So Much for Respecting and Caring…and Health & Safety!

April 10, 2018 By Leave a Comment

(These qualities must be missing if Safety Bloopers keep happening…and if people actually find them amusing—yet don’t heed the learning that they offer!)

safety should be a company's first priorityAlmost every day I see people post on LinkedIn, engaging in awful safety practices. Some are so ridiculous that they could be funny – except that people are getting hurt. Some workers seem quite content to endanger their lives and co-workers seem to be so unaware of the risks around them – that it is unbelievable!

The remainder of this newsletter addresses the so-called safety bloopers, by asking ourselves…what is going on? And most importantly, what is the lesson in this for me? For my team?

Here’s to a blooper-less workplace where everyone goes home whole at the end of their work-shift, because we care and respect each other – looking out for each other!

More on Safety Bloopers…

In one, some guys were riding on the back of a fork truck to try to provide better balance and the truck still goes out of control; they were lucky to not get hurt. In another, a woman was walking along, reading her cell phone, and trips over the open cover of a sidewalk basement stairway and falls into an open stairway. Another was a guy who was standing on the top of a 12-foot step ladder, changing a light bulb and falls onto the floor. His two co-workers just stood there looking at him as he lay there immobile. Another was a guy pushing his heavily loaded lift cart off a step, and was thrown over the toppling cart is it flips. In another, a guy was working from the top of a 25-foot ladder that was balanced in the raise scoop of a big front-end loader. It goes on and on.

What is going on here? Is management so indifferent that they just tell people to get the job done any way they can? Are people so stupid that they do what they are told even when the hazards are so blatant? Who cares? What do you think?

The safety people I meet at various companies and conferences all seem to care. Managers and supervisors I talk with seem to care. I know Claire and I care, passionately. I do not understand what is going on. In 2016, there were 5,190 people in the USA who were accidently killed at work, so this is a serious problem. Are some of the stupid things I see on LinkedIn contributing to these numbers? I hope not! I hope our business owners and line organizations know better!

safety should be a number one priorityA recent Gallup study conducted over several years, covering about 150 countries, revealed that only about 15% of the people were actively involved in their work and that another 15% were actively opposing their managers and supervisors. The other 70% must be just doing as little as possible and not helping or looking out for each other. We are better in the USA, but not by much.

There are lots of people writing about how to improve safety. There are lots of people working with organizations as consultants and advisors, but there are not enough to watch every single person or be at every worksite. We all have to depend on those around us to help. They see things we don’t see. They notice things that can hurt us that we have missed. They can tell us to slow down and think things through.

What will it take for all of us to be working together with respect and caring? These simple things can make a very big, positive difference. We can show our co-workers that we care and want them to go home safely to their families each day. Each of us can take the initiative to reach out to help.

What will it take for managers, supervisors and all the workers to care enough to save someone from a serious injury or fatality?

Do you care?

Filed Under: Safety Excellence, Safety for Business, Safety Leadership Tagged With: , ,

Some Simple Rules

March 12, 2018 By Leave a Comment

Production activity in most businesses is going up with all the changes in our economy.When there is a change in activity like this, we move into a danger zone. People are busier. More people are needed so the hiring picks up. Already there are reports of more serious injuries and fatalities showing up.

In a time like this, management must take a strong lead so the safety efforts pick up and fewer people get injured or killed. Extra attention is needed.

Simple Rules – Part I

simple safety rules should be followedOne of the most effective things that I did in stressful and changing times like these was to follow these three rules:

  1. Share Information
  2. Build Relationships
  3. Show how each person’s work connects to the larger business

First, I spent more time in the plant talking with the people, sharing information about all our safety, environmental and business activities. People were eager to know about these things so we had many good conversations. I talked about the importance of our safety work, the need to keep our standards high, and to work together so that we could all go home in one piece. I reported on our environmental standards and reports to the State and EPA. People felt good when I could report progress in lowering our environmental impact. I also reported bad news, if that was the case. I talked about our businesses, our key customers, and the need to keep providing high quality products on time and at competitive prices. We talked about near misses and the importance of learning from them and not covering them up. I emphasized the importance of all of us sharing information and talking together.

