Steve Harvey and Learning Safety Leadership

If you didn’t see or hear about the Steve Harvey blunder at the most recent Miss Universe contest you may have been travelling. Oh well, when Steve inadvertently called and crowned the wrong winner, many people shuddered and reacted wildly.  Some say his error was inexcusable.  I say it’s not a perfect world.

But if we reflect, we can all learn from his mistake.  Steve Harvey immediately recognized his error and stated “I will take responsibility for this. It was my mistake … horrible mistake.” In this case, I’m not sure what responsibility is or what consequences will occur, but I do know the leadership lesson we can learn.  Own up immediately.  Don’t spin off your mistake to someone else.

This is a great time of year to forgive, reconcile, repair, and re-build relationships.  Own up if you have to – let go and move things forward.

Consequences pertaining to safety-related mistakes can be quite severe and egregious but owning up helps.  It’s not a perfect world and safety leaders are a part of it.

Have a great Christmas and Happy New Year!

The Popeye Principle and Your Safety Information

As a child, I loved watching the cartoon show and character, Popeye.  Most memorable are the fits Popeye would take when he lost patience with someone or was frustrated by something.  But before he took extreme action, he'd typically say, in his own peculiar way, “Enoughs is enoughs and I can’t takes it no more!” 

Have you ever thought that your managers and supervisors sometimes feel the same way when they receive various kinds of safety-related information from you?  Maybe it's dashboard content related to leading and lagging indicators.  Possibly it’s a newsletter or lessons learned.  Maybe it is a policy or procedural change.  Whatever the source and content of your safety information, begin asking these types of questions:

Volume. Is this too much information or is it getting lost among other information of equal or greater importance?

Value.  Is the information you’re providing of value or is it getting in the way of helping your people lead and perform better?  Maybe you’re simply in love with your own information or trying to fulfill an objective.

Timing.  Is the frequency of information appropriate and is the timing right?  Can you release the information at a more appropriate time and manner, when and where you know it can be better processed, accepted, and utilized?

Clarity.  Is the information clear enough in its present form? Can it be made simpler, clearer, and better?  Are there conflicts in what the data or information reveals versus the way leaders feel, act, and speak when they're with your workers?  Does the information require meeting with others face-to-face?

Popeye stayed strong and lasted long, “because he ate all of his spinach.” Like Popeye, help your leaders stay strong to the finish by providing the right type and amounts of safety-related information or you just might hear your people say, “I can’t takes it no more!”

Help them digest all of their spinach and safety information, too!

Visioning with Oliver Luck

I thought that most of you would enjoy hearing from someone other than me regarding vision and forward thinking for safety professionals, and the rest of your organization. Well, I enlisted my good friend and former teammate, Oliver Luck, to talk briefly about vision as a part of resilience and mental toughness. You and I know that visioning does much more than that, so take a look.

Oliver was an academic all-American at West Virginia University, Rhodes Scholar finalist, and played quarterback for the Houston Oilers. He was president of NFL Europe and the Houston Dynamo of Major League Soccer. Most recently he was the athletic director at West Virginia University and is currently an executive vice president with the National Collegiate Athletic Association. He is the father of Andrew Luck, star quarterback of the Indianapolis Colts.

Is Your Safety Tech Hurting Your Safety Touch?

I’ve been speaking about this for years.  I feel strongly that we are made to be touched.  Hey, I even like to hug!  Yes, I liked to reach out and hug people - touch people and shake a hand.  That comes naturally within my family and with many of my friends.  I also know that not everyone is comfortable with it and I’m good with that too.  I know my limits and I always respect a person’s space.  And for some, I also know that a handshake is the most I can expect.

But did you know, many post World War II infants’ experienced abandonment and touch deprivation issues that led to serious developmental problems?  Newborn babies and infants who ended up in orphanages and institutions suffered mental and physical illnesses, social problems, and many other related disabilities.  For the most part, these children had their physical needs met but their emotional needs were lacking.  Some observations suggest that as many as 30% of these types of emotionally deprived infants eventually died because of the lack of human touch.  And the broad spectrum of developmental problems that stemmed from limited human touch was largely viewed as permanent and pervasive.   The lack of appropriate human contact at a very early age leads to serious developmental issues.

