Safety Unpacked - Leading Through Change with Amy Morris

In this episode of the Women in Safety podcast, Alanna Ball and Amy Morris explore what leadership looks like when the path ahead is unclear. Using a recent Harvard Business Review Executive masterclass as a starting point, they unpack how ideas from outside the safety profession can help leaders think differently about change, uncertainty, and the systems around them. The HBR piece, How to Lead When You Can’t See the Way, centres on leading through uncertainty when the future feels difficult to read, which becomes a useful lens for this safety conversation.

From there, Alanna and Amy bring the discussion back to health and safety, looking at how data, feedback, communication, and adaptive systems can support better decisions in uncertain environments. Rather than relying on rigid habits or traditional safety thinking alone, the episode encourages leaders to stay curious, test assumptions, learn from mistakes, and create stronger connections across teams and functions.

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Episode Highlights

• Why leadership in uncertain environments requires more than technical knowledge or fixed plans

• How ideas from outside the health and safety field can strengthen leadership thinking and decision-making

• The role of data, feedback, and hypothesis testing in understanding what is working and what needs to change

• Why learning from mistakes is essential to innovation and continuous improvement

• How communication supports trust, adaptability, and safer decision-making

• The importance of breaking down silos and creating stronger collaboration across teams

• Why adaptive systems are more useful than rigid processes when change is constant

• How safety leaders can move beyond traditional approaches and build a culture of learning

Conclusion

This episode is a thoughtful reminder that uncertainty is not a temporary disruption for leaders to wait out. It is often part of the environment they are working in. Alanna and Amy highlight the value of looking beyond the safety profession for ideas, frameworks, and language that can help shape better leadership practice. By using data more thoughtfully, encouraging feedback, learning openly from mistakes, and fostering collaboration across silos, safety professionals can lead with more confidence even when the way forward is not fully visible.

Link to the article mentioned - https://hbr.org/2026/03/how-to-navigate-through-the-fog  

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