Second, as I engaged with the people in the plant, I was respectful and attentive to their ideas and thoughts. I answered their questions, and if I couldn’t, I promised I’d get back to them with an answer, and I did. I modeled the respectful behavior that we needed. We talked about the importance of treating each other with respect and that harassment and bullying were not acceptable. Sometimes we did not agree, but I never bullied or put people down. When I found that I was wrong about something, I would admit it and apologize. This always opened up the conversations where we could have honest dialogue. We created a safe space for the important conversations. I encouraged everyone to talk with whoever they needed to talk with (regardless of organizational level or department) to get the information they needed for their work.

Third, I shared a lot of information about the importance of their particular job to our total success and asked for their help. We talked together and learned more about our respective contributions.

These three leadership processes are very powerful in helping the organization to come together and grow. But I could not do it all myself. I needed a lot of help from everyone so that we could pick up our production activities and do it safely without environmental incidents.

Simple Rules – Part II

3 simple safety rulesThere are three important things that everyone needs to do to help to keep the safety performance and productivity high:

  1. Everyone needs to look out for themselves. Be sure you understand the work, have the right safety precautions in place, use the correct PPE, be sure to have the right people there to do the work safely, and being sure that lock-out/tag out procedures and other critical procedures are done. You need to get the rest you need to be sure that you are fit for the work and ask for help when it is needed.
  2. We all need to look out for each other, particularly when new people are coming into the workforce. The new people need to get up to speed and helping each other is critical. Help them to get oriented and learn how to use the PPE and other safety equipment. Teach them the right procedures. Keep an eye out for them to be sure they are fit for the work. If you see someone is getting into a problem, take the initiative and go to help them.
  3. Everyone needs to look out for this place where we are making our living. Keep things in order. Housekeeping needs to be excellent and the preventative maintenance needs gets done. The equipment inspections need to be up-to-date. Equipment should not be abused and damaged. Broken equipment should be repaired expediously and taken out of service if necessary. Work orders need to be addressed promptly.

We are all in this together. Managers and supervisors sharing information, building respect, trust and interdependence, and helping people to see the importance of their work for the success of the whole venture combined with everyone looking out for themselves, looking out for each other, and looking out for this place is a powerful way to keep the safety and production at levels of excellence even in a rapidly changing environment.

Simple Rules – Part III

your business safety rules will keep you preparedIn your tool box meetings or shift start meetings, consider expanding your thinking to imagine how someone could get killed in work planned for the day. This is beyond what most groups do, but is an excellent way to prevent an unlikely tragedy. Talk together about how a fatality could happen. Even the most unlikely scenario will happen one day. Talk about what is in place that will prevent the fatality if the event should happen. Then ask yourselves if these preventative measures are good enough to really protect you. If not, then consider what you need to do so that you will be protected from being killed if the unlikely event should happen.

Many fatalities happen because some really unexpected event occurs. In hind-sight the problems are obvious. Let’s try to make them obvious before hand and prevent an unnecessary death.

Want more information? Or hold a conversation on this? Please give me a call at 716-622-6467. I am pleased to share how simple rules make a difference – a big difference.

Filed Under: Safety for Business, Safety Leadership Tagged With: , ,

A Wicked Question

February 12, 2018 By Leave a Comment

wicked questions are safety questionsA wicked question is one where it is so complex that there is no final answer. We work to the best solution we can, which works for some period of time, then we have to revisit it again as conditions change. (The wicked question keeps repeating, sometimes reminding us of a bad penny – that keeps showing up at inopportune times!)

A wicked question requires that we articulate the paradoxical challenges that a group must confront to succeed. Here are some quick examples:

  • How can we dramatically improve safety and quality while drastically reducing costs?
  • How do we work together as a team when we all have competing agendas?
  • How can we commit ourselves to be accountable to measuring results while being open to the possibility that we may not be measuring the right outcomes?

Let me pose this wicked question – one that many of you, as Leaders, may be facing: The question of how to deal with marijuana in the work place, treat all stakeholders fairly, reduce injury rates, better protect the environment and our neighbors, honor the responsibility of our employers for providing a safe workplace, meet OSHA requirements and improve the competitive strength of our businesses? – This is a wicked question!

