Kevin Burns Blog

Anything that makes lives better, creates more success and more freedom is easy to sell. Safety, for it to be done effectively, needs to be viewed as a marketing strategy - not a compliance program. Forcing people to comply against their will creates a disconnect - a sense of disengagement. And, when people are no longer engaged in their work, it's safe to say that they are no longer engaged in safely doing the work. How you present safety will either help or hinder your people in deciding whether to buy-in to safety for themselves. The job of safety supervisors and managers is to remove the mental barriers of buying-in to safety. And to get employees to choose safety for themselves - both at work and at home. You know well enough that safety isn't just a thing that people do at work - at least not to be successful. Removing the mental obstacles creates opportunities for employees to buy-in to safety. Help them to embrace it as one of their personal values. People who cut the lawn in sandals, drive with broken tail lights and cracked windshields don't buy-in to safety. Those who speed and forget their seat belts don't buy-in to safety - even though they seemingly work safely. They tolerate safety rules. That's very different than buying-in and owning safety as a personal value. Look at it this way, you cannot buy that which is not for sale. So in order for there to be a buyer, there has to first be a seller. Don't be afraid of the idea of selling safety. It's easier than you think. Here are three things you need to know about helping others buy-in to your safety program:

To be respected and trusted will require you to become a safety leader. Safety people can hold various positions within an organization. All have varying degrees of supervisory, management and advisory responsibilities. Some administrate. Some manage. Some supervise. Some advise. Some hold senior management positions. And yet others, hope to one day hold one of these positions. So, what things can be done by any safety person in any safety position that would universally make them better at their jobs? Improve their personal skills. If all you really want to do is to enforce rules, then you will become a safety cop and your future job options will be very limited. But to be respected and trusted will require you to become a safety leader. You will need to hone your safety leadership skills. Here are four things you can do right now to be become a more effective safety leader:

Exceptional performance is always noticed. Exceptional front-line performance in safety comes from effective supervisors. Business gets better when the people IN the business get better. In other words, nothing improves until the people tasked with doing the work improve. In order for there to be an improved result requires an improved effort. At the front of the line is the effective supervisor. Effective supervisors create loyalty and a positive team attitude among employees. Knowing the rules of safety may be important. But that’s not enough if you want to improve the culture and performance. Effective supervisors understand that there is only safe production. Production is never separate from safety. Effective supervisors quickly rise above those who enforce only the rules. There are far too many people in safety pushing rules, processes and procedures. There are too few who have the skills to help employees perform better in safety. Anyone can be a safety cop. Not many have the skills to be an effective supervisor.

To build a successful, strong and supportive safety culture requires a foundation of employee buy-in. Safety has, traditionally, set itself up based on the compliance model of checks and balances. It is then presented to employees as paperwork and meetings. Then the focus gets placed on reporting and tracking. It’s difficult to get employees to buy-in to a program of checks, forms and paperwork. Employees can't see what's in it for them. As a result, buy-in to safety is marginal. Companies re-brand and re-launch consumer products in an effort to be relevant again. Laundry detergent, new models of car, the latest iPhone. They're "new and improved." These companies give their old products a new spin with new improvements. And they make sales. To build a successful safety culture requires a foundation of employee buy-in. Without it, you will spend large amounts of money and never achieve great success. But like any consumer product, before it can be bought, there has to be a benefit to the consumer. They have got to see how this product makes their life better. When they find it, that's when they buy-in.

Safety management is a paid position. Safety leadership is voluntary - yet infinitely more rewarding. It’s time to take stock of where you are in your safety career and to find ways to tweak, adjust and fine-tune your performance. There is, in this post, already an assumption that you’re up to date on legislation, rules and procedures. If you’re missing that part, you can add those items to this list. But I don’t want to discuss your knowledge of safety. I want to help make you a better safety leader.

Zero is more than a measurement. It is a philosophy. Zero has become a divisive term. There are those who believe in Zero and there are those who believe that Zero cannot be sustained. Speak out loud your belief in Zero and you open yourself to attack from those who believe that Zero cannot sustain - and vice versa. Both sides look at Zero as a result. But Zero is more than a measurement. It is a philosophy. If you truly believe in safety, you ultimately believe in Zero. “Safety Second” doesn’t roll off the tongue as a strong corporate value. “Be almost safe” doesn’t inspire anyone to take safety seriously. But how often do you see organizations celebrating “almost safety?” Industry-average safety performance does not inspire anyone to embrace safety as a personal value. Acceptable risk is not acceptable. Companies preach Zero Harm. But do they really mean it?

Organizations that align themselves with negative messaging struggle to improve their safety results. Of course negative reinforcement doesn’t work. But then safety people do just that. You reinforce your safety message negatively without even realizing it. Negative reinforcement does not automatically create safety. In the last 20 years of studying human behavior, motivation, engagement and safety, I’ve discovered that organizations that align themselves with negative messaging struggle to improve their safety results. A recent series of off-topic statistics got my attention.

Companies claim to value safety over all else but unknowingly engage in activities that undermine that desire. Good companies want to protect their people from harm in the workplace. Of that there is little doubt. A problem exists, however, when deed does not align with word. Over 70% of North American workers are not fully engaged in their job. Without being fully engaged in the job, there is little likelihood that an employee will be fully engaged in safely doing the job. Companies claim to value safety over all else. But they unknowingly engage in activities that undermine that desire. Companies want to become world-class performers in safety but measure themselves against industry averages. Companies say they make safety the top priority but then don't invest in peripheral training. Many don't have support materials to own the hearts and minds of their employees. Eventually employees clue-in and say, "don't tell me how much you care - show me." The safety world is moving away from simple compliance models. Integration of omnipresent safety (permeating throughout the organization) is the next level. Here's where the real work needs to be done. Let's start with the 3 things that organizations must do better before safety performance can improve.

Those who complain about using marketing to advance their safety programs just don't understand its value. The safety purists hate the idea of marketing safety. But then, they object to anything that doesn`t involve process, procedure, the law, or enforcement. They oppose the idea that safety needs to be marketed or sold. They complain that marketing of safety is crass and fluff. Those who complain about using marketing to advance their safety programs just don't understand its value. Better to condemn than to admit you don’t understand right? Marketing, although a science, is not that difficult to comprehend. Brand Choice What is it that makes a family choose one brand of laundry soap over another? What is it that makes a person choose one brand of truck over another? Android or iPhone? Apple or Microsoft? Starbucks or Tim Hortons? OK, that last reference is decidedly Canadian. The same question could be asked of employees. What makes one employee buy-in to safety and another to simply tolerate safety rules?

You don’t instill a positive safety culture by settling for performance within the average. The best organizations give world-class safety performance. They don't do it with a mediocre effort, mediocre standards or mediocre safety people. They do it by surpassing industry average targets, a focused engagement and with safety people on top of their games. They search out and employ supervisors and managers who set a higher standard for themselves. They seek out those who want to inspire their own crews to be better, to reach farther, to achieve at a higher level. You don’t build championship teams by shooting right for the middle of industry averages. You don’t instill a positive safety culture by settling for performance within the average. If you want to lead, you have to do not just what others are not doing, but by doing what they’re not even prepared to do. World-class safety is driven by having higher standards than the average. Higher standards drive a greater effort to set themselves apart. Greater effort is driven by high-performing safety people. World-class safety is not achieved by a mediocre effort, standards or people who don’t seek to be exceptional. Without exceptional people, you're shooting right for mediocrity. You will not, and I repeat, NOT get there by luck.