When you think about the safety profession and what inspires individuals to enter this field, several factors and questions come to mind. Have they entered the field as a result of seeing various jobs completed using dangerous work practices and want to ensure it doesn’t keep happening? Did they get promoted after having years of experience and now the company is asking them to use their knowledge to promote safe work practices? Have they earned their academic credentials and now want to apply that knowledge in the real world? 

For those reasons and more, it is clear that people who have chosen the safety field have a desire to protect others and have a positive effect on their organizations. But how we go about attaining those positive results can have a direct impact on our success.

Leadership styles

There are many leadership styles you can adapt to achieve safety goals, but choosing the right ones for your organization can be difficult. At times you may be required to incorporate various styles based on your audience. Let’s look at some of the approaches used by leaders past and present.

In a previous column, I wrote about employee engagement and how in today’s workforce the old “command and control” or “do it my way or else” management approach is a recipe for failure. Employees still want good pay and benefits, and they are also looking for a healthy work/life balance and participative projects where their expertise is valued, respected and rewarded. The “my way or the highway” approach doesn’t cut it in today’s workforce.

Incentive-based objectives have been used in the past to meet company targets, particularly in the safety business, with varying levels of success. From the safety perspective, these incentives are centered on low accident rates. The rewards were significant enough that some groups were accused of not reporting accidents and “pencil-whipping the numbers” to achieve the goal. OSHA took notice of this and instituted guidelines on how incentive programs could be used rather than abused. This method is also known as the “transactional” approach.

Self-directed work teams were once in vogue as a way for organizations to demonstrate confidence in their employees to complete various tasks and projects. While these teams did accomplish many positive outcomes, the lack of specific timeline targets and direction hampered productivity.

Coaching is one of the newer methods used to get employees to achieve their potential. The consistent feedback assists in increasing employees’ knowledge and growth in the job and positively affects the organization. It also influences the organization’s culture by demonstrating that employees can grow.

Employee engagement

Using the employee engagement approach has been one of the most successful methods of leadership styles in today’s work setting. I have always advocated for this in achieving safety goals. By implementing this approach, you seek input from employees on various projects and work practices that directly affect them. This creates the necessary buy-in when projects are not understood.

One of the easiest ways to engage employees is a three-step method that I believe can achieve positive results for all. These steps are simple.

• Communicate the objective of the job.
• Explain why the job is necessary.
• Discuss how, together, we can achieve a successful outcome.

Transformational

Finally, let’s look at the transformational approach, which incorporates what I like to call “stretch goals.” These motivate employees to go beyond their comfort zones, which enables them to grow their skills and see that they have qualities that can lead to leadership opportunities.

This approach assists both the employee and the leader in their growth. It encourages creativity in the employee and gives the leader the opportunity to learn from others, including their subordinates.

You may say, what does all this have to do with creating a passion for safety? I would suggest that incorporating aspects of these leadership styles into your daily approach, particularly the last three, will assist you in achieving your safety goals and creating a passion for safety in the workforce that mirrors yours.  

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