10 QUOTES TO KICKSTART YOUR NEW YEAR APPROACH TO INFLUENCE AND BEHAVIOR CHANGE

Wow, 2020 is here. The new numbers ring in a new year and a new decade! With a new year comes new goals, new thoughts, and many starts and stop diets (referring to me). With a new decade comes the opportunity to identify and/or redefine your long-term vision. Being a Safety Professional, I wanted to share some motivational quotes that will help you influence others and begin to change behaviors.

1. "Let Today Be The Day You Give Up Who You've Been For Who You Will Become." - Hal Elrod. Get rid of the poor attitude and cynical approach to leadership and the workforce. Work to connect, build relationships, create trust, add value, and you will be in a position to influence others. This is an excellent opportunity to change negative behavior.
2. "The New Year Stands Before Us, Like A Chapter In A Book, Waiting to be Written." - Melody Beattie. What are your goals, personally, and from a business standpoint? What you strive to become personally has a tremendous effect on what you achieve in business. What are you going to do to influence others and change behaviors?
3. "If you Don't Like The Road You're Walking, Start Paving Another One." - Dolly Parton. The road we take will lead us to our destination. If your destination isn't what you thought it would be, then change it now! Sometimes the programs we develop and implement aren't effective in changing behaviors. Take a moment this new year and re-evaluate where you're going and change direction where needed. I always go back to Robert Frost's Poem, "The Road Not Taken" and determine if I am on the right path to success.
4. The Future Belongs To Those Who Believe In The Beauty of Their Dreams." - Eleanor Roosevelt. What is your dream? What is the path to accomplishing them? As a safety professional, I spend much of my time in the field talking with the workforce, interacting with them, and engaging them in identifying what is of value to them. I use this information to determine what must change, what we must improve, and what needs to be developed and implemented. Each new year, I take what I've learned and made adjustments to my approach, vision, and strategic plan. This is a critical path to achieving my dreams. If I believe it, then I will do whatever it takes to complete it!
5. "Don't Count the Days, Make the Days Count." - Muhammad Ali. Are you making every day count and every interaction meaningful? Interacting with the workforce and explaining the "why" is essential to achieving change. I've found that when I focus my time and effort on what matters, I tend to deliver more than I planned.
6. "You are Never Too Old To Set A Goal Or To Dream A New Dream." - C.S. Lewis." Throughout my life and career, I have always looked for opportunities to grow my self and my experience. The Safety Profession must be willing to continually improve in what we do and how we do it. The Safety Professional must be ready to grow in their knowledge, training, and insight. You don't know what you don't know, but you know what you know but aren't willing to implement what you've learned. "If you always do what you've always done, you'll get what you've always got." Always be open to doing things differently.
7. "I Like The Dreams Of The Future Better Than The History Of The Past." - Thomas Jefferson. Yesterday ended last night, get over it! Don't focus on the results of the past, but focus on the opportunities to improve the future. I wish companies didn't focus on lagging indicators but instead focused on ensuring everyone is engaged in the activities that will reduce or eliminate the numbers. I know many of our bonuses' are tied all or part to the numbers. However, in my career, I've learned to focus on what will change behavior vs. what will change the numbers.
8. "People Don't Care How Much You Know Until They Know How Much YOu Care." - Teddy Roosevelt. My early career was focused on making sure everyone knew I knew everything. WRONG APPROACH! What I learned was that people don't care that you know what you know, but you are willing to help them achieve their goals. It is like writing an Energy Isolation Procedure, implementing and then find out no one is using or following it because it doesn't make sense or apply to their environment. Show you care by engaging the workforce and getting buy-in.
9. "People Will Only Work to The Level Of Safety That You Expect, Nothing More, Nothing Less." - Denis Baker. You can have the best well-written policies and procedures, the most effective training, and the greatest implementation process in the world. Still, if the expectations are not communicated, people will do what they want, good or bad, right or wrong. I teach people in leadership roles to set high expectations and then hold people responsible for achieving and abiding by them. If not, they must be held accountable.
10. You Can't Change A Culture Or Behaviors From Behind a Desk." - Denis Baker. Make it your priority this year to spend the vast majority of your time engaging and conversing with the workforce and building relationships with your leadership. You can be the best policy and procedure writer, but if you don't connect and build relationships, you won't be able to change the way people think when they approach a job or task. Remember this. You can get all the buy-in and support from the leadership you want, but unless you have the support and buy-in from those who do the work, there is no way to achieve success.

Success is what we achieve through others. We can only be as successful as others. As you dig into 2020, I encourage you to evaluate yourself and look for opportunities to improve and change. Be passionate about what you believe and do, and you will influence others to change their behaviors, and ultimately, the culture will change.

I look forward to hearing the success stories within the coming year!