Five Things I Learned From Bobby Bowden and Other Coaches

I've been blessed to know and play for some great college coaches. I also played with some outstanding athletes on the high school and college level. Some of those coaches included Nick Saban and Bobby Bowden. Those two coaches have four national championships between them! And at least a few of you should know that my real claim to fame is that I was the back-up quarterback to Joe Montana - but that was at Ringgold High School - hahaha! I hope you got a good laugh out of that one!

Anyway, I've was fortunate enough to complete a safety training video with Coach Bowden in 2001. Everything filmed in that video is still very relevant. When Coach Bowden was in front of the camera, it was amazing! He was so comfortable and genuine. He just made you want to be around him. Do you know any leaders like him?

Well, here's five really important things that I learned over my 28 years in safety that were reinforced and highlighted by Coach Bowden. You'll be able to apply these five principles to improve safety performance, right away!

1. Be Genuine. If you and your leaders are not "yourself and genuine" people see right through the words and actions, and will turn you and your message "off."

2. Be Fair. Fairness in any organization, especially when it comes to safety is critical. Fairness leads to increased trust and individual credibility.

3. Be Positive. People like to be around others who are positive, and even more, workers often respond better to positive reinforcement than they do punishment.

4. Talk Team. You need to talk about "team" more than individual performance. Developing an outstanding safety culture requires that people work together as a team. And take the team concept one step further by creating a sense of community within your organization.

5. Expectations are Key. You can talk about "safety rules" until you are blue in the face but safety is more about forming and setting everyday expectations.

There is so much more that I have learned in my career about safety coaching and leadership - way too much to write about here, especially right before Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving is just a couple of days away - have a safe and blessed Holiday!

Oh, you have to check out this link: www.greatsafetyleadership.com. This page is about social influence in safety and leadership. You will be able to read about some invaluable safety strategies and tactics and to view some great video clips from others that I have helped experience great success in safety!

Connecting with Your Audience

I've been real busy the past six weeks. I was doing a combination of speaking, training, and consulting. Also hit a home run with the last five companies I spoke for across the USA - from California to Las Vegas, to Oklahoma to Chicago and Pennsylvania. These were Fortune 100 companies and privately held organizations, some with less than 200 employees. You realize that home runs were hit when you receive follow up calls, to bring you back, for more work. That's what happened with several of these clients already. Great stuff!

What's the best way for a speaker to connect? Identify with the audience through personal and collective values. Make the people laugh. And tell stories each person can relate to in some way. That's what I do within every one of my safety talks.

More and more companies are realizing the impact that safety has throughout their firms. And many are recognizing that outsiders (like motivational safety speakers) can have an immediate impact that can be utilized to continually improve their safety cultures.

Here's a recent speaking testimonial from Rick Hare, Safety Director at Consolidated Scrap Resources. Rick talks about how I connected with his audience... But Rick also commented after this clip that I provided his people with the "how" and the "principles" that will get them to the next level of safety excellence...

Supervisor Safety Training

Are Your Supervisors and Managers Appropriately Trained?

Safety Leadership, Safety Culture, and Risk

Much of Our Nation Was Watching...

A Great Display of "Leading From The Heart!"

Leadership Keynote

Here's a brief promotional safety keynote video that I will be putting up on my new website. The segments you will see were from my leadership talk given to General Motors in Cincinnati, Ohio...

Your Safety Culture

I put together a great little safety culture and safety climate video that you need to watch! This video is very brief but highlights some of the safety culture work that I have conducted over the years. It really does matter how and what you measure!

"I Can" to "We Can!!!"

More and more organizations are getting to zero and I am blessed to be able to work with them. But here's part of the reason why...

Connecting With Your Audience...

Any speaker you may want to hire for your organization must be able to touch the audience with stories that connect the head and heart - getting to each individuals personal values.