You may have similar concerns brought about by the far-reaching impact of technologies used in our everyday lives and to improve safety performance.  There are numerous handheld applications that help to make safety communications and reporting more efficient, but relationships can and will suffer, particularly if we don’t take deliberate actions that put us in direct contact with others.  Technological improvements and current e-learning advancements bring about similar challenges where personal interactions and face-to-face activities are lacking.

We are living within a society that is losing touch with people in more ways than one - so go ahead - reach out and touch someone.  We all need to be touched!

We need human touch from our leaders and peers.  Touch helps us to connect with others in ways that help to repair, rebuild or build relationships.  Touch helps us to show empathy, understanding, and at times it’s symbolic, signaling a beginning or end to something important.

Touch brings people together and improves our ability to influence individuals and groups.  To get our message through to people who need to know that working safely is the right thing to do - all of the time!  And for people who feel comfortable with this kind of contact, touch helps lead individuals to work safer on a day-to-day basis.

Try to remove human touch from the lives of some of the toughest individuals in the world - within our armed services and from various elite levels of sport - it just won’t work!

Human touch may have a temporary affect, but the lack of it is permanent.  Sorry HR and labor law attorneys, I promote appropriate touching in the workplace and I’ll keep hugging as much as possible.   

How about you - don’t you think we’re losing touch, too?

Are You Building Resilience Into Your Culture for Safety?

“You can’t do better than your best.”  Those are the words I heard from legendary football coach, Bobby Bowden during a recent time together.  I can only imagine Bobby using those words to “settle his team” during or after a difficult time or situation.  Or possibly to help them become more focused and resilient to the challenges at hand over the course of a long and difficult season. In our work, our groups, teams, and organizations will go through difficult times and we need to help prepare them to work through various difficulties.

When organizations are threatened by a challenging economy, downsizing, right sizing or re-engineering, we have to do our best to help ensure that that our culture for safety won’t drift.  Similarly, when a key leader leaves the organization, we have to prepare it to work through a wide-array of challenges, changes, and opportunities for growth rather than regression.  Let’s take a look at the 3Rs that can help you build resilience into your cultures for safety.

Relationships have to be addressed and will help to build resilience into our cultures for safety.  Building upon important relationships requires that we mentor the right people who can help lead the way and to engage even more individuals to move the organization forward.  It also requires that we help the right people build relationships with key leaders in our organizations rather than insulating future leaders from the types people that will be needed to provide ongoing support.  Being political and insular - “protecting your relationships” rather than expanding roles and relationships by including others and creating openness in communications with the right leaders is necessary.   Roles and relationships will change in the midst of challenges, so they must be carefully addressed. 

Resources will be challenged by change and may have to be stretched.  That’s why we have to build-up resources along the way, while things are good, and not “play catch-up” when our organizations are disrupted and stressed.  Whenever possible, we have to consistently plan and budget for improvements that relate to materials, tools, equipment, and facilities.  This needs to be accomplished in a methodical and deliberate manner, without major surprises.  Oftentimes, capital improvements are viewed as quality and productivity enhancements that inherently add value to EHS performance.   Leverage quality and productivity improvements as multi-dimensional opportunities that can be sold and supported as such. 

Reporting Systems and reporting requirements need to be strong and structured so they can be easily maintained and used by others with minimal effort and communications.  Reporting applications and systems are more efficient than ever and big data is our friend – use them to your advantage.  Systems relating to near-miss and accident reporting, ongoing communications, and upstream improvements that are tied directly to your facilities and equipment are a part of this same equation.   

There’s obviously much more that can be done to increase resilience, but you need to be very deliberate in building your cultures for safety to withstand future challenges and changes.  Certainly, these challenges will require a resilient organization that’s well equipped to create opportunities for improvement rather than crumble under the weight of change. 

Are you working in a way to build-up EHS resilience in your organizations for sustained improvement, so you’re a little closer to being better than your best?

Respect as a Key Dimension of Safety Leadership and Culture

Visiting different parts of the world is one of the many benefits of my work. Right now, I am traveling through Italy and having a great time. In Italy, the cultural aspects and variations of a country much older than my own, helps me to see things through a broader lens, which I appreciate. Processing what I am seeing and hearing is sometimes difficult, but it’s an important part of gaining newer insights. But, much of this begins with respect for others.  

