Five Safety-Related Benefits of Getting Naked

Today, April 20th is my birthday, and I came into this world with nothing but my birthday suit, butt naked, just like you.  And many of you are realizing that some of your organizations need to strip away the unwanted layers of false protection and get naked too!

In my last writing, I addressed the need for organizational leaders to get naked and become more transparent in order to continually improve safety performance (Get Naked for Safety - It's Critical for Advancement).  However, I did not begin to identify the many positive outcomes of becoming more open and honest.  Here are five very straightforward benefits that are well worth your efforts in becoming increasingly transparent.

Greater Candor.  When there is greater candor there is more openness in communications that relates to concerns, hazards, precursors and related warnings. All of this helps to reduce incidents, risk, and accidents, especially serious incidents and fatalities (SIFs). 

Greater Trust.  When leaders and followers begin to open-up more appropriately, trust will increase and we all know that trust is essential.  Trust affords more opportunities for learning and engagement, as well requiring less time and effort for supervision and regular monitoring. 

More Leaders.  When transparency increases, individuals who remained in a comfortable follower-leader role will step-up and begin to lead from within their own groups.  An increase in the number of safety leaders and the quality of safety leadership is nearly always a plus.

Less Cognitive Bias.  An increase in openness and transparency helps to create objective feedback.  Objectivity in communications lessens perception gaps between how leaders view safety-related issues and how workers identify the same or similar safety-related concerns.  This helps everyone look through a clearer and more accurate safety lens.  It also allows everyone to stay on the same page – and move forward together with greater forms of agreement and strength. 

Increased Alignment.  Increasing organizational transparency affords an unobstructed view of your organization’s vision and values for safety.  When everyone begins to see your safety vision more clearly and concretely, that’s BIG!

It’s not easy to get naked in front of others and it takes hard work and lots of deliberate effort and planning.  However, as your organization becomes healthier and increasingly fit, getting naked becomes more comfortably ingrained and your culture for safety will ultimately embrace its nakedness.   Are you willing to add to this list of positive outcomes? I hope you do!