There is no doubt that marijuana has an impact on our brains. But how much, how long does it last, how much does it impact our ability to think clearly, react appropriately to situations as they change and work safely for ourselves and those around us?

All the stakeholders have ideas about what they see as fair. How do we resolve all the competing demands? We all need safe workplaces and strong, competitive businesses. We need to protect the environment and our neighbors. Those who drive and travel also need to be sharp and alert.

Some Ideas to Consider

investigationa and improvement are needed for wicked questionsWe need to approach this from the whole systems perspective since everything is connected to everything else. Experience shows that if we try to just fix one part of the system or another, we will wind up making other parts worse.

We need to work together in a way that will bring all our strengths and energy to developing the best solutions we can and not bring the sort of conflict we see in Washington into our workplaces. We need to search for the truth and the best solutions as we can.

Developing some agreed-upon basis for the work is critical. For me the mantra was, “I don’t have a right to make my living where it is okay for you to get hurt. We have to make money as well so let’s figure it out and do it.” The key word in this statement is “okay”. It does not mean that bad things may happen. It does mean that we have the courage and determination to relentlessly work together in the pursuit of excellence together – so that bad things will likely not happen.

Having developed our foundation, we next need to bring the people together in tough, focused, serious conversations to best address all the various issues, fairness and demands – developing the best solutions we can for our particular situation. This highly complex, wicked problem needs us all to work with a deep respect for each other, listening, learning and caring.

Simple training programs are insufficient. Edicts from OSHA or top management tend to address only a part of the problem. We all need to work together, engaging in deep conversations with respect and consideration.

A Complexity Tool

A highly effective tool to use to have the critical conversations is the Process Enneagram©, which enables everyone to see the whole, the parts and the interaction of the parts. Using this we can develop a living strategic plan which you can modify as you go forward and conditions change, around the wicked problem and all its tentacles. You can learn more about this tool at RNKnowlesAssociates.com. Please give us a call at 716-622-6467 if you want to learn more about the effectiveness of this way of addressing wicked problems.

Workplace Violence Prevention – (Another Wicked Problem)

workplace violence

All of us, at one time or another, have had to struggle with dysfunctional behaviors in our organizations. Sexual harassment and bullying are examples of this. These sorts of behaviors left unaddressed lead to poor safety performance and eventually to violence. In having worked in a wide variety of organizations we have come to realize that waste caused by these behaviors is very large. The human and financial costs of serious injuries and violence (across the spectrum) can be in the millions of dollars.

There are also large, but often hidden, costs that result from the shut-down of communications and decent social interaction that interfere with the work. In a few situations where we have had the ability to make before and after comparisons in the time to do specific work, like a change and re-setup between production campaigns or the time to do large powerhouse maintenance shutdowns, we have seen 2-3 fold reductions in the time required for the work as a result of the people putting aside the dysfunctional behaviors and working together much more effectively – willingly addressing the wicked problem.

Think about your own organization and the amount of wasted time in poorly run or unnecessary meetings. Think about the time wasted in trying to resolve grievances and other misunderstandings. Think about the waste of having to rework something because the communications were not clear and it was not safe to ask the proper questions.

All these wasted costs build up and can amount to as much as 25% of the cost of the payroll. The hidden costs are often larger than the ones everyone knows about.

In 2016, the payroll for the US workforce was about 16 trillion dollars. That would mean that all this waste could amount to about 4 trillion dollars. That represents a “gold mine” of opportunity for our businesses to become more profitable. Much of this could be saved by treating each other with real respect, listening and learning together and stopping the dysfunctional junk that is going on in so many places. You can learn more about effectively addressing all this at RNKnowlesAssociates.com.*

*Note that this is an older website of ours – yet the homepage information remains pointedly clear; it needs no revisions. Check out this more current website too: SafetyExcellenceForBusiness.com for more about Leadership and Safety – and dealing with workplace concerns.

