Just culture is about creating a just and fair workplace. A just culture is a culture where people are not punished for decisions and actions that are commensurate with their skills, experience and training. Human error, while it can be minimised, is recognised as inevitable and seen as an opportunity for organisational learning and systemic improvement. However, people are held accountable for malevolent behaviour or acts of gross recklessness. These boundaries are known and have buy in across the organisation.

Just culture is also about recognising exceptional performance, itself another opportunity for organisational learning.

An organisation which treats its people justly and fairly is a good thing in of itself. People generally have a desire to be treated fairly and will be feel deeply aggrieved if they feel this is not happening. Organisations where there is a high level of trust of fair and just treatment between staff and management will perform better, be attractive places to work, and have greater capacity for innovation. When properly enacted Just Culture leads to improved team performance, reduced employee turnover cots, increased employee wellbeing, better performing work systems, and a mindset of continuous improvement, innovation, and creativity.

In a Just Culture there is a commitment to treat all people justly and fairly across the organisation. It informs not only what the organisation does but also how it does it.

A Just Culture believes that the vast majority of people come to work to do their best and make a positive contribution to their workplace. Just Culture also accepts the fallibility of human beings and the limits of human performance. This means that human error, while it can be minimised, is recognised as inevitable and seen as an opportunity for organisational learning and systemic improvement. This non-punitive approach to human error encourages people to speak up, raise issues, report mistakes, and contribute to continuous improvement of work systems.

Just Culture doesn’t ignore accountability however. In a just culture people there are still boundaries of unacceptable behaviour that may require a disciplinary response, such as intentionally causing harm or acts of gross recklessness. But these boundaries are known and have buy-in across the organisation.

In a Just Culture our decisions and actions are assessed on the quality of those choices rather than the outcome, which are often out of our control. A person who acts in a grossly reckless manner should be held accountable even if they are lucky and no harm or damage is caused. A person who takes a considered risk to innovate where the potential benefits outweigh the potential costs should be commended, even if it didn’t work out as hoped.

Through these principles Just Culture seeks to build an organisation capable of reaching places of peak performance with high standards of accountability and organisational learning.

The values of justice and fairness are fundamental human values shared across cultures, even if they take different forms. They form part of and underlay many of the other values that are a held by organisation such as integrity, respect, accountability, teamwork, and trust. None of these values can have real life in an organisation unless there is a commitment to treating all people justly and fairly.

Through a focus on organisational learning and systemic improvement rather than punitive blame, organisations can increase the efficiency and quality of their work processes, reduce the number of losses and near misses, and build greater capacity for innovation. This leads to a better experience for your clients as they are less likely to encounter errors or delay in the products and services they purchase from you.

If things do go wrong, a just culture approach allows you to look beyond the obvious to the underlying systemic causes and address them. It gives more assurance to the client that they will have a better experience next time around.