What were they thinking? How the brain is wired for Limbic RiskTM

A common response following an incident is, ‘What were they thinking?’. This rhetorical question implies blame. While all incidents can be linked to human error, a more insightful and expansive question would be ‘Were they thinking?’. This question leads to identifying broader organisational factors that contributed to the error in decision making. Understanding thinking is critical in taking the next step to prevent harm. Neuroscience provides us with insight into how we think; how the brain makes decisions and introduces additional risk we refer to as Limbic RiskTM. The majority of our thinking is in fact unconscious, automatic and reactive and stems from the oldest part of our brain called the limbic system. The minority of decisions are conscious, logical and responsive and use a newer part of our brain called the pre-frontal cortex (PFC). The ability to use our PFC is significantly impacted by stress. There are five significant stressors; pressure, fatigue, irritation, distraction and complacency which impact our ability to use our PFC and add Limbic RiskTM to the environment. Traditional safety management focuses on managing external, observable including physical and behavioural risk. Preventing harm requires an expanded perspective to understand, interrupt and prevent Limbic RiskTM, and importantly equip leaders with the capability to create a LimbicSafe® environment given their influence on others is a significant 70%.