Filed Under: Safety for Business, Safety Leadership, The Process Enneagram© Tagged With: , ,

The Work Place Violence Spectrum…and What We Can Do About It!

November 10, 2017 By Leave a Comment

Violence in the workplace is a costly, unnecessary, largely preventable problem. It shows up as incivilities, bullying, sexual harassment, vengeful actions, and sometimes as homicides. These dysfunctional behaviors are costing businesses and the people working for them a lot of money and suffering.

stop workplace violence

According to the Bureau of Labor Statics Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries, there were 403 workplace homicides in 2014 out of a total of about 4,700 workplace fatalities. Almost two million harassment incidents are reported to OSHA each year, and while there is guidance to thwart them, there are no OSHA Standards dealing directly with this problem. There is, however, the General Duty Clause requiring employers to provide a safe workplace, and it has been noted that this includes physical safety and psychological safety.

Each time I see the scroll come across the bottom of the TV screen, or read an online news report of the main points of the day, I cringe when it relates to another occurrence of a workplace violence incident and tragedy. We know it is preventable. It doesn’t have to be that way.

Call us at 716-622-6467 and let’s discuss your concerns in this arena!

Pertinent Questions

workplace violence

What does an engaged, satisfying workplace look like?

Many surveys indicate that almost 70% of the people in our workforce are unhappy with their work situation. Are these people putting in their best efforts to make the safety of their place any better or help to solve customer problems quickly or reaching out in a caring way to help one of their work mates who may be having a problem?

What should owners, managers and supervisors be doing?

Owners, managers and supervisors have many things they can do to make their organizations safer and more humane, and to increase positive engagement. It begins with these people in leadership positions recognizing and owning the problem. Thorough pre-hiring investigations and careful screening of supervisory candidates are necessary. Strong policies and training about workplace violence are needed. Terms like bullying need clear definitions. Clear, widely shared standards of behavioral expectations are required. Follow-up by all levels of management is necessary to be sure that everyone is doing their best to build a more humane and productive workplace.

What is particularly required of supervisors and managers?

Supervisors need training on how to be fully aware of what is happening with their direct reports…(Do they know their people?) and are they able to hold the important, sometimes difficult conversations with their reports to address and head-off problems before they get out-of-hand? As people talk together about these problems in an atmosphere of trust and caring, everything in the business will improve. We have seen all aspects of performance go up 30-40% when the people can work together like this…when they are able to lift up the elephants (including the psychological ones) that get in the way of the team or work group from being the best that it can be (together).

Some recent, heart-wrenching examples:

Here is a current example of a situation that was reported in the Washington Post where everything was missing. The recent killing by Radee Prince of three people in Edgewood, Maryland and another in Wilmington, Delaware on October 18th is a case where all the things described above were missing. He had a record of 42 arrests, including 15 felony convictions, but did anyone look? Why was he hired? He bullied his co-workers so much that a peace order (like a restraining order) was sought but denied by a judge because it did not meet the burden of proof. People had complained about him to management, but Prince was deemed to “be a good worker.” Where were the supervisors and others to support the claim of fearful concern by coworkers? He was eventually fired but returned to the workplace a number of times threatening other employees. Who let him in? This mess was costly, preventable and so sad!

In another example, on October 20th, in a Ford Stamping Plant in Detroit, police were called when a 21 year old, part-time employee was reported to have a gun in the plant. When he was found and confronted, he shot himself. Didn’t anyone notice that this person was not behaving well? Did anyone know and care about him? Was the EAP person invited in to consider coaching this person? His whole world had collapsed around him and no one noticed?

Helping to reduce workplace violence is work that all of us can do and have a part in. Let’s all pull together to help each other. Do we all care enough?

Are you cringing right now, because you think that having a comprehensive Workplace Violence Prevention Program (policy, training, vulnerability assessment) means too much work?

Think again.

The more fully engaged your people, supervisors and managers are, the better your workplace will be on many levels. The more “aware” of what is happening around you and the more able you are to have open dialog about this changing world of work – including the psychological and physical aspects of your workplace – the better off everyone will be, including the bottom line. (Give us a call. We can help you through this!)

