Working Through The Safety Change Cycle

In 2004, I wrote a fun and enlightening book that walks and talks the reader through a cycle of safety-related change.  I modified Elisabeth Kubler-Ross’ work which takes everyone though a journey of denial, struggle, examination, and commitment.  It’s a book that uses four main characters on the journey and reveals how people can work through each of the stages or cycles of change.  If you are looking for a fun and informative way to help your leaders embrace and work through your next safety-change process, please follow this book link.

Below is the Foreword from Dave Johnson, Editor, Industrial Safety & Hygiene News.

What David Sarkus gives us in these 120 pages or so is a clever modern safety parable. Sure, it's about an organization going through change. Employees are uncertain about where they stand and what happens next. Trust is in low supply, and the employees would rather just be left alone. Sound familiar?

We can all relate. David's short tale is deceptively simple, though. It's fun to read, no doubt, and you can go cover to cover in an evening. But don't miss the layers of lessons that lie beneath the easy — flowing dialog.

In 2000, Malcolm Gladwell wrote The Tipping Point, a national bestseller describing how small word-of-mouth buzzes can grow — or tip — into mega-trends. Well, David's story shows how an organization tips the scales in favor of safety. How you can create a safety "epidemic" — to use Gladwell's term — that spreads through the workforce. One of the lessons David shows us is that it's not the plant safety director's job to tip the scales, lead the charge, or infect the workplace with an enthusiasm for safety.

Kandu Corporation aims to create a cultural revolution, a culture of positive change that will be healthier for employees and the company. That's too big of an assignment for the "safety man" or "safety woman." The Tipping Point explains that you need the help of Mavens, Connectors, and Salespeople. In our story here, the safety director is the Maven, the technical expert who lends ideas, solves problems, and provides direction. All the main characters are Connectors. They've worked in the plant for years and have built well-connected networks of friends. Connectors are essential to transmit your safety message; they're agents that spread the safety epidemic. Finally, Connie Committed, the main character, is the indispensable Salesperson.

Through Connie, David shows us one of the bottom-line truths of safety — it's largely about influencing. Selling. And through Connie, David provides us with many of the attributes needed in a champion for safety. Connie is honest, upbeat, candid, confident, sharing and open. She's got guts and strong convictions. She can admit to her shortcomings, invites opinions and even dissension, and she wants to listen. One of Connie's strongest traits is her empathy. She senses what others are thinking. Dan the resister calls her a mind reader. Empathy is essential to furthering the cause of safety. Finally, Connie is thorough. She's very observant of others. Does her homework and research. Knows what she's talking about. And has a great sense of humor to boot.

You Can Champion Change! also gives us lessons in human nature, lessons we all can relate to and apply to the very people-oriented work of safety. Yes, people are always comfortable with the way things are, especially when there are no serious problems. Yes, change never comes easy — it's difficult, inconvenient, and frustrating. “People hate it”, as one of the characters says. And yes, it pays to be positive. Catch people working safely and commend them. Rather than slam them for taking a shortcut or ignoring a procedure, correct them. Coach them. The tone of David's book, along with some of the safety ideas and events, point to another truth of safety — You've got to have fun.

To me, the most valuable lesson of You Can Champion Change! is the power of conversation. From beginning to end, the book gives us a series of down-to-earth conversations, all about safety. To paraphrase one of the characters: "We want to talk about safety in everything we do."

A plant can have the best machine guards, ventilation systems, safety rules and training programs. But safety doesn't become a matter of habit and doesn't settle into an attitude unless everyone is talking about it every day. On almost every page of this book, the characters engage and encourage each other about safety. They probe and ask questions about safety, about feelings and concerns regarding safety. And they listen.

So how did David develop his ear for dialog? Back in the late 1990s, he wrote an article for my magazine, Industrial Safety & Hygiene News, where he introduced the characters Joe and Willie. Joe and Willie were named for two grunts popular in Bill Maudlin's famous World War II cartoons in the Stars and Stripes News. David captured their earthy spirit and applied it to workplace safety experiences. That's when I first thought David might head off to Hollywood to write scripts instead of being a safety speaker and coach. It wasn't long after that I offered him the job as ISHN's Technical Editor, doing my part to keep him in the safety field.

I think it's in David's blood to connect with working folks. His dad worked for U.S. Steel in a mill outside Pittsburgh for decades, then became a record-setting door-to-door insurance salesman for the next 20 years. David's success as a safety speaker, author and coach comes from that same feel for people, empathy and a sense of conviction.

Just read You Can Champion Change! and find out for yourself.

Dave Johnson
Editor
Industrial Safety & Hygiene News