In terms of managing and improving safety within our own organizations, it is important to step back, and take on the broader perspectives of others in order to open our minds to greater outcomes.

Varying perspectives and ongoing dialogue offers greater possibilities that can advance the cause and practice of improving safety in our world. However, I believe there is an important starting point to obtaining these perspectives and creating ongoing dialogue. That starting point is respect.

Being respectful to everyone within our organization can’t be overlooked because respect leads to increased dialogue and tolerance, and greater tolerance leads to greater acceptance.

Showing limited respect leads to minimal dialogue and acceptance of others at various management levels, which in-turn limits broader views of strategic thinking and the ability to move forward, at or near the top where it’s absolutely critical. Both respect and a lack of respect trickle down.

When there’s a lack of respect, dialogue, tolerance, and in-group acceptance, it becomes most visible at the worker level. It’s here where its absence and lack of tolerance for individual differences leads to poorer communications, a lessening of care and concern for others, confusion, and ultimately accidents.

A low degree of respect and acceptance shown to others will not help to build teamwork and cohesiveness. A low degree of respect is evidenced by bad-mouthing, gossiping, ostracizing, and purposely limiting the thoughts, opinions, and usefulness of others. The problem with initiating, accepting, or perpetuating these types of limiting actions is that the table can and will turn for anyone, at anytime, especially within these kinds of groups. You might be considered a valuable part of the “team” one week, and cut off from that group by the following week. In these groups, do you ever know who has your back or who’s looking out for your safety?

Work groups that have great leadership don’t accept exclusion but promote inclusion. Groups that create ongoing dialogue will take time to hear each other out, practice patience and tolerance, fight fairly, and work toward acceptance of each other. These particular groups are also better able to move through barriers, changing and challenging hazards and work conditions, and they draw from the collective knowledge of the group and its broader forms of inclusive decision-making.

It makes good sense to listen to the newer worker, and individuals who come from different industries, and from varied backgrounds. These kinds of groups also tend to help the supervisor who has limited experience and needs the patience of others so he or she can hear from the entire group. In turn, this leads to more informed decisions for the safety and benefit of his entire team. But it begins with respect.

Within this writing, I could have addressed respect for the profession of safety or one’s role within safety. I could have also highlighted respect for many issues and concerns within safety but all seemed so impersonal. But showing respect for each other throughout the hierarchy in our organizations and within our professional relationships, now that’s a different story!

Bottom line, greater respect leads to greater dialogue and greater tolerance, and greater tolerance leads to greater acceptance. And greater acceptance leads to better decisions, which ultimately brings people together as safer and more productive work units.

Most all of us have observed how a lack of respect hurts the individual and the organization in a multitude of ways. But you’ve got to start somewhere, so don’t trivialize the importance of respect. It’s a great starting point and part of your foundation to higher levels of safety achievement.

The Fourth Behavioral Principle and Blue Bell Ice Cream

You’ve likely read some of the stories linking Blue Bell Ice Cream to three deaths and up to 10 listeria cases.  But did these events have to occur?

Seemingly workers repeatedly informed management about housekeeping-related concerns and the issues were apparently poorly addressed. 

Well, I can’t help but think of an old video I reviewed years ago that highlighted the four basic behavioral principles: positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, punishment, and extinction.  I believe the great Albert Bandura hosted this black and white video while working at Stanford University.  The fourth principle is largely about ignoring some action or activity that will eventually fade to zero because it was not reinforced in some manner.  Seemingly the leaders at Blue Bell got this principle wrong – maybe they thought that ignoring the employee concerns (or letting workers know their complaints needed to stop) would cause the health and safety issues to go away, but in reality it caused the upward-feedback to fade. 

Ultimately, ignoring the workers and their feedback was a bad move – the all-important feedback went away, but the problems reportedly got worse.  Maybe there was a little less initial pain to not hear from the workers, which had likely led to a bit of negative reinforcement for management – but not the type of reinforcement leaders should have been experiencing.

In no way I am trying to beat up Blue Bell and maybe we've all gotten this part of the story wrong.  I'm just citing one side of the occurrences that have been in the press.  And I’m sure there are other explanations for what happened at Blue Bell – surely there are many good leaders there.  Nonetheless, listening and acting is critical to the health of every organization. 

