
At one particular focus group, the employees were discussing
issues with upper management, where they felt management misunderstood the role
of the employees and often blamed employees for problems that weren’t really
the employees’ fault. The supervisor for the work crew spoke up and mentioned
how often the issues are far worse than the employees may know. He often is
called into the offices of upper managers and given a tongue lashing for the
workers not getting the work done fast enough or not meeting expectations. The
expectation is that the supervisor will then trickle down the discipline to his
employees, where the problem (supposedly) really is.
But the supervisor in this case mentioned that his employees
didn’t realize that this was happening as often as it was happening. Why not?
Because he had deliberately chosen to bear the brunt of the production
pressures and not share that with his employees. He didn’t want his employees
to feel that production was more important than working safely. When asked why
he did this, he simply stated that it was his job. Now, we’ve looked at the job
descriptions in this organization. Nowhere does it mention in this guy’s job
description that his job is to shield his employees from undue production
pressures. So this supervisor, on his own, because of his concern for his crew,
decided to bear this burden on himself.
Folks, that is safety leadership. In the safety profession
there’s a lot of talk about how we need safety leaders and the idea of
leadership is often glorified to be a person out in front of the organization,
pointing them in the right direction against all odds. But we don’t think
that’s really leadership. That seems more consistent with hero worship, than leadership.
Instead, leadership is a social process used to influence others towards the
completion of a common task. There’s nothing in that definition that requires
someone to be in front of the organization. It’s about using the tools in your
disposal to influence people to do the things that they already want to do.
It’s about making it easy for people to achieve their goals (which you also
happen to share).
That supervisor from the airport, by removing potential
negative influences to his employees, is creating an environment that enables
his employees to do what they already want to do – do a great job without
getting hurt. How many of our safety programs are designed with this process in
mind? How many safety systems focus on enabling
safety rather than ensuring safety?
Think about that. In one case (ensuring safety) we are dragging the
organization kicking and screaming to do what they apparently don’t want to do
(or else they wouldn’t be kicking and screaming about it). In the other case
(enabling safety), we are making it easy for our people to do what they already
want to do. It’s about identifying and removing barriers that make it hard for
people to execute their tasks safely.
We think this is a seemingly small, but potentially
revolutionary shift in how safety management systems are structured, and how
safety leadership is conceptualized. How can you get started?
Step 1 is to go out and talk to your employees. Ask them how
work really gets done and what makes getting the job done challenging or
difficult. Ask them what surprises them when they do jobs. Make a list.
Step 2 is to do an assessment of your safety management
system. Identify the gaps, the imperfections, the places where goals are
competing, where work is complex, etc. Once identified, list out what your
organization is doing to fill those gaps, or mitigate the risk from them.
Chances are many of them are filled by employees, not because that’s the best
option, but just because no one else is dealing with them. In our experience, these
issues often seem less problematic on paper than they are in the work
environment. List all these out too.
Step 3 is to devise plans to remove the barriers your
employees identified and fill the gaps identified in the assessment with system
fixes. Involve your employees in identifying those fixes.
Step 4 is simple – follow through. By removing the issues
your employees face you will influence their behavior toward the common task of
getting the job done safely. You will be enabling safety. Like the airport
supervisor, you will be a safety leader.
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