Kevin Burns Blog

Safety meetings are not supposed to be boring. People, more specifically presenters, make them that way. Talks from the TED conferences are engaging. If you are not familiar with TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design), they are a global set of conferences that bring together the world's most fascinating thinkers and doers, who are challenged to give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes or less. Eighteen minutes or less. Some of the world’s greatest thinkers will change the world with their ideas in under 18 minutes. So the question becomes, if world-class thinkers and thought leaders are only given eighteen minutes to make their point, have the learning stick and ultimately change the world, why are mediocre safety presenters given 60-90 minutes to make a point or two about safety? If issues like fighting world hunger and jumpstarting world economies can be addressed in 18 minutes, why are safety meetings running longer than that? Safety complacency is a big problem today but never moreso than safety meeting complacency: the lack of focused engagement in preparing engaging safety meetings. The problems outlined below identify the real reasons safety meetings are traditionally so boring and what to do next.

The one thing that will connect continuous-cash-flow, long-term investments and legacy, is safety. Without safety, everything is at risk. The safety department complains that it’s difficult to get workers to buy-in to safety. Employees resist buying-in to a program of checks, forms and paperwork. Especially the paperwork. Safety meetings, rewards, recognition and paperwork are important. Indeed. Each plays a role in the safety culture-building plan. But to build a successful safety program requires a foundation of employee buy-in. Without it, you will be feeding the monster (spending large amounts of money) and never achieve the desired success. To change that, go to Leadership 101; basic values-based conversations with employees. Coach employees to see that their own long-term goals and the company’s long-term goals are the same. The values are the same. Then, show them how safety is the tool that gets them from where they are (in the present) to where they want to be (in the future). Safety is the insurance to protect the future. Here are three compelling conversations for supervisors and safety people to have with their crews one-on-one. The purpose of these conversations is to influence better buy-in to safety:

People-View is how you talk about your crew to other supervisors or even your buddies behind the crew members' backs. “Keep it simple and as short as possible. These guys don’t want a lot of information and they won’t remember most of it anyway. And don’t make it too complex or it’ll go right over their heads. And don’t give them too many breaks or they’ll take their time coming back. Some of them might even take off from the meeting. You can’t trust them. They’ll take a shortcut if they can find one.” Is that the people-view for your crew? Is this how you talk about your crew to other supervisors or even your buddies behind the crew members' backs? Is that what you would say to an outside speaker or guest getting ready to address your people? People-view is how you view people - specifically your people, your co-workers. People-view is the predetermined opinions you have about either the people you work with or those you do business with. That includes job site contractors and subcontractors. Command-and-control is the default management style for supervisors and safety people who lack basic safety leadership skills. Chapter and verse from the rule book is easy because there is no arguing the rules. Supervisors and safety people, the unskilled ones, are quick to write up job site infractions. Like a cop at the side of the highway, they get compliance through enforcement and threat. They view everyone under them as potential law-breakers. You can’t build a relationship of trust and respect with a people-view like this. If you think your people aren’t capable of grasping safety concepts, that will affect how you treat them. It will, more importantly, affect the relationship you have with them. How do you view your crews and employees? Here are four self-test questions to help you identify your own people view:

Safety people and supervisors who lack a healthy dose of willingness to engage crew members on a human level will limit both themselves and their crews. Safety people and supervisors who lack a healthy dose of willingness to engage crew members on a human level will limit both themselves and their crews. It doesn’t happen on purpose, but it happens. The inexperienced supervisor who doesn’t know how to motivate and develop individuals on the job, ultimately has a harder time getting the job done. If there is no strategy to continuously improve employees, there’s little chance of improving the organization as a whole, and that includes safety.

Safety people and supervisors get concerned when their employees won't buy-in to safety. They also complain about employees' lack of engagement and a lack of accountability in the safety program. But what if the safety messaging is aimed below the intellect of the same people you're trying to reach? What if you've dumbed it down too far? What if you've underestimated your own people? Communications that miss the target can undermine your efforts in safety. Generic slogans and feeble safety campaigns downloaded from the Internet do not resonate with most people (Hint: there's a reason they're free for the taking on the Internet). And people do not connect with anything that doesn't resonate with them. A slogan for a slogan’s sake can do more harm than good. Generic safety messages are like an ill-fitting suit. Buy a suit off the rack and it looks like a cheap attempt to dress-up. But go to a tailor and have one built specifically for youy and you are willing to wear it proudly. The same too with a safety message. It has to fit perfectly, or your people won't wear it.

Lack of engagement is a problem in every corner of every organization. Safety has called this problem complacency. Engagement is the biggest problem in the workplace today. The Gallup surveys tell us that 71% of employees are NOT actively engaged. You would think that a 71% level of disengagement would be cause for grave concern for companies. After all, poor safety performance and lost productivity creates a huge financial mess. Companies pay more and get less.

If you want to become an effective and respected safety leader, work on these personality traits. Back in 2009, when Google first launched their Project Oxygen employee survey, they were looking for a way to help their managers be better. They were also looking for ways that managers and supervisors could help engage employees better.

Improve an employee's motivation to do the work and you improve their motivation to do the work safely. As a front-line safety person or supervisor, you have the greatest impact on employee motivation. The words you use, your facial expressions, and your demeanor all speak without words on how much you value the people you work with.

In order for a safety partnership to work, there has to be mutual benefit. The television shows Shark Tank (USA) and Dragon’s Den (Canada, UK, Australia) feature a panel of investors looking for a great product or idea to get behind. The entrepreneur makes a pitch to the investors. If the pitch is successful, the venture gets backing. If the pitch misses, or if the investors deem that there is too little benefit to them, they won’t invest.

Improve individual safety performance and you improve team safety numbers. This is Part 4 of the Traits of Safety Leaders. To read the first three parts go to: Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3.