Recently I sat down with a Head of WHS who oversees the Asia Pacific region for a global organisation.
Growth is strong. Board expectations are sharper this year. And while we’ve all been talking about “risk-based safety” for a long time, this conversation felt different.
What’s interesting is it wasn’t about legislation at all.
It was about capability.
He was very clear about the gap in his team. Technically strong. Process-driven. Solid on compliance. But not consistently present in the business. Not embedded enough. Not always building confidence in leaders in real time.
He wasn’t looking for more policy strength.
He was looking for operational credibility.
Compliance thinking asks, “Are we meeting our obligations?” It’s important. It protects you legally. It keeps you audit ready.
Risk-based thinking asks a harder question: “Where are we genuinely exposed, and are our leaders confident enough to manage that risk before something goes wrong?”
One protects you from regulators.
The other protects your operations.
For an Asia Pacific remit in a global business, that distinction matters. Boards aren’t just asking about audit results anymore. They’re asking about cultural maturity, leadership ownership and whether risk is being actively managed across regions, not just documented.
Here’s the tension I keep seeing.
Organisations talk about wanting risk-based cultures. But when it comes to hiring, the screening still leans heavily toward tenure, qualifications and audit exposure. Influence, judgement and coaching depth are harder to assess, so they get less attention.
And yet they’re exactly what’s needed.
Toward the end of last year, we definitely felt hiring slow. More approval layers. Longer decision cycles. A bit more caution across the board.
February feels different.
Activity has lifted. Conversations are sharper. Mandates are moving again. But expectations haven’t softened. If anything, they’ve intensified.
Which brings it back to capability.
We’ve been talking about risk-based thinking in WHS for years. The real question for 2026 is whether organisations are genuinely hiring and structuring for it.
Because culture doesn’t shift through policy alone.
It shifts when leaders feel capable. When advisors are present. When safety is operational, not administrative.
That’s where the real work sits this year.
If you’re seeing similar shifts across your organisation, or thinking about capability in your own team, I’m always open to a conversation.
Until next week,
Daniela