Filed Under: Safety for Business, Safety Leadership Tagged With: ,

Workplace Violence Prevention

October 11, 2017 By Leave a Comment

(Richard N. Knowles & Associates is in alliance with The Workplace Violence Prevention Institute. Accordingly, it is appropriate to lift up how Workplace Violence and Safety are related.)

stop workplace violenceViolence at work is a growing problem. Shootings are becoming one of the leading causes of workplace deaths. Many organizations are having the local law enforcement people come in and do active shooter programs. This is a start. Preventing workplace violence has several aspects and becoming aware of how vulnerable your workplace may be, requires a physical-safety and psychological-safety assessment. These problems just don’t happen overnight in most cases. When someone is struggling with a serious problem at home or at work and have to just keep it to themselves, they get more and more lonely and resentful. If they are subjected to bullying and harassment things get bad, quickly. Stuff can build up to a tragedy. (How well do your supervisors know their people?)

Most of the time when these incidents are investigated, co-workers say that they knew the person was not right, having a problem and being isolated. They often report that they were concerned enough about the person that they tried to avoid them and stay away.

In many organizations where the information should be flowing up and down, the organizations are restricted or blocked, and top management knows only about 10% of what is happening on the shop floor. Information flows need to open up so that critical information is shared and acted upon. A powerful way to open up the flow of information is for the top people to get out of their offices, walk around their facilities and talk with the people. The managers can encourage people to look out for each other and help each other. Talking together, listening to each other, learning together is an effective way for the organization to build the psychological safety where it is okay for people to talk together, learn together and help each other better.

Looking out for each other, helping each other, talking together, listening and learning are keys to improving both the physical and psychological safety in our organizations.

Richard Knowles and Associates has a workable dialog process to help leaders and their teams, organizations, hold the difficult conversations that need to be held around preventing workplace violence. There is a process available that is easily integrated into the day-to-day workplace. It is not enough to prevent hiring the bad “hire,” nor is it enough to prevent promoting into supervision the bad “supervisor” where incivilities beget harassment which can beget taunting which can beget all sorts of dysfunctional, hurtful behaviors, and which can create hostile workplaces and breeding grounds for more severe violent behaviors. With a strong, comprehensive, positive workplace violence prevention program, tragedies can be prevented – hostile workplaces can become civil workplaces. Understanding workplace violence prevention means leaders need to look at both the physical safety/security side and the psychological safety side of one’s business, organization and teams. Call us 716-622-6467 to learn more or send me an email.

workplace violence

Filed Under: Safety for Business, Safety Leadership Tagged With: ,

Hurry, Hurry, Hurry…

October 10, 2017 By Leave a Comment

slow down at work to stay safeAs I travel around and watch things happening, I see so many people in a big hurry. We are coming to the end of the good weather so people are hurrying to get outside jobs finished up. Roofers are really busy and not taking the time to properly use and secure their fall protection. I read of a recent 29-story fall in New York City when a guy on a big construction site fell through an unsecured hole in the floor.

Most of the people doing these jobs have a good idea about the hazards they face, yet they seem to ignore the possibility of getting hurt. Many of these people have families and loved ones who will suffer if they are hurt or killed. Why do you suppose they ignore this? Do they think “it” won’t happen to me?

What will it take to get these people to pay attention and be more mindful in their work?

  • Do we need more rules? OSHA already has plenty of them.
  • Do we need more fines? There already are provisions for fines, yet they do not seem to be having much impact.
  • Do we need more supervisors overseeing the work and making the people work more safely? Good supervisors are in short supply and those who are out there have lots to do and are also rushing.
  • Do we need more dramatic pictures and videos of people working unsafely as a reminder? There are lots of these floating around YouTube and other internet sites. Maybe those out on the jobs are not seeing these reminders…maybe (to their detriment) they have blinders on regarding the hazards of the work.
  • Trying to make people work more safely is okay, but we seem to be stuck with this approach. There have been about 4,600 fatalities a year for the last 4-5 years so things that we are doing are not having much impact.

Doing things to the people to get them to work more safely is not working well enough.

