Two organizations can have identical systems and identical just culture policies and produce completely different safety outcomes. The difference is almost always cultural.

Organizations that make real progress on safety culture tend to share a common shift in focus. They move from asking whether people know the rules to asking whether the environment makes it easy to follow them.

Soft controls are not informal because they are optional.
They are informal because they are human. They are embedded in how leaders lead, how teams interact, and how systems reinforce priorities. And because of that, they are often among the strongest predictors of risk.

The real choice leaders face is not whether to focus on culture or strategy. Culture is being created every day regardless. The choice is whether leaders are intentional about shaping it, or whether they allow it to shape strategy in ways they may not like.