New Type of Leader
Safety, The New Measure of Performance
BY MATT FORCK

For a comprehensive safety vision to be successful, it’s been said that top-down commitment is essential, but in many organizations today, leadership is no longer just about senior management.

Certainly, CEOs and senior executives have a vital role to play in the safety process. They provide the necessary resources and, hopefully, a vision of safety that can be followed.

An equally important group of safety leaders has recently evolved ‘behind the scene’ to affect positive change. This was proven in a recent survey, when a company with 2,500 employees asked them to identify leaders within their organization. Only 15 percent of the identified leaders had a title of manager.”

Each organization has a group of leaders, called, informal safety leaders. They have no official title or rank but possess great influence in their organizations. The key to safety success in the near and long-term future will be the ability to identify these informal safety leaders, align them around the organizations safety goals and beliefs, then engage them in a meaningful fashion.

Senior leaders are still important, but true success will come through the relationship with the informal safety leaders, the ones with true influence over the everyday choices and actions of the employees.

New measure of performance?

I once heard a safety professional from a major utility company say, “some investors simply look at a company’s safety performance numbers, because if a company can manage safety, they can manage their business and will be a solid investment.”

Safety is a unique mix of managing people, attitudes, training, behavior, tools, systems, policies and procedures. It may not be a performance measure in the next year, but it will be ‘the’ performance measure of the next decade.

Companies that can manage safety will not only be ahead of their peers in OSHA recordable data, but will experience a competitive advantage in a number of areas such as human performance, workers’ comp and medical costs, employee engagement and worker turnover. Safety is not only the right thing to do, but it’s also the right business thing to do, and moving forward, it is not just safety professionals that will be noticing.

The Duke University men’s basketball team has had as much, if not more, success over the last two decades than any other team in all of sports. To find the secrets to their success, one has to look no further than their Coach Mike Krzyzewski.

Given the fact that “Coach K” mentors and coaches 18 to 22-year-old student athletes, he probably has to have an entire rulebook to keep them in line and produce results. To that end, how many team rules do you think he has? At least 25, 100?

No, Coach Krzyzewski has one team rule, and that team rule is simply, “Don’t do something detrimental to yourself.” In hurting yourself you are hurting the team, and the school.

It’s a trap that every organization falls into. A deficiency is found so a new rule is established. Along with that new rule is a training session, a safety meeting, a set of posters and a lot of ‘buzz.’ After six months; however, the results are the same. Because there was no improvement in results, a more stringent rule is established and the circle completes again, and again and again. The problem is that rules, strategies, policies, structures, procedures, monetary awards and discipline all deal in the head. It’s the outside-in approach to behavior and it yields very limited results. Sure, policies, rules, discipline and accountability must be in place, but that isn’t a ticket to results, it is just the foundation.

Moving forward, lasting success, and sustainable results will be found when organizations go to the heart. Going to the heart means that we are dealing with beliefs, habits, energy, passion, personal commitment and personal goals. It means involved safety meetings, trusted coaching and feedback, and interactive and real time near miss programs. When the heart is engaged, results will follow. Or as Coach K says, “don’t do something detrimental to yourself!”

Finally, there is a new definition of Win-Win. In the past, it was ‘us’ against ‘them.’ It didn’t matter if it was ‘safety’ versus ‘operations’ or ‘management’ versus ‘labor’ or ‘senior leaders’ against ‘middle management,’ there was always tension.

Moving forward, there is no scenario where management wins and the labor/unions lose. There isn’t a model where the safety staff wins and line management loses. We are all in this together. If you don’t believe me, ask a few of our automakers.

Organizations who understand, from top to bottom, that everyone is on the same ship and if the ship sinks we all sink, will have a competitive advantage, one that is tailor made for safety results. In this true win-win environment, teams will take on new meaning and new energy. In a true win-win environment, we assume innocence and trust. Organizations who understand this relationship and promote this type of environment, will rewrite the definition of ‘team.’ FSM Matt Forck, CSP & JLW, is a leading voice for workplace safety. He keynotes conferences and consults industry on safety’s most urgent topics, such as safety awareness, employee engagement and motivation, cultural alignment, accountability and leadership. To learn more about Matt, book a presentation or download FREE safety tools, go to www.thesafetysoul.org.