One way to do this is to open up the discussions about safety (and talk with each other) to make the workplace psychologically safe enough for people to stand up and ask the important questions and have the important debates about how to work more safely. Lots of organizations say that people have the right to stop a job if it is not safe; do they really?

There is so much pressure in many workplaces to get the job done as quickly as they can that people are reluctant to speak up. (Mixed signals). Some people are afraid of losing their jobs if they speak up. This is not okay!

Most of the pressure to hurry up and get the jobs done is based on the belief that this is the way to maximize their profits. How much does it cost to stop a job for 10-15 minutes to get the safety right? Injuries cost a lot of money in terms of the medical bills, lost time being away from the job, getting someone else in to do the work, OSHA inspections, reports, fines, bad publicity, investigations, and audits. The average cost for an OSHA Recordable Injury is over $50,000.

Stopping the job to get the safety right saves a lot of money, pain and suffering.

Slow Down and Work More Effectively

haste makes waste and you need to be safe at workA good, proven approach is to have brief start up meetings to review the hazards of the day’s work, making sure we have the right PPE and other equipment in place and used, asking each other about what might go wrong and working to avoid this. We need to look over the schedules and be sure we have the equipment we need and the right people for the work.

Each person can make a good contribution to this start-up meeting by talking together, listening, and asking questions. Each person can take responsibility for themselves and their workmates so that everyone has a safe, productive day and can go home in good physical and mental shape.

The fastest way to get the job done is to do it right the first time!!

NOTE: A Good Leader knows this! Savvy supervisors care about the job getting done, while at the same time, that the people doing the job remain safe while doing the work. Holding start meetings to ask people…What are the things you really need to consider for this job? What unexpected things could happen? And how will you prepare for those? Do you have everything you need? Tools, PPE, etc.? What can you teach another (today) about the importance of this work being done safely? How will you look out for coworker/s (today)…during the completion of these jobs? A Good, Respected Leader/Supervisor knows and cares about the people reporting to him/her, shows commitment to safety in all ways, and continually develops expectations of excellence within a learning environment–which the supervisor is keen to establish.

Filed Under: Safety for Business, Safety Leadership Tagged With: , ,

Pressure Cooker: We Need to Partner with Each Other

September 18, 2017 By Leave a Comment

Changes in our workplaces keep coming fast and furiously. A recent report released by Price-Waterhouse-Coopers indicates that by 2030 the pressure on workers to perform will be huge. Organizations will be using all sorts of ways to track performance…even putting chips under their workers skin to look at location, performance, health and wellness! They may be tracking safety performance as well. Managers will need to be having “mature conversations” with the people about all this change and the feeling of threat this creates for their people and their jobs. The pressure to keep improving skills and performance continues to increase.

There is a “workable pressure relief valve” already available to us to release these stress levels! It’s called Partnering for Safety and Business Excellence. The need for open, honest, disciplined, constructive dialog is critical. It is through these sorts of continuous conversations that people and organizations change. The positive energy for continuous improvement builds one conversation at a time over and over. Showing respect and caring for both the people’s mental and physical health, as well as for the success of the business, is critical. The business can’t succeed without the creativity and energy of the people and the people’s jobs can’t survive without excellent business performance.

Who Really Cares Enough to Step In and Hold those Critical Conversations?

A recent report by the Rand Corporation, Harvard Medical School and the University of California-Los Angeles, finds that 20% of the people in our workplaces feel that the work environment is “grueling, stressful and hostile.” Other reports I have read indicate that as many as 80% of the people in our workplaces are very dissatisfied with their managers and their lack of consideration, listening and caring. It is noted that about half of the workforce would leave their current job, if they could find another, expressly because of their “boss.”

Thus the Forbes quote, “People leave managers, not companies.” Let’s face it. There are many managers and bosses that shouldn’t be managers and bosses. Many…cannot lead, are indecisive, don’t tell the truth, cannot hold the difficult conversations, aren’t clear in their expectations, have favorites, don’t follow-through, lack caring and concern.

