Personal leaders in safety are those who lead themselves in their own lives and make decisions that are best for themselves and those around them.
When consulting with companies to help them improve their safety meetings, I routinely meet with safety managers, supervisors and foremen in a round-table discussions. In these round-tables, I get a better understanding of staff participation levels, identify what is working well and what is not and establish safety culture baselines.
Inevitably, the conversation turns to staffers with reputations for disruption, resisting change, being cynical and those suspicious of the motivations of the safety department. We also discuss those with reputations that welcome change initiatives, the influencers and the natural leaders.
Everyone has a reputation. Yours is built on the way you have conducted yourself historically in the past. If you’re the guy that poo-poos every new safety initiative, then people won’t seek out your opinion. Your reputation precedes you.
Personal Leaders In Safety
Then, there are those who don’t tear down an idea just because it wasn’t theirs. They support their fellow workers and want the best for the team they work with. Those are the personal leaders in safety: those who lead themselves in their own lives and make decisions that are best for themselves and those around them.
Your reputation to be either a safety leader or safety cynic is at stake every day. Here are five reasons why you should choose personal leadership in safety:
1You See Things More Clearly - When you choose personal leadership in safety, you begin to see things (your job, the workplace, your co-workers) more clearly and less through the eyes of the disgruntled, the directionless and the cynics. You start to form your own opinions that are not based on fitting-in and being liked by those who pressure you to agree with them. You begin to see people for who they are and begin to accept that there are people in the world who just don’t want you to be better than them. But pull away from them, and you find that you see things clearer when you are not being distracted by others.
2Your Confidence Rises - People with confidence are those who, in times of adversity, can be counted on to persevere. The pride you take in your work is directly related to your level of confidence. Your aptitude for the work is also tied to confidence. When you choose to better yourself, to become a personal leader in safety, you begin to acquire the skills that set you apart from others. Confidence follows. The more you learn about who you are and what you are able to contribute, the more your confidence increases. Good people want to be around confident people.
3Your Value Increases - When you find yourself surrounded by good people, you can assume that you are part of the group. When you have demonstrated and established a reputation for being a clear thinker and a confident safety performer, your stock rises dramatically. Being cynical and critical takes no effort. They are a dime a dozen. They’re cheap to find and cheap to keep. But solid safety performers with confidence and clarity, well they are hard to find. So when they find you, you will be valued. Valuable commodities are rewarded commensurately.
4You Become The Captain In the Dressing Room - Every sports team has those one or two individuals who can be counted on to get the chatter going in the dressing room, who can rally their team-mates and who can, with a few words, get the team to dig down and to pull out their best performance. Every quality organization has those people, the ones that all of the others look to for their cues. It is rewarding to be that guy - the one that everyone else looks to for advice, motivation and inspiration. No one ever looks to the cynic for inspiration. Only leaders get chosen for that task.
5Your Opportunities Unfold - You have to ask yourself today, “Is this all I want out of life?” Because if it is, then this is as good as it gets on the road you’re on. But if you want more, you have to do more - and more importantly, have to be more. Once you have established your reputation as a leader, others will seek you out, opportunities will present themselves and you will have choices and options - more than you have ever had. Every company wants good people - especially good people in safety. If you have a reputation as a solid safety leader, others will seek you out in addition to being recognized by your own company.
Safety leaders are not just those with safety certification. Safety leaders are those who can inspire and motivate others to choose safety and personal leadership for themselves. You don’t have to be in management to be a leader.
Let’s start a conversation about increasing personal leadership in safety for your workplace.
