Do Our Best Employees Ruin Our Safety Culture?

Many of us work in companies where the top executive has stated over and over again, in no uncertain terms, that safety is the top priority of the organization. Safety is the primary concern, the foremost value, the guiding consideration of the company. Regardless of the precise words, many top company executives and boards have sincerely embraced the notion that safety should override all other considerations. They know it’s a sound business value and simply the right thing to do, so they say it over and over again, and they mean it.

These same company leaders become baffled, confused and often frustrated, therefore, when they see incidents and injuries continue to occur, often as a result of safety having been set aside in a moment of urgency or during an unplanned intervention. Most likely, we all have seen it happen, and many of us have struggled to explain to our company leaders how this can possibly be true. It seems that in many of our organizations, our employees are simply not hearing – or more likely, not believing – the message that has come repeatedly and consistently from the very top. This disturbing disconnection often remains, in spite of all the efforts of leadership. Our task is to identify the source of this breach and figure out how to bridge it.

This failed translation often occurs at a very specific level of the company structure, so it is best to look there first: Ask your department managers, your supervisors and your shift leaders. Don’t waste your breath, however, on the obvious question. If you ask them, “Are you aware of the CEO’s (or President’s or Board’s) commitment to safety as our first and highest priority?” they are likely to say, “Yeah, and I remind my employees of that every day. I don’t know why they keep doing things that get themselves hurt.”

Instead, consider asking them this: “Think of your best employee. What is it about him or her that makes them the best?” They are likely to say things such as, “She can get the job done faster than anybody else,” or “He knows how to keep the process running, no matter what happens,” or “He is the best troubleshooter we have ever had. He can figure out solutions to problems without having to ask a thousand questions.” Very few managers or supervisors will say, “Oh, that guy is the best. No matter what task is assigned to him, I always know he will get it done safely,” or “She never takes any kind of shortcut to get the job done. She is supremely safe in everything she does.” In other words, in spite of all the sincere speeches and declarations from the very top of your organization, you are very likely to learn that your line management is still rewarding those employees who generally do not actually put safety first. Managers and supervisors continue to recognize and value and reward those who can keep producing, keep driving efficiency, keep figuring out how to do more with less.

Clearly there must be some reason that this operational level of management stumbles with implementing the will and word of their leadership, and we need to illuminate what that reason might be. We probably need look no further than the very performance metrics by which these managers and supervisors are themselves judged and rewarded. Productivity, efficiency, minimal waste, minimal down-time remain the classic performance indicators in most manufacturing and logistics operations. Sure, we have gotten smarter and inserted a few measures about visible leadership for safety or direct involvement in elements of the safety program. But have we deliberately, directly attacked those constant, daily drivers that push the entire organization (except for the CEO and Board, perhaps) off the mark? In most companies, in fact, we probably have not.

This is often the critical point at which we need to truly turn the page and firmly steer the culture. There are several approaches that may be helpful, but start with the metrics. Above all the productivity performance indices, let’s put in some strong measures for number of behavioral interventions, number of last-minute risk analyses, number of near-miss or good-catch reports. We can also train our managers and supervisors to look at their process with a very different perspective. When they step out onto the shop floor, instead of confirming that the process is moving along efficiently or that “production numbers” are being met, let’s teach them to specifically look for any signs that their employees are struggling with the process. Teach them to ask whether everyone feels confident that their safety is assured. Train them to look for the emerging signs of trouble, before it becomes a serious safety concern.

Perhaps we can even change the way we perform incident investigations, so that we not only learn more precisely where these disconnections exist, but we also drive the culture toward a more open dialogue about the gap that remains. This will be addressed in more detail in a future posting.

For the moment, consider the possibility that those whom you recognize as your best employees may, in fact, be the ones who are modeling the very opposite of your company’s commitment to safety. It clearly is not their fault, but the first step to correcting it is to recognize it. Ask your managers, your supervisors, your shift leaders. Ask them to point to the best employee on their line, and see what you learn. It may present an important clue to the link that is missing in your corporate culture.