Kevin Burns Blog

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.

If you want to improve safety meetings, you have to improve the level of respect you have for your people first. 

Mark Cuban, television personality and owner of the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks once said, “Never take meetings unless someone is writing a check.” He might be onto something there. Safety people would make a bigger effort if they got paid for the quality of their safety meetings.

But that’s not happening anytime soon. So, for now, you will have to accept that safety meetings are notorious time killers. They usually start late, discuss too many topics, and end up running long. Poor planning combined with poor presentation skills make them difficult to endure.

If your people can’t wait to attend the next safety meeting, and are excited when it’s meeting day, then you’re doing it right. But that’s not you is it? So how about you invest a few minutes and give some consideration to some new ideas. Like a good safety meeting, it’ll be short and to the point.

Here are three easy steps that can transform your safety meetings from boring to engaging - and build respect:

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.

Safety improves when engagement improves. Engagement improves when supervisors and safety people make it a point to value the people that they work with.

An untrained or under-skilled supervisor or safety person tends to get the basics done. Nothing more. Get production. Stay within the safety rules. Everybody goes home safe (fingers crossed). Job done. Except, the job is not done. In fact, it could be argued that job is systematically being undone. If you’re focused on just getting it done, you may be missing the biggest part of the safety picture.

Helping employees overcome their tolerance to safety rules paves the way for them to see their own win for buying-in to safety.

You may live in a neighborhood or community that has a few annoyance problems. Loud muffler vehicles, noisy and nosy neighbors, people who don’t clean up after their dogs all annoy you. But what are you going to do? Yeah, sure, you wish that people were more respectful and courteous. Heck, you even complain to your other neighbors about the carryings-on of the disturbers. But, you don’t have the time or the motivation to take on something that will take effort so you tolerate it. Even though you’re not alone in your annoyance, it’s too big a fight. What’re you gonna do?

Now what happens at work when similar issues arise? You’re forced to fill out paperwork safety forms that you swear no one looks at. You’re forced to sit through the same deck of boring PowerPoint slides at safety meetings. You have to endure that one supervisor who has a chip on his shoulder and a badge of authority is his hand. Heck, you even complain to your co-workers about the things you’re forced to endure. But, you don’t have the time or the motivation to take on something that will take effort so you tolerate it. Even though you’re not alone in your annoyance, it’s too big a fight. But, what’re you gonna do?

That is not complacency. That is tolerance. And tolerance should become a serious consideration for supervisors and safety people.