Part 8: Rock the Boat, or Row It? Navigating the Changing Tide

This is installment eight in a twelve-part series on the future of the Safety and Health (S&H) profession, and the Safety and Health professional. Insights are based on one of the largest and most comprehensive ongoing qualitative research projects on leadership in the safety and health field. Review?part one here,?part two here, part three here, part four here, part five here, part six here, part seven here, and a recent, special installment on handling failures and setbacks here.

Millennials (born 1980-1994) and Gen-Z-ers (born 1995-2012) currently make up a little over a third (38%) of the US workforce. In the next five years, Millennials will represent 75% of the global workforce, making the generation the most dominant in the workplace, while over the next 10 years, 1.3 billion Gen-Z-ers, the largest generation in human history will enter the global workforce.?Yes, 1.3 billion Phigital, DIY, Hyper-Customized workers and consumers entering your workplaces. A generation in which more than 90% say technological sophistication impacts their desire to work at a company and 71% adhere to the mantra:

"If you want something done right, do it yourself."

Compare that to the Baby Boomer generation (born 1946-1964), where just one out of ten believe they are personally responsible for reskilling as technology disrupts traditional roles.

Are you ready? Will you be? We can help ensure you are.

The Profession is Graying - Soon to be Gone

Based on recent research from the American Society of Safety Professionals (ASSP), the typical age of an active ASSP member is 46-55, with more than a third (34%) older than 55 years of age and more than half quickly approaching retirement age.?Additionally, 43% of ASSP members have more than two decades (5,220 days) of experience in the safety and health profession.

Faster than Todd Conklin can say "HOP," it's going to be out with the bold, the “Titans” of safety and health whose courageous and tireless efforts got us to this point, and whose shoulders we will continue to gratefully and graciously stand on; in with the “new view,” the next generation of safety and health professionals. The cohort poised and positioned to continue challenging the status quo, engaging and empowering their organizations to move past “traditional” safety and health principles and practices and into a much brighter future for the worker.?If there were ever a time to deploy robust change management, to ensure efficient and effective knowledge transfer, to come together not in benefit of self-comfort, but on behalf of the worker, this would be it.

There are few certainties in life, but suggesting the safety and health profession will experience significant change over the next decade is like saying compliance is often the enemy of performance (see Law #3); it’s not a postulation, it’s improbable. If you think the safety and health profession has seen accelerated change over the past decade, we haven’t seen anything yet.?

Not only will the proliferation of technology, era of the employee, non-conventional work arrangements, and whole person health continue to shift how we think about and practice protecting, then enhancing the safety, health, and well-being of those on the frontlines, but a surge in workplace stress, the increased focus on diversity and inclusion, and this time of dynamic demographic change are some of the many sweeping trends shaping the future of safety and health.

Of additional importance is the fact that in 2018-2020 the profession added 6,585 Graduate Safety Practitioners and Transitional Safety Professionals to their ranks, continuing the shift of safety professionals outright choosing to pursue a career in safety and health, as opposed to growing into it through other areas of the organization.

The companies (and leaders) who choose to adapt, to listen to their people, to make this time of remarkable change their best friend will reap the rewards and win both the new war for talent and the race. Not simply in terms of EHS proficiencies, but in terms of organizational efficiencies and business performance. Those who do not, well, they won't have to worry about the trends shaping the future for much longer as their focus will quickly shift to surviving in the present, as they anxiously watch their previously dedicated people disengage, then run like rats fleeing a sinking ship.?

What can you do to ensure you stay ahead of the steep curve of change coming our way? That’s the purpose of today’s article. To equip and empower both you and your organization with the skill sets necessary to navigate what’s next. The inevitable winds of change are coming. Will you fight the wind, try to control it, or adjust your sails? A smooth sea never made for a skilled sailor, but a failure to adapt and evolve to ever changing circumstances will predictably blow one off track, possibly leave you stranded at sea, or worst-case, shipwrecked upon the rocks of resistance and a rhetoric of “we’ve always done it this way," six of the most expensive words in business.?

As Peter Drucker famously said: “The greatest danger in times of turbulence is not the turbulence itself, but to act with yesterday’s logic.” For the safety and health professional, we can expect these will continue to be turbulent, even "interesting times" as we wrote last month.?

What we cannot expect however, is for the same principles and practices that got us to this point, to move us past it. We must evolve, trading long-held industry assumptions for crucial conversations, intentional action and courageous commitment. A commitment not to send workers home in the “same condition as they came," this mindset is both insulting and indignant to those who continue to be asked to sacrifice personal well-being for company profit. But a call to send every worker home better, each day.

Collectively, leveraging the wisdom of the past, emerging principles from the present, and a compelling vision for the future, we have an opportunity few are presented with, and even fewer pursue – to write the future for a profession. Leaning not solely on yesterday’s logic, but aiming for and navigating towards tomorrow’s locale.

