Three Steps to Evolving Your Culture for Safety

Managing Safety and That Nasty Trickle-Down Effect

“Joe, I’m so tired of this ___________ , ______________, __________!  I just met with Lou and he ripped me a new __________ hole.  I don’t care about you, your people, or anybody else – get it done!”

You fill in the blanks. If you’ve been working long enough, you realize that it happens and I’m sure you’ve been a part of it in one way or another.  Yep, the trickle-down effect and the spill that spreads all around.  In part, I call it the Jelly-Doughnut Principle.  When you push down on two stacked doughnuts, you get a mess.

Managers and supervisors are sometimes used to getting dumped on from above.  Maybe an undeserved emotional outburst from their boss or a mean-spirited decision that somehow trickles down – it can be ugly.  What happens next?  Well, the manger or supervisor who just got knocked down by the outburst or anger-driven decision starts to take on that affect.  These individuals now push down on their workers with similar emotional force, mean-spirited decisions, or unfair decision-making.  Did the workers deserve that outburst?  Were they aware of what was happening above them?  Often, workers do not deserve it, and the trickle-down can be harmful.

Managers and supervisors have to be made aware of their negatively imposing, trickle-down behaviors and how their actions might affect those they supervise.  They have to help ensure that the trickle stops with them and their workers don’t unnecessarily receive the wrong signals, that can lead to increased exposures and poor decision making, which may lead to errors and accidents.

Supervisors are a direct conduit to their workers when it comes to both the good and bad.  At times, front-line leaders take on the persona and behaviors from those above them.  All individuals in this chain have to be made aware of the trickle-down effect, learn to manage it, compartmentalize it, and to de-personalize it.  Sometimes that takes training, and open and honest communications.

Nick Saban - Process Over People

Coach Nick Saban just won another NCAA Football Championship and may soon be regarded as the greatest college football coach of all-time.  He‘s now won four championships at the University of Alabama and one at Louisiana State University. That’s a pretty big deal!

Many individuals will argue that Nick Saban has refined “his process” over the years and has a consistent, sure-fire formula for success – largely because of his process.  After all, he often stresses “the process” when asked about success.  Still others would suggest he has the best players in the country.  That’s more difficult to argue.

I would strongly contend against the point regarding “process.”  And I have first-hand knowledge about why Coach Saban just might be considered a players’ coach. 

I was a back-up player at West Virginia University (WVU) when Coach Saban was a 28-year-old assistant, fresh out of Kent State.  Although Coach Saban wasn’t my position coach, and I didn’t play as much as I hoped to, Coach Saban always showed respect toward me.  Among other things, he always spoke to me by name and that still resonates.

During his time at WVU, many recognized that Saban might be special. He was a perfectionist and grinder.  Two of my closest teammates and friends, Jerry Holmes and Fulton Walker were coached by Saban at WVU.  As defensive backs, Jerry and Fulton knew what Saban expected, and he offered little compromise.  Saban helped each of them to have very productive years in the National Football League.  But here’s the twist – many believe that Nick Saban is not a players’ coach.  They believe he’s all about “his process.”  Jerry and Fulton would suggest otherwise.

I don’t believe any coach or leader can have much success, at any level, if they don’t connect with their people.  But I needed some validation regarding Coach Saban as a players’ coach. 

About two weeks ago, I called Jerry and Fulton to inquire about the “players side” of Nick Saban.  Each of them fully agreed and clearly felt that Coach Saban connects with his players.  Going back to WVU, Jerry and Fulton said their coach would often ask about family, grades, and other personal interests.  He had them in his home as guests, for food, conversation, and get-away time from football.  Finally, Jerry said in an all too familiar way, “oh yeah, he knows how to connect and he really cares too.”

In safety, our processes are critically important and we can’t function at a high level without them.  However, I’ll continue to argue that relationships – the connections made with your people are at least as important, or more important than any safety process you will ever embrace.

The next time you watch Nick Saban talk about the process – don’t believe everything you see and hear.  And don't be fooled by his public persona.  At least not completely.  Nick Saban knows how to connect and he cares about his players.   Coach Saban is a largely a great teacher, who builds trust, which in turn creates great outcomes.  But in the end, it really is all about his people!

Gettin’ Dirty for Safety’s Sake - Where’s Your Dirt?

Culture is an archaeological construct and it stands to reason that you have to dig a bit in order to find out what’s really going on in your organization. When I conduct various types of culture assessments for safety, people often get nervous.  Many feel that they might be unnecessarily exposed.  However, if you aren’t getting dirty and going deeper and broader, you’ll never get better!  If you don’t bring up some “dirt” and find out about the “bad stuff” - why begin to contemplate conducting a culture assessment for safety in the first place?

Here’s six ways to get dirty and begin to improve your culture for safety.

1. Anonymous pencil and paper perception surveys provide a wealth of comparative information about our cultures for safety which needs to be embraced and acted upon, when appropriate and necessary.

2. Open-ended questions placed near the end of the survey provide valuable information that needs to be further explored.

3. Safety focus sessions give homogeneous groups a chance to voice their opinions.  This type of upward feedback can be ranked and sorted in order of importance and provide further insights not revealed in the perception survey.

4. On-the-floor or in-the-field interviews provide a valuable means for open two-way discussions for EHS improvements.

5.  Properly executed employee safety suggestion boxes are a very simple and straightforward way to bring up some dirt that can be used for ongoing improvements.

6. Safety maturity matrices and grids offer groups of people further insights and strategic road maps for improvement, but you need to have the right cross section of participants.

Any way you look at it – you have to bring up some dirt on your organization if you want to get better.  Better yet, your leaders need to get dirty, a bit naked, and more transparent with your people too!

And if you want a quick and dirty snapshot of your culture for safety, take this brief survey.