Effectiveness is about how little effort it takes to inspire people to do the right things.
On this episode, 3 key tips to help you become a more effective safety leader.
As a safety person, manager or front-line supervisor, you already know that your work
can be thankless.
But you still have a responsibility to drive down the best practices and advice onto those
employees at the front-line.
See, that's where the greatest number of your people are.
That's where the greatest amount of activity is.
That's where the greatest risk of incident exists.
What you know about safety needs to get to those people at the front-line.
Effectivenss has nothing to do with experience or position.
Just because you may have the position or title doesn't mean that you're effective at
what you do.
And without being effective in safety, the success of your safety program can not rely
on luck.
Luck is not sustainable.
You need to be the most effective you can be and to help many others to be effective
in order for safety to actually sustain.
Effectiveness is not about being armed with a set of clever quips to trot out, or an ability
to use guilt or threat of harm to make your point.
The more you rely on that stuff other people have said or shared on social media, the
more you may actually make yourself less effective.
Because it's less of the authentic you and more of the rehearsed rhetoric.
Effectiveness requires work.
Of that there is no doubt.
Oh, and it also requires you to already have a working safety program in place and that
yours is a workplace that hires good people to do good work; work that has earned you
a decent reputation of quality performance.
If you've got those things, then here are the top 3 strategies to help you, as a supervisor,
manager or safety person, become more effective in safety:
Number 1- Remember the 2-sales rule.
When you are trying to advance an idea, you are selling a point-of-view.
Yes, selling.
If you want your people to buy-in, you're selling.
And in every sales situation, there are two sales being made.
The first sale is the person who is selling.
If you don't trust the salesperson, you're not buying: no matter how good the product
might be.
The second sale is whatever idea you want to advance.
But before anyone is ever going to buy-in to safety, they are going to first buy-in
to the safety person, manager or supervisor.
That's a fact.
Do not skip this step.
It is important.If you're assuming that just because you hold a position, people trust
what you say, you're going to be disappointed.
You and I both know that we all need to trust a person before we trust what they tell us.
People trust those people they respect.
And, when you as a safety leader have both trust and respect, you will be able to advance
safety.
And you will be able to do it without having to resort to threats of harm, injury-stories
and guilt.
We have to trust the person before we trust what they say.
You need to make the first sale before you can make the second.
Work extra hard on making the first sale.
The number 1 way of improving effectiveness is to understand and embrace the 2-sales rule:
salesperson first and then whatever they are selling second.
Number 2: Have a personal mission.
Have you got a mission for doing what you do?
How many people are you going to connect with today in a meaningful way?
Do you feel that you make a difference in safety?
Why is safety important to you?
Why should employees care about the safety program outside of the "not getting hurt"
thing?
What is your mission?
Companies have a mission statement.
You'll find them usually posted in the lobby for customers and clients to read.
What's your personal mission for safety?
You need to be able to clearly define why you do what you do and why safety is important.
It will help you with Point #1: the respect and trust thing.
When you have a passion for making a difference, for helping people to live better lives, to
help them become exceptional employees, you have a reason for getting up in the morning.
But how do you get to that?
You start with the list of things that keep you up at night.
Your mission needs to be a plan for overcoming that list.
Write down what scares you and what keeps you up at night as it relates to safety.
Then make it your mission to eradicate everything on that list.
See if that doesn't change the way to view and do the job.
It will change your effectiveness.
The second way to become more effective is to develop your own mission statement for
how you will change minds in safety.
Finally, number 3: raise your expectations.
What can your people expect from you?
That's why you create a mission statement.
It helps you to identify your expectations for yourself.
Once you have identified your own expectations for yourself, then you can lay out your clear
expectations of them.
And, in that order only.
You first.
Them second.
If you are clear on your own expectations for yourself, then you can develop the expectations
you have of them.
If you don't have your expectations for yourself, your people won't know what to expect.
But when you're clear about your self-expectations, then you can be very clear about how you expect
your people to help you get there.
Communicate those expectations in a clear and concise way to your people, and your people
will rise to meet those expectations.
Communication, though, is a big part of expectations.
Effective communication is essential.
So, here's what you need to know about communication and why most of it is not effective.
Safety people say something once and expect that it was understood.
But here's the problem.
Words are just words until the receiving party internalizes what was said and accepts it
as understood.
Only then does it actually become communication.
And the more words you use the more confusing your communication becomes.
That's why throwing out statistics at a safety meeting is not effective communication.
It's just more noise.
Stats don't help people become more effective or to act with purpose.
You have to be clear and concise.
Use fewer words to make your point.
The more words you use the more you confuse.
So, instead of a lot of words and noise, communicate the one or two things you expect from each
person, and don't be surprised when your people do exactly that.
Be clear and have high expectations.
Number three way to be more effective, raise your expectations and communicate it, a lot.
Y'know, you become much more effective when you are trusted, when you share your personal
mission and when you have clear expectations.
The truth is that effectiveness isn't measured by how many rules you know or the number of
procedures that you can recite.
It isn't even about how long you've been in the job.
Effectiveness really is about how little effort it actually takes to inspire people to do the right things.
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