2025 Bombardier Safety Standdown – Wichita, Kansas.
How to Learn from Normal Work: A Mind-Mapping Exercise
I had the opportunity to co-host a workshop with Ivan Pupulidy, Ph. D at Bombardier’s Safety Standdown, building on his work around Learning Reviews and network mapping and exploring how organizations can better understand normal work and the human contribution within complex systems.
My role brought a different lens to the conversation. Although I don’t come from aviation, I used personal stories and workplace experiences to help participants connect the concepts to something deeply human: creating space for context and understanding why people’s actions made sense given the conditions they were working within.
Together, we moved between stories, discussion, and practical application connecting technical concepts in organizational learning to the realities of people doing the work.
For me, the experience reinforced something I continue to see across industries: the details of the work may change, but the human need to be heard, understood, and included in learning does not.
