A team focused on winning a championship will outplay the team focused on avoiding penalties.
I received an email this week from a safety adviser whose company has the right safety systems in place. Company management is strong and committed and there is a concentrated presence on the company’s job sites. But, the Occupational Health & Safety inspectors still find infractions? The question was: what is it that the inspectors are seeing and why can’t the company see it first?
Here is an analogy. If a cop is following you on the road, you will tend to be over-cautious. Regardless of how confident you may be as a driver, you will second-guess yourself. When you doubt yourself, you will make mistakes. A citation will follow - especially if the cop was looking for a reason to stop you. When you are trying to please the cop more than you are concentrating on your driving, you will mess up.
Safety is a team effort. Management doesn't win championships in sports, whole teams do. Compliance doesn't win championships, a collective focus does.
A team focused on winning a championship will outplay the team focused on avoiding penalties. Stop focusing on the penalties and start focusing on making every employee a part of the solution. Here are three ways you can begin to outsmart the safety inspectors by adopting a sports team philosophy:
1Become A Championship Team - Last year, the first place Seattle Seahawks won the NFL Super Bowl. The first place Boston Red Sox won the World Series of baseball and the tenth place Los Angeles Kings won the NHL’s Stanley Cup. There is an expectation that the first place team will go far. But how does the #10 team win it all? What separates a championship team from others? Mindset. A championship is not won by avoiding mistakes but by seizing opportunities. Team meetings that focus on what you are doing wrong won’t make you a champion. Champions focus on getting to the next level - always improving, tweaking and adjusting. They are never satisfied with status quo.
Championship teams have each other’s backs. They support their teammates. They jump up and fill in gaps when a team member gets caught out of position. They have confidence in their abilities and the full trust of the rest of their team. Is your team prepared to pitch-in and help you to outsmart the inspectors? Do they have suggestions you haven’t considered?
2Make A Player Trade - A client recently asked me to offer observations about their safety program. I asked why half of the cars in the parking lot backed in and the other half pulled in forward. He admitted that in winter, they concentrate on that in safety meetings. But over the summer, it wanes. They have now refocused on safe parking.
Mike Holmes is the TV renovation king and proponent of going beyond minimum building code. He will always find something wrong in every home he steps into. That’s his job. He looks for problems. He has a fresh set of eyes and a fresh perspective. You can do that too. Find a fresh set of eyes. Make a player trade. Find a company (a vendor or contractor) that you could swap out your own safety personnel for inspections. Their safety manager inspects your workplace, you inspect theirs. Fresh eyes will always see something.
3Run The Playbook - The safety manual is your team’s playbook. The safety manual outlines every play in a given situation. Like a sports team runs drills, run your plays in your toolbox meetings. Ask for input. Put your people right into the situation and watch how they react. They may give you great insight into shortcomings in your plays.
Your people can view the safety manual as a boring book of rules and procedures. Or they can view it as a golden collection of plays that will get them to the championship. Ownership of the playbook increases when the players get the opportunity to contribute to it. Take your plays one by one from the playbook and see if your team can’t improve and update your plays. Watch them engage in their work when they’ve had the chance to re-write some of the plays.
A tough opponent always makes a team perform better. A tough inspection always uncovers areas of improvement. Safety inspectors are there for a reason, to ensure you’re the best you can be. Embrace your situation. Become a better team as a result. You will find that over time, the safety inspectors will find less to criticize.
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If you're planning a 2015 safety kick-off in January, I'd be pleased to be considered as a featured speaker.
