You have all of the control over your safety program and how many of your good people buy-in to the program.
There are some things you can control and some you can not. What you can control is your participation in the safety program. No one can turn down or increase your participation in safety.
What you can not control, is everything else. You have no control over the weather or how others will buy-in or ignore the safety program. But you have control over your own participation levels.
Twenty years ago, course facilitator, Brent Stewart said, “I attract to me that which occurs.”
You participate in your life in varying degrees. Sometimes you’re fully vested in what’s in front of you, sometimes you’re just putting in appearances. Your results are usually commensurate with your participation levels. The choices you make get you the results you get.
Based on that truth, here are the five reasons you’re not getting the buy-in to the safety program that you’d like:
BBoring. You’re making safety boring. I know, you can’t help it. You have forms, paperwork, inspections and incidents to talk about. How do you make safety not boring? The problem is that you are lumping the content and the presenter into one - when they are clearly not. The content (subject matter) might be boring but that doesn’t mean you have to be boring too. A great presenter can make any subject less boring. Get good at presenting. Make it fun. Make it interesting. Make safety the hero in your workplace.
Action item: buy a book on presentation skills (not a book on using PowerPoint) and read it - all of it. Then buy another and do it again.
LLecturing. Recall the empty faces of employees who couldn’t wait to leave the last safety meeting. That's because you’re talking AT them not WITH them. Telemarketers prove this point. While you wait for an opportunity to get off the phone, telemarketers keep talking at you - not with you. You’re doing that in your safety meetings; trying to lump everyone together. People don’t buy-in to the safety program all together. They do so one at a time. Get good at having conversations one-on-one about safety.
Action item: read this Blog post and get good at the three points.
AAwaiting. It's not unusual that safety managers blame upper management for not buying-in to the safety program. Safety managers claim that the safety culture can not improve until upper management buys-in. And that’s just wrong. Oh sure, it’s easier if management buys-in - but it is certainly not a requirement. You already have the law on your side. Every worker has the right to refuse unsafe work. When workers exercise that right, management is forced to make a decision about their safety program.
Action item: stop making excuses and waiting. Get busy promoting safety regardless of what upper management is doing.
MManaging. You’re supposed to be leading, not simply managing. To manage is to maintain the status quo. To lead means to move on to something better. If you’re not improving the safety program’s results, then, by default, you’re managing them. To lead means to not accept your current situation. Refuse to allow your program to be boring, to talk AT your people or to sit around and wait for management to embrace safety. Safety becomes more exciting and easier to buy-in to when it looks like it’s moving forward. People will get behind something with momentum.
Action item: make a list of 5 things you want to improve about the safety program and start finding ways to do it.
EEgo-tripping. There is no certification needed to buy-in to safety. You may need certification to manage the safety program. But to buy-in to safety as one of your personal values needs no schooling, courses or certification. Let’s be clear about that. CHSC, CRSP, QSR, NCSO; none of them matter to the employee you’re standing in front of. Employees are inspired by the person you are, not your designation, not your certification. Safety management is supposed to be selfless. Safety managers are supposed to care about people - not impress them by the number of courses they take.
Action item: refrain from using your certification as your hammer (expertise). Instead, be a caring person.
The acronym should shed some light on why getting buy-in has been difficult up to now. You have all of the control over your safety program and how many of your good people buy-in to the program. Watch your participation now. Be aware of the things you’re doing that help you get buy-in and the things that hinder that effort. Correct the latter.
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Kevin Burns is a management consultant, safety speaker and author of "The Perfect Safety Meeting." He delivers engaging and entertaining keynote safety presentations for everyone: from front-line staff to senior management. He helps people see the light when it comes to buying-in to the safety program.
