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?

Safety - Gotta Coach 'Em Hard - Hug 'Em Later

Football season has just begun and lots of high school and college coaches are pretty frustrated right now.  Many are trying to figure out why their kids (athletes) aren’t getting it.  And many haven’t realized that as a coach, you can’t just show up in August and try to coach a kid real hard.  Coaches have to build trust and relationships, which in-turn affords opportunities to drive kids harder – to get more out of them.  When a coach spends time getting to know a young athlete, long before and after a season begins, the ground becomes increasingly fertile to push a kid harder and to maximize his or her potential.

The same can be said for many organizations – even within the "Amazons" of the world.  If people have a desire to work, and there is a high regard for them as a person, coupled with a high regard for productivity – you have a winning formula.  This is particularly true when expectations are set early and often, and workers know that you have their best interests in mind.  In our context, a high concern for people and their safety combined with a high concern for productivity is a great match!  But it takes a special leader, coach, and teacher who can help workers on those two levels.

As my old college teammate and current high school football coach, Pat Conochan says, “if you want to coach a kid real hard, you have to show up long before August – well before the season begins."  And “if kids aren’t getting it, you either better find a better way to teach them or get out of coaching.  Because guess what?  It’s not the kid’s fault.”

And so it is to a large extent with many leaders and certainly with employee safety.  You better "show up well before August" if you want to get the most out of your people.  And if your people aren’t “getting it” and are still getting hurt – you better find better ways to support them and to teach, or you may need to find a new way to earn a living, because guess what?  It’s not their fault.

Finally, I have to give credit to Bruce Arians, head coach of the Arizona Cardinals who says, "coach 'em hard and hug 'em later."

Safety and Servant Leadership: Does it Give Us the Best Chance to Win?

I’m a fan of servant leadership.  I first wrote about it in a cover story for Professional Safety in 1996.  Servant leadership is largely about developing and helping others first - allowing them to become leaders too.  And I think for front-line leaders and even for leaders in the middle, servant leadership offers the best chance to win – to create a safety culture of extreme success and excellence.  Even when we compare servant leadership to transformational leadership, for me, servant leadership wins out.  And even though there is a paucity of empirical work surrounding servant leadership, it is looking stronger and stronger to many.  We need servant leaders – let's take a look at the primary facets of this school of thought and contemplate our work in safety advancement.

Servant Leaders: 

Care.  They Get It and Feel It.  Servant safety leaders leave self-interest behind for the good of their people.  They understand that improving safety performance will ultimately compliment and improve productivity, quality, and morale. Servant leaders have a natural desire to care for the safety-related needs of others. This basic tenant is rooted in their personal values and cannot be easily taught. Servant leaders want to make a difference in peoples’ lives but not at their own gain.

They See The Vision.  Servant leaders see the dream for excellence in safety. They nurture a climate that encourages thinking beyond the ordinary for extraordinary results. Those who want to be at their best as a safety leader must encourage and support thinking that allows everyone to believe in the greatest dreams for success – zero accidents and zero incidents.

Have Foresight.  Servant leaders are able to get a clear picture of the future before others can see the consequences.  Unlike other leaders they know the investment in people through safety helps to avoid fateful consequences that can lead to fatalities or physical destruction from egregious events.  So often leaders put off significant investments in safety only to realize a catastrophe lay in wait.  Those who want to be successful servant leaders need to have and develop this foresight.

Know How to Listen.  Servant leaders are good listeners and want to know how safety can be continually improved. They are genuinely interested in the thoughts of others. In turn, want them to share their ideas and thoughts because they know their leaders will value them. Listening is a skill that can be developed and is essential to building a high-performance safety culture.  And listening moves to a higher level of organizational efficiency by listening strategically – through regular employee input, safety sensing sessions, and perception surveys.

Have Empathy.  Servant leaders want to know what’s going on in safety – they want to tap into the feelings of their people.   They also want to know more about the challenges and barriers to working safely – at work and at home.  Empathy is practiced by the servant leader to get to a deeper component of listening – beyond the head alone but also with the heart.

