MAY NIBJ: Building trust through transparency

Small businesses thrive on trust — between owners and employees, teams and leaders, companies and customers. But trust doesn’t happen by accident. In high‑reliability industries like health care, trust is intentionally built through transparency, structured reporting, and relentless improvement.

This May, as we celebrate Small Business Month, let’s explore how those same principles can help small businesses strengthen their safety culture, improve quality, and build organizations where people feel empowered to speak up.

Few leaders are better positioned to translate those lessons than Helen Holmes, Executive Director of Quality and Risk at Kootenai Health. Holmes leads organization-wide efforts around organizational transparency, reporting culture, and continuous quality improvement—core pillars of what health care calls high‑reliability: systems designed to perform safely and consistently, even under pressure.

“High reliability isn’t about perfection,” Holmes says. “It’s about creating systems where people can raise concerns early, learn from mistakes, and continuously improve how work gets done.”

Why safety culture matters in any industry

In health care, safety culture can be a matter of life and death. In small businesses, the stakes may look different, but the principles can remain the same.

“When employees don’t feel safe speaking up, problems stay hidden,” Holmes explains. “That leads to rework, quality issues, customer dissatisfaction, and ultimately higher costs.”

Small businesses often assume formal safety or quality programs are only for large organizations. Holmes disagrees.

“Size doesn’t protect you from risk,” she says. “In fact, smaller teams feel the impact of breakdowns more quickly. The good news is that many of the most effective tools are simple and inexpensive.”

Lesson 1: Normalize speaking up

One of the cornerstones of high‑reliability health care is a strong reporting culture, an environment where employees are encouraged to share concerns, near misses, or ideas for improvement without fear of punishment or judgment.

“In health care, we don’t wait for something catastrophic to happen before we act,” Holmes says. “We pay attention to the small signals.”

For small business leaders, that starts with mindset.

What it looks like in practice:

• Leaders openly asking, “What could go wrong here?”

• Responding to concerns with curiosity instead of blame

• Thanking employees for raising issues — even when the message is uncomfortable.

“People watch what leaders do more than what they say,” Holmes notes. “If the first person who speaks up gets shut down, no one else will try.” 

Lesson 2: Use simple checklists to reduce risk 

Checklists are one of the most powerful and misunderstood tools borrowed from health care and aviation. 

“Checklists don’t replace expertise,” Holmes says. “They protect it, especially when people are busy or distracted.” 

In hospitals, checklists are used to ensure critical steps aren’t missed during high‑risk processes. Small businesses can apply the same principle almost anywhere. 

• Small business checklist examples: 

• Opening and closing procedures 

• Onboarding new employees 

• Equipment maintenance 

• Customer handoff or fulfillment processes 

“A well-designed checklist reduces variation and frees people up to focus on quality,” Holmes explains. “It’s not about control, it’s about consistency.” 

Lesson 3: Treat mistakes as learning opportunities 

In high‑reliability organizations, errors aren’t ignored, and they aren’t punished out of existence either. They’re studied.

“Every mistake tells a story about the system,” Holmes says. “If you only blame the person, you miss the opportunity to fix the root cause.” 

For small businesses, this can be as simple as asking three questions when something goes wrong: 

• What happened? 

• Why did it make sense at the time? 

• What can we change so it doesn’t happen again? 

“This shifts the conversation from blame to improvement,” Holmes says. “And that shift builds trust.” 

Lesson 4: Leaders set the tone every day 

Holmes emphasizes that safety culture isn’t a policy — it’s a daily behavior. 

“Leaders don’t just influence culture in meetings,” she says. “They influence it in how they react under stress, how they prioritize work, and how they handle bad news.” 

Small business owners often wear many hats. Holmes encourages them to be intentional about the signals they send.

“If you say safety matters but always reward speed over quality, people notice,” she says. “Alignment is everything.” 

Lesson 5: Improve in small, continuous steps 

High‑reliability health care doesn’t rely on sweeping change—it relies on continuous improvement. 

“You don’t need a massive overhaul,” Holmes says. “You need a habit of learning.” 

That might mean: 

• A five‑minute weekly team check‑in on what’s working and what’s not 

• Tracking one or two meaningful quality indicators 

• Testing small changes before rolling them out broadly 

“Improvement doesn’t have to be expensive,” she adds. “It has to be intentional.” 

Why this matters for North Idaho businesses 

In a tight labor market, culture is a competitive advantage. Businesses that prioritize transparency and trust don’t just reduce risk—they retain talent, improve performance, and strengthen their reputation. 

“People want to work where they feel heard,” Holmes says. “And customers can feel the difference when teams are aligned and engaged.” 

As Small Business Month highlights the backbone of North Idaho’s economy, Holmes believes the lessons from high‑reliability health care are more relevant than ever. 

“Safety culture isn’t just about preventing harm,” she says. “It’s about building organizations that people trust — inside and out.” 

    Helen Holmes