Safety first, until it costs.
Businesses often state “safety first” to project that employees are their most important value. Yet very few actually live it. At issue is the perception safety as a cost center, and decision making reflects it.
Before you are a leader, success is all about growing yourself. When you become a leader, success is all about growing others.
Growth: both a business and personal positive. As leaders of business and safety, growth also means engagement for the benefit of your stakeholders.
The ends justify the means.
Or do they? As we head into a New Year, this is a question for all business and safety leaders. Today’s customer seeks transparency from the organizations with whom they do business. Serious injury and death don’t lend well to a bottom line.
A leader is best when people barely know s/he exists. When the work is done, her/his aim fulfilled, they will say: we did it ourselves.
In business, having a vision and the resources to drive it forward sets the foundation for teamwork and success. In safety, it is imperative to align leadership in this way. After all, it’s not the safety professional who is responsible for success, it’s the team.
Don’t tell people how to do things; tell them what to do and let them surprise you with their results.
The entrepreneur who started the business poured blood, sweat and tears into making it successful. It’s hard to let go, and that leads to micromanaging. The value of hiring the right talent takes the business further, allowing for a diversity of ways to improve and expand.
Move with the ocean rather than trying to freeze a single wave.
Today, business leadership is adaptable, anticipating the future while staying present and moving with the marketplace motion of change. Safety leadership should follow the same: rather than holding rigid to stoic ideals, reaching out to build an interdisciplinary team and recognizing each member’s value is what drives initiatives forward.