Asking, listening, and acting on important upward-feedback is crucial. And listening well to the people closest to the work makes really good sense. Just query a few leaders who chose to use the fourth behavioral principle in the wrong way. 

The Ant Man and Your Safety Vision

Yesterday, I was returning from my opening keynote for the Governor's Industrial Safety and Health Conference in the state of Washington and decided to pass the time by watching Ant Man, the movie.  I loved Ant Man – even though I don’t typically like sci-fi movies.  And I have to tell you, The Safety Coach® would not want to take on Ant Man!

Ant Man resonated with me because he never gave up on his vision.  He fought, and fought, and worked through tremendous obstacles in order to see and embrace the reality of his vision.  Thank God for the Ant Mans in this world!

Just a few days ago, someone asked me a question pertaining to letting go of one’s vision for safety.  I responded by saying we should never let go of our vision for safety.  It only takes one turn of events, one new key stakeholder, or a new leader to enter the organization who will support your vision and give it new life.  In fact, we should have a personal vision for safety, and a collective one that we share within our organizations.  Your personal vision should get you excited and out of bed in the morning.  The collective or organizational vision needs to do much of the same for those in your corporation.

You may have to let go of your organization in order to find a new one that shares in your dreams but don’t let go of your vision for extreme success in safety.  Don’t ever give up on your vision and dreams for safety.  And don’t ever let your dreams for great safety achievement evaporate just because of a temporary obstacle or two.  The Ant Man certainly didn’t! 

Great Safety Leaders Give Away Power

Certainly great safety leaders don’t always give away their power and authority, but there are times when it is in everyone’s best interest to give at least some of it away.  This is especially true when trust has been built and there is a history of working well and successfully with others.


It Takes Smarts and Hearts

Great safety leaders know that they have to be selective with whom they give their power to and when.  Individuals who are trusted and have the kinds of knowledge and skills necessary, are near the top of that list.  These kinds of workers are willing and able to take on new challenges and knock down barriers to greater success, working through the execution of safety-related challenges, programs, and processes.

Knowing that you’ve put enough time in with your workers, while building rapport and revealing a history of appropriate support, helps to let all who are involved, better understand who is really engaged – from both the head and heart.  When people are motivated and are competent enough to be successful, with nearly any kind of new challenge, those challenges become an opportunity for success.   Even more, when leaders give power away, they aren’t simply collaborating, but at times, they are removing themselves and more fully empowering.


Not Any Old Leader Will Do

It takes a skillful and seasoned leader who is comfortable and courageous enough to give away his or her power, in order to get more in return.  And by removing herself from the group, that safety leader is acknowledging that she is looking for ownership, and ownership goes beyond participation, empowerment, teamwork, and collaboration.  Ownership is much of what great safety leaders want to find, and realize that it occurs largely when power is given away, rather than taken away.

Greater levels of safety achievement are waiting to be discovered and embraced through greater humility.

Are your leaders humble enough to give away, at least some of their power?

Developing The EHS Bubba Within

Leaders who are expected to make regular and sustained improvements regarding the environment, health, and safety (EHS) need to impact each of their workers’ domains of attitude formation, not simply the behavioral.  And leaders who get engaged and directly involved with their workers have the best chance to connect on deeper levels, both emotionally and cognitively.  That means greater influence and success.

The very best leaders that I have worked with learn to drive out fear and create openness in communications with their workers.  These same leaders help to bring about confidence where it was lacking.  They bring about credibility by developing and investing in the skill sets of their followers.  And they don’t allow “admirable followers” to remain in a role of followership forever. Driving out fear helps to create confidence, which leads to credibility, conviction, courage to do the right thing even when nobody is watching.  And eventually, it can bring about collective efficacy and community - how's that for a string of Cs? All of these characteristics help to create a culture for safety where people take action and lead because they are no longer fearful of reprimands but now have the skills, confidence, and credibility that others helped to develop within them.

The very best companies that have extreme success in EHS have invested appropriately in their workers, so each can find more of the leader within.

Pro golfer, Bubba Watson has said, “My dad taught me to be a leader or a follower, and he said follower ain't fun. So I want to be the leader of Bubba Watson.”

Are you investing appropriately in others so they can become better EHS leaders and take ownership for ongoing EHS improvements?  Do you think it’s time to invest in more of your EHS followers so they can become more influential EHS leaders - for everyone around them - not just Bubba?