There’s Fault…Everywhere:

It is not just the managers who are a problem. A story in the August 15th H.R. News indicates that people between 18 and 34 are putting themselves at risk by not following the companies’ safety procedures, even though over 50% say that they have read the procedures and understand why they exist. This leads, for example, to the tragic story of the death of a 29-year-old Athens, Georgia man on August 9th, who thoughtlessly jumped out of his forklift truck to catch a toppling, heavy, hydraulic car lift he was moving; it fell onto him.

On top of all this change, frustration and anger in our workplaces, many people are suffering from bullying from both managers and co-workers. Shouting and swearing are clearly inappropriate and so are actions like inappropriately withholding information, the unfair allocation of work, deliberate over-monitoring, spreading malicious rumors, and making unreasonable demands.

Stress, indifference and bullying are behaviors that block the ability to have the focused, disciplined, purposeful conversations required for both the people and their organizations to successfully negotiate all the changes we are and will be facing. The costs for the people and their organizations are huge resulting in the loss of as much as 30-40% of their effectiveness.

It doesn’t have to be this way!

Let’s all of us pull together and partner to build a successful and prosperous future. I challenge you to change your workplace for the better. Give me a call at 716-622-6467 and I’ll explain how you can do that quickly and effectively.

Filed Under: Safety Excellence, Safety Leadership Tagged With: , , ,

What Linkages Do You See for Engaging More with Your Employees…and Reducing the Risk for Workplace Violence?

August 17, 2017 By Leave a Comment

workplace violenceEmployee engagement has long been a concern to the U.S. workforce…it is a vital component of employee attraction and retention. Yet, with all the leadership programs targeted to “engage better with employees,” there hasn’t been a significant shift in relationships.

Add to this the alarm being sounded of various degrees of workplace violence happening…from unchecked incivilities and unprofessionalism leading to bullying to harassment to taunting (cyber or otherwise), leading to behavioral dysfunctions and, ultimately, violence from fist-fights to vengefulness to physical/mental abuse, to homicide. And the connection is…not knowing your people and lack of authentic engagement!

Culture is an outcome – an outcome of all the interactions of people – with each other, with supervision, with management, with the systems and processes they work with and in the carrying out of everyday “norms.” How interactions happen, how engagement takes place, and how deep it evolves are all key cogs in the workplace culture wheel – whether it is spinning for Safety, Quality, Morale, Involvement, Sustainability – the very same critical engagement processes need to happen. (Note: The Process Enneagram© is an example of a constructive dialog process used successfully for cultural-based improvement outcomes).

So creating a culture of engagement requires more than completing an annual employee survey and then leaving managers on their own, hoping they will learn something from the survey results that will change the way they manage.

Highly engaged organizations share common practices like these:

  • They know creating a culture of engagement starts at the top.
  • All levels of the organization are held accountable.
  • They communicate openly and consistently.
  • They hold their managers accountable – not just for their team’s measured engagement level, but also for how it relates to their team’s overall performance.
  • They ensure that managers are engaging employees from the first minute of their first day at work. (Members of supervision possess emotional intelligence and are expected to be able to lead, interact with authenticity and caring with individuals and teams.)
  • They have well-defined, integrated, and comprehensive development programs for leaders and managers (including how to hold the most difficult conversations. And how to lead constructive dialog processes).
  • They focus on the development of individuals and teams with emphasis on constructive dialog around safety, quality, and the interactions of people to fulfill the business purpose. (This includes organizational assessments and vulnerability assessments for safety and security).
  • Engagement is a fundamental consideration in their people strategy – and not an annual “check-the-box” activity.
  • They hold regular, integrated, constructive dialog sessions to lift up the concerns that getting in the way of the team being the best that it can be and to support cooperation and collaboration.
  • They care about positive co-worker relationships as well as the business outcomes. (Workplace rules, policies, procedures are clear – and well established/communicated/enforced for working within the work environment – for supporting the sustainability of the business as well as the welfare needs of the people. Preventing workplace violence fits here).
  • They regularly hold team improvement sessions where knotty problems are lifted up and addressed, including process problems, safety problems, quality problems and interactive problems.

Some of these insights are gleaned from Gallup 4/17: The Right Culture; Others come from the experience of R.N.Knowles & Associates in helping Organizations and Teams become the best they can be together.

