Organizational Performance
Frequently, an organization’s performance is driven by behaviors of leadership team members. Marathon has developed integrated tools and processes to help organizations reset standards and change the behaviors necessary for improving performance. We have been extremely successful in guiding our clients along their journeys to operational excellence.
Marathon organizational performance services include:
- Nuclear and non-nuclear safety culture surveys, analysis, assessments, cause analysis, action plan development, implementation support, and effectiveness assessments
- Regulatory Recoveries
- Mentoring and monitoring as a part of improvement initiatives
- Oversight and subject matter expert services
- Cause Analysis and Corrective Action Program
- Organizational and incident causal analysis and training
Marathon’s approach of precisely defining problems, determining causes, and determining effective actions in concert with the client has resulted in successful improvement strategies across our client base. From regulatory recoveries to improving internal client relationships and culture, Marathon’s sharp focus on problems and their solutions have been a successful strategy appreciated by our clients.
Organizational Performance Initiatives
Safety Culture
Safety Culture is the core tenet of every company that has a human/machine interface. It’s often defined as “the way organizations and people perform their work when no one is looking.” From executive management to frontline worker, a strong safety culture is fundamental to success.Responding to increased regulatory scrutiny, or as a result of identified weaknesses in Safety Culture, organizations enlist Marathon to leads for safety culture surveys, analyses, and assessments. We then work with those organizations to develop actions and monitoring strategies to improve safety culture.
Improved safety culture reduces rates of consequential error and costs associated with mitigation and correction of those events while boosting the efficiency of operations. Furthermore, a strong safety culture improves quality of life for the personnel who much respond to events and manage the aftermath.
Regulatory Recoveries
After (or in before) a plant is placed in a higher level of scrutiny by the regulator, Marathon works with the client to develop a project plan for the return to normal levels of oversight. These plans address both the regulator’s requirements and the station’s known areas for improvement.
Troubled plants going through recoveries usually have had longstanding performance issues driven by a number of factors. Frequently programs and processes have degraded, culture is inconsistent, and equipment has become less reliable. Successful recoveries capitalize on the effort to improve processes, upgrade procedures, resurrect engineering programs, change culture, etc.
For each recovery, Marathon applies proprietary technologies that remain in place as legacy tools:
- A consolidated Improvement Plan Database that transitions to an excellence plan database.
- An Enhanced Performance Indicator Suite that tracks performance through the Confirmatory Action Letter closure. Also useable for managing and tracking future improvement in the pursuit of excellence.
- Real time project financial tracking tools
- A performance-based Employee Handbook to standardize and communicate expectations and desired behaviors
Recoveries driven by Marathon result in improvements to regulatory margin, equipment reliability, organizational alignment and safety culture, as well as reductions in production cost and consequential events. Our process, honed over dozens of engagements, is streamlined and scalable to deliver high value for stations and recovery requirements of every description.
Cause Analysis and Corrective Action Program
If there is a single one area where a plant should focus to improve performance, it should be their corrective action program (CAP). Like safety culture, the CAP should be woven into the fabric of how an organization functions—and in particular how the organization’s people identify and solve problems. CAP program weaknesses are common to all troubled stations. It’s the very first thing Marathon focusses on during a recovery.
Marathon assists stations with CAP in a number of ways:
- Training
- Initiation of condition reports and the importance of quality problem statements
- Screening and Classification
- Cause Analysis (Root and Apparent Cause, Extent of Condition and Cause)
- Action development
- Action completion quality
- Operational experience and trending use and methods
- Providing expert CAP talents in our Team Leads, Cause Analysts, and Trending experts
- Providing technical experts on equipment issues for cause analysis teams
- Mentoring of proper CAP behaviors for overall performance improvement
The NRC Regulatory Oversight Process is built on the premise that a station is properly run when CAP is healthy. Plants with healthy CAPs avoid costs through reduction in rework and improvements in equipment reliability (to name just two areas). These plants also see improvements in regulatory margin and employee satisfaction.
Standards Monitoring and Mentoring
Marathon has helped stations improve with a structured approach to standards monitoring and mentoring. Through our proven process of consolidating the station’s standards, observation, direct engagement with frontline workers and supervisors, and briefing of management and senior management teams, real behavior change is realized across organizations.
The power of our process becomes especially evident when senior management come to understand the actual and potential consequences of their behaviors and then engage more effectively with staff as a result. The organization becomes more aligned, engaged, and prepared to respond reliably and consistently to issues. Consequential events are reduced and regulatory margin is preserved.
