Shifting the Paradigm:
Executive Leadership
There is no question that compliance with health and safety regulations is a critical component of successful operations in any industry. Nevertheless, because these regulations are externally imposed, there is a tendency for health and safety to be viewed as an ancillary function to the primary activities of any organization. This externally focused approach to health and safety has the potential to adopt a “compliance mindset.” This attitude becomes an avoidance approach to negative external consequences, instead of a positive and progressive methodology to prevent risks.
An alternative to the compliance mindset is the “commitment mindset,” which is an internal, integrated and holistic approach to process improvement. This commitment mindset requires serious and sustained engagement and leadership, starting with the organization’s executive team. The executive leadership creates the atmosphere that empowers the entire organization to be involved in the continual improvement of health and safety practices and gives all employees permission to challenge the status quo. Another way to compare the two philosophies is:
Conforming people try to follow the rules;
committed people try to do the right thing.
Why strive for a commitment mindset? The overarching tenet of this philosophy is that the behaviors that occur at a worksite are supported by the culture and systems of the organization and those closest to the risk are in the best position to identify at-risk behaviors and develop strategies to reduce that risk.
At its most elemental level, attaining success when it comes to creating a commitment mindset requires four components:
Leadership–Leaders create the atmosphere that drives and supports the culture, beginning with the Board and Executive Leadership all the way down to immediate supervisors.
Engagement-Engagement at all levels of the organization is crucial, because it strengthens commitment, which results in increased ownership.
Sustainable solutions–Making sure all solutions can be sustained in the organization to support health and safety requires more than developing policies and providing training. It entails a close look at people, and processes to carefully design solutions in non-safety areas that promote lasting change.
Systems focus–The workforce can only perform as well as the systems they work within. It is important to avoid blaming employees for an incident and instead work to understand what was driving the actions or why the risk exposure was not recognized.
Moving from a compliance mindset to a commitment mindset requires the organization to address a number of important tasks. It starts with integrating safety processes into all functions across the organization, including Operations, Human Resources, Communications, Internal Audit and Finance. With each of these functions, it is important to include safety accountability into performance management, site ratings and job evaluations. This is accomplished by setting specific and measurable goals beyond the traditional lagging safety measures, ensuring engagement at the front line and following through with coaching, feedback and clear communication.
Leaders are responsible for creating the right atmosphere
Adopting a commitment mindset is challenging; the challenge is that the organization’s leadership must create an atmosphere that empowers and supports employees to become engaged leaders in risk identification and mitigation. To accomplish that, it is important to examine a number of systemic organizational issues, including:
How consistent are supervisors’ decision-making processes?
Do supervisors have employees’ best interests at heart?
Do employees receive the support needed to accomplish organizational goals?
Is collaboration an effective way to get tasks accomplished?
Do team members treat each other with respect?
Do employees perceive that the company values safety performance?
Does safety communication flow freely throughout the organization?
Do employees feel free to communicate about problems and issues, especially safety?
Realizing the benefits of employee engagement
Leveraging the power of employee engagement can transform the entire organization so that it takes a proactive approach in identifying and mitigating risk. The resulting culture will deliver many ancillary benefits that include empowering team members to identify risks, strengthening leadership and accountability and collecting data for analysis to prescribe solutions. A proactive approach has the capability to remove barriers to continual improvement and drive improvement in non-safety business areas
The safety professional’s role
The role of the “safety professional” should be to become change agents and problem solvers of the continual improvement approach within the safety philosophy. Safety professionals are in the position to lead efforts for management system implementation and should be encouraged and given the ability to solve problems. They should also receive ongoing professional development in order to continue increasing their skill levels at driving continual improvement in all business areas, not just safety.
Safety professionals are the champions or facilitators for safety processes, but not solely responsible for safety. A delicate balance must occur in adopting a commitment mindset—every functional department must be a business partner with safety. Operations must own their safety programs, not simply comply with regulations. Education and collaboration are essential elements in the process, and evaluating with assessments promotes best practices and continual improvement.
Commitment is the driver
Attaining the goal of continual improvement in health and safety behaviors requires more than a compliance mindset. It moves beyond what is deemed compulsory to behaviors that are truly part of the fabric of the organization’s cultural identity. For that to happen, the organization must take steps from the top-down and the bottom-up to embody a continuous improvement approach to attain a commitment mindset in all business functions, not just health and safety.
