
Skills, experience and how the person doing the task understands risk.
Task
What the work really demands, beyond how it is described on paper.
Team
How the group coordinates, and what gets said and what goes unsaid during a shift.
Procedure
Whether what is written can be carried out under the real conditions of the mine site.
Leadership
What direct supervision reinforces and what it lets slide, since that is what sets the real norm.
Organization
Incentives, targets and structures that push behavior in one direction or the other.
Environment
Physical conditions, shifts, fatigue and the context in which each decision is made.
The sequence
Evidence, hypothesis, intervention. In that order.
Skipping the first step is the fastest way to intervene on the wrong problem.
Evidence
Field observation, interviews and the operation’s own data. No desk-based diagnoses.
Hypothesis
What would explain what was observed, framed so it can be tested and, if warranted, ruled out.
Intervention proposal
What to address, in which dimension and in what order, with an explicit criterion for knowing whether it worked.
Mente Minera Consultora
Want to apply this framework to your operation?
Let’s talk about what is happening and which dimension to look at first.