Page 54 - Occupational Health & Safety, September 2018

BREAKTHROUGH STRATEGIES
BY ROBERT PATER
Strategic Leadership Discipline
When leaders start by taking personal control of their approach to discipline and responsibility, they’re more able to kickstart and sustain
Lsuperior results.
ike most Safety leaders, I’m a strong proponent for “person- al responsibility.” And to me this is more than just a philoso- phy of what people “should” do; it’s a matter of reality. Re- sponsibility exemplifies the Third Law of Motion, “for every
action, there’s an opposite and equal reaction.” In other words, what I decide or do or don’t do generates repercussions that will in some ways affect me and those around me. If I purposely mislead oth- ers? They’ll then see and think differently of me, diminishing trust, perhaps encouraging a cover-their-rears mindset. Don’t direct at- tention to current risks around me? At the very least, my default peace of mind will erode. And it’s more likely I’ll eventually pay a physical price. Or model a complacent tone for others. Habitu- ally arrive late to meetings? Others will believe I’m transmitting the message that I don’t believe these are important—and likely they’ll only participate half-heartedly during discussions or begin to come late themselves. While it’s impossible to predict exactly what will transpire, there will be, even if delayed, some “rebounding” from positive and negative actions.
There’s no question in my mind that “discipline” is closely tied to personal responsibility. Unfortunately, I’ve seen how both these well-bandied-about terms and approaches have become curdled with misuse among several companies and their leaders. But this doesn’t have to be so. When leaders start by taking personal con- trol of their approach to discipline and responsibility, they’re more able to kickstart and sustain superior results. I’m reminded of Wing Chun master Chow Hung-Yuen’s teaching, “How can you direct forces and others around you if you can’t even control yourself?”
Given that, I believe there are four critical keys to applying dis- cipline and personal responsibility for leading toward high-level Safety performance and culture.
1. Shared responsibility. Each of us—from Executives to man- agers to professionals to supervisors to line staff—is responsible for what we do and don’t do. So everyone on all levels of an orga- nization has his or her part in promoting, elevating, and sustain- ing safety performance and culture—not just line workers. Senior managers have to value safety and continually broadcast these messages as consistently as possible. They have to allocate sufficient resources to “make it so” when it comes to high-level Safety per- formance. And screen in and make it easy to bring in resources as needed (from safety equipment to training and more) that further the Safety mission. They have to hold their direct and indirect re- ports responsible for getting work done as safely as at all possible. And workers have to do their utmost to keep an open mind about the intent of managers. To try on new and existing safety methods and equipment. To practice mental and physical safety skills that might benefit them. To encourage safe decision-making and ac- tions with co-workers and family members.
And, very important, send clear and consistent messages that there is a difference between self-discipline (self) vs. being “cor- rectively disciplined.” And that the former is by far more preferable. To make this easier for people to differentiate, we prefer “taking
personal control” to “self-discipline.” (It’s the same idea but without the po- tential confusion or connotations.)
2. Reduce finger pointing. Calling
out “Personal responsibility” is too of-
ten equated with threatening to or ac-
tually initiating a disciplinary process.
“Discipline” implies learning (as in
“disciple,” as one who follows/learns/
develops/improves). But a mistake is
that too many would-be leaders asso-
ciate “discipline” with “punishment.”
When the response to an ineffective
or unsafe action morphs into embar-
rassing or punishing the worker, I’ve
found the potential for learning and
improvement diminishes—with a cor-
responding increase in worker resentment and/or “cover your rear while there’s a chance of being caught.” People are then less likely to report hazards, near misses, or “minor” incidents that they can hide. And in a time where many employees are either working with minimal or absent direct supervision (e.g., remote workers), a punishment-first approach—where so many daily actions aren’t actually seen—is often laughed off or backfires.
3. Catch and communicate clearly—as early as possible—before it builds to a breaking point. “Discipline” (as in immediately pre- scribing negative consequences for an action) should never come as a surprise. People who punish “bad” behaviors often do so out of their own frustrations, or from a desire to punish and control others, or because they don’t know alternatives (and likely have had weak leadership role models themselves). Almost all “progressive discipline” systems I’ve seen counsel taking gradually stricter ac- tions to assist a worker to change their behavior (to act safer)—and give them reasonable time to adopt these preferred actions into their work lives. Yet too many supervisors who are either untrained or undisciplined themselves (don’t know what else to do or emo- tionally lash out) leap to the last stage of punishment, lead-footedly stomping on the punishment accelerator from zero to sixty.
4. Leaders have to first “discipline”/take personal control of themselves. This is most important and entails committing to self- honesty—leaders embracing dispassionately assessing their own current strengths and limitations, staying open to receiving unso- licited feedback, actively soliciting honest responses regarding the effectiveness of their plans and actions. Carving out the time and putting in the energy to take care of their mental and physical well- being. And being willing and able to laugh at themselves. Bottom line? In my experience, highest-level Safety performance cultures emphasize learning and improvement over punishment.
Robert Pater (rpater@MasteringSafety.com) is Managing Director, Strategic Safety Associates and MoveSMART®.
50 Occupational Health & Safety | SEPTEMBER 2018
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In a time where many employees are either work- ing with minimal or absent direct supervision, a punishment-first approach—where so many daily actions aren’t actually seen—is often laughed off or backfires.