Heal.  Do people come to you when the chips are down or when something traumatic has happened in their lives? Servant leaders are people who others want to approach when something traumatic has happened. They have developed a remarkable appreciation for the emotional health and spirit of others. They are good at facilitating the healing process and others gravitate toward them when emotional needs arise. The ability to create an environment that encourages emotional mending is crucial for those who want to become great servant leaders and great safety leaders as well.

Have Awareness.  Do others believe you have a strong awareness for what is going on? Servant leaders have a keen sense for what is happening around them. They are always looking for cues from the environment to validate and form their opinions and decisions. They know what's going on and will rarely be fooled by appearances. This skill is crucial to the development of servant leaders.

Use Persuasion. Do others follow your requests because "they want to" or because "they have to?" Servant leaders seek to convince others to do things rather than relying on formal authority. They are naturally very persuasive and offer compelling reasons when they make requests. They seldom force others to do things. This ability is important for servant leaders to develop.

Seek Stewardship. Do others believe you are preparing the organization to make a positive difference in the world? Servant leaders are often characterized by a strong sense of stewardship. Stewardship stems from medieval times when a 'steward' would be assigned to hone the skills and development of the young prince – to prepare him for his reign. The kingdom relied on the steward to teach and hold the prince in trust so that he would be a successful king. Today the term stewardship involves many of the same things. A steward in an organization is responsible for preparing it for its destiny, usually for the betterment of society. When we describe a leader as having a strong sense of stewardship, we refer to a desire to prepare the organization to contribute to the greater good of society – not unlike preparing the prince to serve the greater good of the kingdom. Making a positive difference in the future is characteristic of the stewardship mentality. Those who desire to be excellent servant leaders need to have a natural sense of stewardship. If you don't naturally have a stewardship perspective, it is unlikely that the servant leadership style will come naturally or easily to you.

Work for Growth.  Do people believe that you are committed to helping others develop and grow? Servant leaders have a strong commitment to the growth of people. They believe that all people have something to offer beyond their tangible contributions. Servant leaders work hard to help people in a number of ways – spiritually, professionally, personally. Those who want to be great servant leaders need to connect to others' developmental needs and actively find ways to meet these needs.

Build Community. Do people feel a strong sense of community in the organization that you lead? Servant leaders have a strong sense of community spirit and work hard to foster it in an organization. They believe that an organization needs to function as a community. A servant leader instills a sense of community spirit in the workplace. Those who want to be great servant leaders need to work hard to build community in the organization.

Everyone should have a leadership model or practice they understand, embrace, and can act upon – every day.  In the early 1990s, servant leadership was the model that I embraced and shared with others – it changed my life, my career, and hopefully touched the minds and hearts of those around me.  Which model of leadership do you seek to better understand, embrace, and share in your everyday life and career? 

Safety Collaboration: How is Your Organization Doing?

No doubt, collaborative organizational approaches are designed to increase productivity, quality and safety performance. In fact, in many cases, "collaborative involvement and decision making" at the customer and production level have become a competitive necessity. Among the many approaches to improving safety performance, "active involvement" must be viewed as a critical construct. Intuitively, participation and collaboration seem sound. But have these concepts been researched and tested?

The work of Kurt Lewin was instrumental in this regard (Lewin 1947, 1951, 1952; Raven 227+). In his study of interpersonal conflict, Lewin observed that teachers influenced their students in one way, but that these students were being pushed/pulled in the opposite direction by peer pressure.
He extended this reasoning to group dynamics and subsequently discovered that in these "push-pull" situations, where an authority attempts to influence someone against group pressure, it was more advantageous to present the reasons for change to the group (rather than try to affect change via an individual). The group could then discuss the possibilities and arrive at decisions for action. This was found to be particularly effective if the group's solutions were similar to (or as good as) those offered by the manager trying to initiate change.