Filed Under: Safety for Business, Safety Leadership Tagged With: ,

Sound the Alarm!

July 17, 2017 By Leave a Comment

alarming safety trendsI just saw an announcement that the Liberty Mutual Research Institute for Safety was closing after 59 years, to reduce costs. The ISO 45001 Standard is in the final stages and is aimed at improving safety around the world. Yet some people are reacting that it will not make a difference because of management indifference or cost restraints.

Workplace violence seems to be on the rise with 417 homicides and 354 shootings in the US in 2015. In spite of this, only 28% of the American Society of Training and Development members offer safety training programs in collaboration with law enforcement.

As we study and look at what is happening, we see a critical lack of managers and supervisors in their understanding of what leadership is all about and how important each of their roles is to the success of the organization. The guidance about leadership that fills so many books are not making much impact because it does not provide suggestions as to what leaders need to do.

Leadership is about action, about taking the initiative to work together, to partner, with the people to make their workplaces safer and better.

We Need Better Leadership!

leadership is needed for safetyMany of you who have been reading this newsletter know that our emphasis is on Partner Centered Leadership. We emphasize the importance of supervisors and managers getting into their workplaces each day and talking with the people. Talking with the people is a key to breaking through to safety excellence. Talking about the risks they face each day, how they are managing them, how their kids are doing, how the safety is doing, how the business is doing, asking them what they see as to ways to improve their own work, asking about problems they are dealing with, etc. Doing this with respect and really listening are vitally important.

This was the focus of my ASSE talk in Denver. There is a solid, scientifically based reason for engaging in Partner Centered Leadership. The Self-Organizing Criticality theory shows the importance of making small, focused changes like talking with the people. Each conversation builds the potential energy of the organization and at some point people begin to do things more safely, helping each other, taking the lead when they see a problem and begin the process to correct it. As the organization begins to work together more safely, share information and help each other, safety improves. The organization learns to live near the critical point where changes occur and their creative energy builds.

The Process Enneagram©, which I have spoken about in these newsletters and written books about, is the tool to us to develop the focused conversation that lift the organization towards excellence in safety. Combining the ideas about change coming out of the Self-Organizing Criticality work with the Process Enneagram© tool for developing focused, disciplined conversations enables the organization to achieve excellence in their safety performance and have more people going home safely.

Partner Centered Leadership is also the way for organizations to build more kind, considerate, helping, effective workplaces where everyone is looking out for each other. This is a key piece of work in reducing workplace violence. When there is an acceptance of bullying and harassment in the workplace, the field is fertile for violence. Partner Centered Leadership is the pathway to excellence. It is time to move forward. Call us at 716-622-6467 to get on board the important leadership train for safety.

Filed Under: Safety for Business, Safety Leadership, Safety Leadership Process Tagged With: , ,

Some Unsettling Trends

July 10, 2017 By Leave a Comment

safety trendsThe American Society for Safety Engineers (soon to be The American Society for Safety Professionals) in Denver, Colorado, on June 19-22, 2017, was attended by about 5,000 people. This was a record for attendance. There were lots of papers and a huge trade show exhibit. I never saw so much safety equipment and other offerings.

I presented a paper during the last series of talks. It was titled “Breaking Through to Safety Excellence, Self-Organizing Criticality and the Process Enneagram©.” Even though I was among the last of the papers, I had about 150 people attend and received a rating for my talk of 4.7 out of 5. Many people came up at the end to talk further. If any of you would like to see my paper, please send me an email.

Richard Knowles presenting at the American Society for Safety Engineers

In spite of the large attendance and all the safety equipment in the trade show, I feel some alarming trends in safety performance. The number of workplace fatalities in the US has been at around 4,700 each year for the last 6-7 years. New regulations and ISO Standards are not making a strong impact. This is true in other countries, as well like New Zealand, where they have already had 28 fatalities; almost as much as for all of 2016 even though they had a new National Standards issued in April 2-16.

Filed Under: Safety Excellence, Safety for Business, Safety Leadership Tagged With: , ,
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