Kevin Burns Blog

Safety leaders focus in the present and on what they are doing in the moment.

With Labor Day on its way this weekend, many will be hitting the golf links. The subject of safety leadership is normally a serious one. But, I thought that we could venture a little off-road and have a look at safety leadership from a different perspective.

Each of the points should be fairly evident and provide you with a new way to connect something fun with something serious. Let's play the front-nine. Here are nine reasons that safety leadership is like golf:

The quality of your work as a supervisor or safety person is tied directly to the kind of person you are.

Management is key to the success of any organization - especially in safety performance. After you hire the right people and you train them, how you manage them will determine your success. No company ever achieved great success with mediocre management.

Front-line is where the real work gets done.

Front-line supervisory is one of the most important positions within an organization. You either make or break your safety culture reputation at this level. If it fails at the front-line, it fails all the way up the chain of command. Front-line is where the real work gets done.

Before get to the four tips to be a better supervisor, if you'd like to get started on improving your ability to lead your team, then take the Free Preview of the Safety Communications & Coaching for Supervisors course. 40-minutes of video instruction, summary sheet download PDFs and a companion MP3 audio version to take with you on the go. And it's free to get started.

Here are 4 tips and strategies to help front-line supervisors and safety people be better and more effective at the job:

Everything that matters in "the way we do things 'round here" rests almost solely with supervisors.

Senior management doesn't create safety culture. It's impossible for senior management to be connected with every nut and bolt, every shovel full of dirt and every connected wire. It's impossible to see that from the senior management perch.

But this is the world that supervisors live in; one connected wire at a time, one shovel of dirt, one torqued nut and bolt.

It is for those reasons alone that supervisors have far more influence over the safety culture than a CEO. There is no doubt that senior management can influence a safety culture. But senior management neither creates safety culture nor reinforces it. The best they can do is commit to it and support it. Everything that matters in "the way we do things 'round here" rests almost solely with supervisors.

But not all supervisors are given proper management-skills training courses. They may not know how to manage people, how to inspire them, or how to help them find their motivations for safety. Too many supervisors ascend into their positions without the tools to help them do the job effectively. But supervisors are certainly responsible for production, safety and teamwork. And if none of it happens, the supervisor is to blame.

If you're a front-line supervisor, here are three reasons that your position can make or break safety and the crew culture:

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.

Front-line employees can have leadership abilities without having a title.

Call it a pet peeve but please stop using the word leadership to describe management. We have all worked for a manager who had no leadership skills. You don’t call those people your leader. You call them your boss. Leadership and management have little to do with each other. Besides, front-line employees can have leadership abilities too - without having a title.

You don’t have to be in management to be a leader. Besides, peer-leadership is sometimes far more effective when it comes to getting fellow employees to safety-up. Positive safety peer-pressure can make work-sites more safety-conscious than management intervention.

Safety certification and titles don’t make you a leader. Position doesn’t make you a leader. That’s good news for front-line employees. There’s no monopoly on leadership. Employees can be leaders just as easily as anyone else. It's influence, demeanor, conscientiousness and selflessness that makes leaders. Leadership is a mindset - how you approach your role in the world. Leadership, natural leadership, doesn’t need courses or schooling. Leadership is not something you get in exchange for money.

Employees make decisions daily that are either in alignment or out of alignment with the safety program. You can be a leader in your own life in safety - or you can take your orders from the boss.

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.

Front-line supervisors need to understand that perhaps the most important position in an organization is at the front line.

Out-of-work safety supervisor numbers are growing - especially in the energy sector. Layoffs are plentiful and competition for what few jobs there are is fierce. What’s a supervisor to do? As hard as it is to not worry about how long the slump in oil is going to last, now is a perfect time to up your game.

Taking the time to add to your skill-set shows character in the face of adversity. It also demonstrates your willingness to do whatever is necessary to get the job done. You demonstrate that you're willing to improve your performance when no one is paying you. Those are the traits of good leaders - not that of a nine-to-fiver. It shows your attitude and value.

When things are busy and the work is plentiful, there is never enough time (or stamina) to add to the workload by updating skills or re-tooling. But when it’s slow and jobs are few, many people will be competing for the same jobs. Being a middle-of-the-pack performer won’t get you noticed or working anytime soon. You have to bring something to the table that no one else has. Now is the time to tool-up and get the skills that will set you apart from everyone else.

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.