Coch and French expanded Lewin's research to test participative approaches in a manufacturing environment. The focus: increased productivity. Their work supported Lewin's research. They found:
1) When management simply told workers what changes should be made without first involving them, employees adhered to group standards instead - in effect resisting management's desires. This produced a hostile work environment and created a frustrated workforce.
2) When mutual participation led to "group decision making," employees accepted change more readily - it became an internalized component of their decision-making process. Management was not viewed as a dictator; rather, its participative influence was seen as that of a friend. As a result, production improved (Coch and French 512+).


BENEFITS OF INCREASED COLLABORATION

Several dynamics occur when actions and attitudes are the focus of the change process "with participation being key among them." Several benefits can be realized via collaboration. Greater "upfront" acceptance as the result of group decision making increases the quality of work. Cooperation and participation set the stage for further collaboration. People begin to anticipate success and look forward to working together. Mutual respect and open dialog follow. A greater sense of community and corporate citizenship develops. People recognize that they must work together, so they consistently strive to build relationships in which reciprocation is a priority (Sarkus 26+).

The force and effectiveness of the "collaborating group" overcomes individual pressures to disrupt changes that the group has already accepted. In other words, the force of the group can propel it through individual forms of resistance. Group-oriented work fosters positive relationships and builds trust. Members begin to understand that the "inter-related work" of others in the workplace helps them reach individual and collective goals.


PRACTICAL COLLABORATION

1) When implementing a change process, how can safety professionals use active involvement to the benefit of all workers?
2) In behavioral approaches, target behaviors can be defined by groups of people--the more employees who contribute the better. These behaviors become the norm that the workforce has established--they are no longer the "rules of management."
3) Behavioral approaches should involve as many peer observers as possible. Regular "informal coaching" (feedback that occurs when trained observers are not at work) should be encouraged as well. In many cases, supervisors should not serve as "formal observers" because they may be perceived (by employees) as figures who could act punitively rather than positively. Instead, supervisors should be facilitators, helping peer observers overcome resistance to change.
4) Action and activity-based recognition and rewards should also be developed via collaboration. They should reflect the workers' ideas and be meaningful to the group.
5) Encourage group discussion and employee input during the kickoff session and all regular meetings. Look at group members as true advocates - they can use their personal appeal to influence others, especially if these individuals are trusted.Efforts that are designed to clarify goal-setting or progress toward some objectives should be inclusive as well; again, involve as many employees as possible.
6) Some personal "storytelling" activities about how a work-related injury was avoided (or how someone became a safety "champion") can influence behavior and attitudes - especially when the stories are recent and relevant.
7) Seek employee input when considering equipment improvement, ergonomic changes or new personal protective equipment. Employees know the work environment well and can contribute to design changes and related improvements.
8) Role-playing exercises that portray specific safety procedures (i.e., lockout/tagout) are valuable as well. Such activities can positively influence a broad spectrum of actions and attitudes.


CONCLUSION

Even though the seminal work of Kurt Lewin is some 50 years old, it still remains as insightful as it is practical with regard to participation and collaboration. Despite this, many firms continue to struggle with participative approaches. How is your organization doing?

(Adapted from Professional Safety, October 1997)


REFERENCES
Cock, L. and J.R.P. French Jr. "Overcoming Resistance to Change." Human Relations. 1 (1948): 512-532.
Lewin, K. "Frontiers in Group Dynamics." Human Relations. 1(1947): 541.
Lewin, K. "Constructs in Field Theory." In Field Theory in Social Science: Selected Theoretical Papers, D. Cartwright ed. New York: Harper, 1951.
Lewin, K. "Group Decision and Social Change." In Readings in Social Psychology, G.E. Swanson, T.M. Newcomb and E.L. Hartley eds. 2nd ed. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1952.
Raven, B.H. "The Bases of Power: Origins and Recent Developments." Journal of Social Issues. 49(1993): 227-251.
Sarkus, D. "Servant-Leadership in Safety: Advancing the Cause and Practice." Professional Safety. June 1996: 26-32.
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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