Until you start addressing the underlying attitudes of your people, you will always struggle with compliance, behaviors and communication.
This week, here in Calgary, we experienced our first blizzard of the season. It’s not winter yet but we have experienced plenty of blowing and drifting snow. My three appointments on Monday all got canceled. No one wanted to venture out. Can’t say I blame them. I am an Alberta Safety Speaker. Be safe right?
Down the street at the grocery store parking lot, a woman in an expensive car was spinning her tires in about an inch and a half of snow. I jumped out of my SUV with a shovel. A couple of scoops full and she was free. She had no winter tires - not even all-seasons. They were the low-profile sporty tires that turn hard like hockey pucks in cold weather. Useless in snow.
Why Do People Make The Choices They Make?
It got me thinking, why is it that some people will automatically switch over to winter tires in November like clockwork while others will gamble with their personal safety? Why do some people prepare themselves to be safe in adverse conditions while others take a chance on luck? Quite simply, it’s attitude.
Some people have a safety attitude. Some don’t.
But it’s not just in safety that you find the attitude. It’s evident everywhere. Some plan for retirement while others buy all of the toys. Some abuse their bodies with drugs and alcohol while others care for their health. Some will help a neighbor in need and others just walk on by. It’s all based on individual attitudes.
Attitude is nebulous. It can not be defined. But it is part of your make-up - your personal values system.
Why Attitude Is Important
Years ago, a personal development facilitator explained to me the reason why attitudes, opinions and beliefs get you your results. How each person views the world is based upon values: attitudes, opinions and beliefs. It forms a kind of window through which you see the world. Everyone has one of these windows, and no two are exactly the same. It is your context. What you see through your window allows you to form judgments. Your judgments determine your appropriate actions/behaviors. Your actions/behaviors get you your results.
Attitudes ==> Judgments ==> Behaviors ==> Results
Here’s the best part; your results will prove that your attitudes, opinions and beliefs were correct - every single time. This is why organizations struggle with Behavior-Based Safety because it’s only the behaviors that are addressed - not the underlying attitudes. Without addressing the underlying attitudes, you fail to impact judgments and consequently behaviors. Any behavior that is in conflict with an underlying attitude will not sustain.
Hire For Aptitude - Fire For Attitude
People are hired for aptitude and fired for attitude. With safety, it should be the opposite. Attitude, although it is terribly important in the performance of a job, is rarely addressed before a person is hired for a job. During candidate selection, the focus is on aptitude - not attitude. Where in the interview process do you determine whether a job candidate possesses the right attitude for safety and whether or not their personal values align with the corporate safety values? The candidate may be able to say all of the right things in an interview that give the appearance that they are committed to safety but do they really buy-in to safety? What about doing a walk-around of the job candidate’s vehicle and observing how they handle their own safety?
You can witness how powerful attitudes are by observing your own people. How many will PPE-up for the job but then go home and cut the lawn wearing flip-flop sandals? How many will protect themselves from harm on the job but on weekends in the winter, go off into the mountains to snowmobile through risky avalanche zones?
Safety Values Must Align
Just because they dress safely on a job site doesn’t mean they will act safely. The decisions your people make are not based on what you’ve told them in safety. People make decisions in alignment with their personal values - their attitudes. They may all have the same eye protection, but each one has a different window in which they see the world.
Until you start addressing the underlying attitudes of your people, you will always struggle with compliance, behaviors and communication. Safety, real safety, starts with attitude.
I want to help you address safety attitude at your next safety meeting. Call me and let's start a conversation.
