.png)
Social safety built into the training curriculum of the armed forces
Social and psychological safety within teams lead to better team performance, professionalism, collaboration, innovation and creativity. Essential components within the Dutch Ministry of Defence for the protection of the Netherlands and our allies.
With these principles, Relevance has been working as a learning partner with the Ministry of Defence in the field of leadership and social safety in the Netherlands since 2020 and since 2023 also in the Caribbean part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
Strengthening social and psychological safety
The Dutch Ministry of Defence puts social safety and integrity high on its agenda. A socially safe working environment is essential for the effectiveness of the team and therefore the operation. The Ministry of Defence wants to stimulate this desired behaviour.
The current policy pays attention to preventing undesirable behaviour, just as social safety focuses on encouraging desired behaviour and valuing differences.
Defence's integrity policy is based on the 3 principles 'promote, monitor and consider', which must always be in balance. Strengthening a socially secure team is seen as an important pillar for promoting an honest and therefore reliable defence force.
.png?width=1000&name=Ontwerp%20zonder%20titel%20(33).png)
Safe and inclusive working environment
Completely eliminating undesirable behaviour cannot be achieved through measures alone. That is why a proactive approach is essential. This means that the Ministry of Defence pays attention to early detection and an appropriate response to these types of situations through training.
An important part of this is improving registration procedures and carefully analysing reports of undesirable behaviour. By learning from this, the working environment can be structurally improved.
The focus of the Relevance training courses is on creating a safe and inclusive working environment. We continuously evaluate our approach and adjust it where necessary. The aim is to create an organization that not only responds to incidents, but also as a learning organization that continuously improves.
A defence-wide approach in 3 phases
Implementation
Implementing the regulations to comply with the legal requirements of social safety.
Mastering the training
Continuing to grow in the field of social safety and mastering the training so that it can be used in practice.
Continuously improving
Securing, evaluating, learning and continuously improving to grow into a learning organisation.
The assignment: a custom-made curriculum
To be able to comply to the three set phases, Relevance has developed a custom-made curriculum.
In a military organization, camaraderie is essential: "We leave no one behind, we protect and strengthen each other." Social safety is about protecting each other from undesirable behavior, valuing individual differences and the opportunity to learn from mutual trust.
These are therefore also the core values of the custom-made training courses. With a permanent team of more than 20 trainers, we developed training courses in the areas of valuing differences, speaking out - discussing - addressing, and dealing with diversity, equality and inclusion (DEI).
Way of working
- Custom-made training programs.
- Catelog of trainings from which managers can order programs for their team.
- A dedicated team of more than 20 local trainers
- 40+ years of experience with large groups, uniformed professions, and the public domain.
- Expertise regarding setup, scientifically substantiated interventions, didactic skills, innovative working methods and high-quality support.
Social & psychological safety, also in the Dutch Antilles
Since 2023, the armed forces are also active on the Caribbean islands of our Kingdom: Aruba, Curaçao and Sint Maarten.
Taking a different approach
Due to their specific location, cultural differences and activities, our training courses require a different approach. Together with our local partner Teamwork Caribbean, Relevance has developed unique training courses in which, with the help of local actors, training is provided in the field of leadership and social safety in both the Dutch and Papiamentu language.
Working with our own case studies, and with the option to communicate in the local language, the outcomes contribute enormously to the impact we have when it comes to awareness and increasing social and psychological safety in daily work. Do you want to know more about what The Dutch Ministry of Defence does in the Caribbean, among other things? Watch the series 'Coast Guard Caribbean' on National Geographic.
-1.jpg?width=1000&name=PHOTO-2023-06-15-09-58-10%20(1)-1.jpg)
Results
Social and psychological safety was an important theme within our organization, but we lacked a concrete approach. The training helped us to clarify the frameworks and develop a systematic approach. The management team has had in-depth discussions about our role in promoting social safety. Through practical simulations with experienced trainers and actors from Relevance, the group has gained valuable insights that we can immediately apply in practice for better social safety. The combination of theory and practice has ensured that we are now well-prepared to create and maintain a safe working environment. The design of the training, structure and implementation have been very helpful to us.
R.L. BrökerCommander Caribbean Security Area
The biggest takeaways
- 1
Rules prevent, training enables: social safety grows when people practice the conversation, not when they read the policy.
- 2
A phased curriculum (comply, master, improve) turns a compliance requirement into a learning organization.
- 3
Local language and local actors are what make the same program land in a different culture.
A one-page PDF with the key items, the numbers and the biggest takeaways. Handy for a meeting, or to forward.
More client stories
All client stories.jpg?width=960&height=540&name=Jack-up%20Barge%20Maldives%2011%20(1).jpg)
FugroEnergy & engineering
One global talent journey across 60 countries
12 months for a journey that runs in every time zone, in six modules with three peer coaching sessions
Noordwest Hospital GroupHealthcare
Sixteen of thirty participants moved into new roles
16 of 30 participants moved on internally, ten of them into managerial positions; fourteen more grew in their current roles
.jpg?width=960&height=540&name=F_Social_Yacht_2022_04_JECalvino_3%20(1).jpg)
Yacht, a Randstad companyProfessional services
A nine-year-old traineeship rebuilt as a three-year blended journey
9+ average trainer rating from the trainees, with two new locations added for better access
Working on something similar?
Every client story here started with a question about the capability an organization needed next. Bring yours, and we will tell you what would work in your situation.