Raise the Standard | Tool 1
Where You Actually Stand
The three questions a leadership team should be able to answer cold, the four streams that keep the answers honest and an ordered list of what to fix first.
How to use this
Put these three questions to your own leadership team and require evidence for every answer. An answer of yes, I think so, without evidence to hand, is a no. Score on the lowest consistent behaviour observed, never on isolated examples of best practice.
The three questions
What every diagnostic has to answer
What would you table to prove it and who has checked it recently.
Not whether they exist. Whether they are being used, by the people meant to use them, in the way they were designed.
If you can name more than five, you have a list, not a priority.
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The four evidence streams
No single stream can be trusted alone
Each stream reads a different layer of the business. Documents carry your assumptions, the observation walk reads your practice, the interviews read practice again and test how far the leadership picture reaches, while the records and verification trails are your evidence. Rate how strong each stream is for you right now.
Documentation review. Does the system exist and does it align to the standards that matter, ISO 45001 and the Health and Safety at Work Act among them.
Workplace observation. Is the system implemented in practice, on the floor, on an ordinary day.
Staff interviews and cultural diagnostics. Do workers understand and engage with the system, and what do they know that the documents do not.
Capability benchmarking. How does this organisation compare with the standard its industry's leaders actually reach.
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Where you sit today
Four pillars, five levels, marked honestly
| Pillar | Ad Hoc | Foundational | Emerging | Confident | Assured |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Governance and Leadership | |||||
| Risk and Operational Control | |||||
| Systems and Documentation | |||||
| Culture and Engagement |
Score on the lowest consistent behaviour in the business, not the best site, the best manager or the best month.
Fix first
Prioritised. Owned. Dated.
High means legal exposure, immediate safety risk or a critical system absence. Medium means a clear gap against the standard that belongs in the current planning cycle. Low means best practice improvement. Connect every finding to the risk it actually carries, because a finding without a consequence attached is administration.
| What we found | The risk it carries | Priority | Owner | By when |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Twelve individual findings are usually four leadership findings wearing disguises.
The next step
You now know where you actually stand
You have placed this organisation on the maturity scale and written down what has to be fixed first. That list is the most useful thing on your desk this week.
Knowing where the gap sits and having the room to close it are two different problems. Most people finish a worksheet like this with a clear picture, a full diary and no obvious first move.
That is the conversation worth having. Twenty minutes with the Advanced Safety team, looking at what you have just written down and telling you plainly what to do first, whether it is urgent and whether you need help at all.
Twenty minutes. No pitch and no obligation. Bring your worksheet. Most useful if you carry accountability for health and safety in your organisation.
Book at go.advancedsafety.co.nz/book
Advanced Safety Ltd | advancedsafety.co.nz | From Raise the Standard: Why Good Organisations Go Blind and How Leaders Restore Visibility by Matt Jones. This worksheet is a starting version of an instrument Advanced Safety runs in full. It is general guidance, not legal advice.
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