A concerted effort between the "Titans" and the "toddlers" of safety and health is more needed than ever. As we pursue what's next, we must not overlook that although there are decided fundamental differences across generations, we are far more alike than different.

Will we squander precious time and energy obsessing over those differences, over who's "right?" Or, focus on the obligation at hand, a duty to advance the profession, not our personal agendas. How we choose to engage with one another is as important as anything else we can do. The professionals preparing to pass the baton have at least 5,220 days of lessons learned, hard knocks, best practices, and organizational context. The opportunity at hand is to leverage and institutionalize that learning, rather than repeating it in perpetuity.?

In order to do so, humility and honor will be the light upon our feet, guiding the path and lighting the way. Humility to acknowledge that there is always a better way, and honor for the people and the processes that have gotten us to where we are today.

In today’s article we bring together the wisdom of the past, along with emerging principles from the present. Doing so with the intent to help move us into that brighter future, a future that will require efficient and effective knowledge transfer, collaboration, and genuine interest in the unique views, idiosyncrasies, and strengths of multiple generations. Aiming not solely for the advancement of the profession, nor company profit, but in order to ensure our focus remains steadfast on the purpose at hand. Every worker well.

The Great Retirement

We've been inundated over the past two years with content about the “Great Resignation,” the trend of people leaving their jobs to pursue better-paying, more meaningful opportunities. While it may be more of a reshuffle than a resignation, the key is that workers are moving around, not outright leaving the workforce.

We’re now seeing something happening that has the potential to present lasting consequences. The "Great Retirement," a silver tsunami of Baby Boomers (those born between 1946 and 1964) leaving the workforce...for good. And with them, taking decades of wisdom and experience. With nearly 30 million Boomers leaving the job market and retiring in Q3 2020 alone, that figure continues to accelerate, with as much as 75% of Pew Research Center, Boomer generation survey respondents declaring they plan to retire early.

As referenced prior, the typical age of an active ASSP member is 46-55, with more than a third (34%) older than 55 years of age and more than half quickly approaching retirement age. Our profession will undoubtedly be impacted by this change, but not all has to be lost.

Whether it's the Great Resignation, the Great Reprioritization, the Great Retirement, the Great Reshuffle, the Great Realization, or the Great Discontent, one thing is clear, there is great opportunity. And great moments are born...from great opportunity. Ours is to prepare the next generation of safety and health leaders.?

Generational Differences and Gen Z: Don't Get it Twisted

With that, we cannot possibly understand who or what we're not close to, and if we're going to ensure efficient and effective knowledge transfer as the “Titans” set sail for (well-deserved) calmer seas and the toddlers come aboard to steer the ship, one thing is very clear (as cliché as it may be), we must seek first to understand, then to be understood. This Phigital, DIY, Hyper-Customized generation may be exactly what's needed to vault the profession forward. But don't expect to enroll them if you're not first willing to put in the effort to understand them.

It's one of the reasons we chose to interview Minneapolis-based author, keynote speaker, and generational expert Jonah Stillman as we prepared for installment #8, to understand what's needed from us now and moving forward to authentically engage with the 1.3 billion Gen-Z-ers entering the workplace in the next decade. A note of heed as you proceed: prepare for more than a handful of your suppositions of this generation to be shattered. Enter Jonah...

If you really want to understand what makes up a generation, you have to look past age and birth years to the events and conditions that shaped them. The theory is that each generation has certain events and conditions that take place during their formative years, during adolescence. As a result, they are looking through a certain lens. Something we call a generational personality. So, to understand Gen Z you need to understand what shaped them. They were shaped by a (brutal) bear economy, political divide, and permeation of social media to name a few.

First up, the influence of the economy. Net worth fell by 45% during the Great Recession, their formative years. This is not the same challenge millennials faced, witnessing jobs lost and having their parents telling them to “avoid the arts” so they could be employed. This is a focus on hard numbers, net worth, and monetary value. Gen Z absolutely pays attention to salary, job title as well. Meaning, passion, making a difference is "just so millennial."

Next up, there has been and continues to be complete political polarization. Look at the events that have occurred over the past 20 years (even the past 20 days), imagine if that was the context of the world you understood. What impact would it have on your worldview?

Then there's the rise of social media and wholesale integration with technology, creating a generation whose reality may for the first time in history be more virtual than grounded. It's safe to say their reality is not the same as yours, meaning their view of the world could be entirely different. How will this impact how we deliver training and deploy learning and development? What skills do you need to develop to effectively engage this phigital generation?

Further, Gen-Z-ers have more access to jobs than any generation in human history. "Want Ads" are non-existent for them; instead they can access endless job and career information with the simple tap and swish of a finger (it’s all about Apps, Apps, Baby).

Moreover, whereas Millennials were raised by Baby Boomers during the "self-esteem movement." Gen-Z-ers are being raised by Gen-Xers. They have been raised to believe there are winners and losers, and guess what, you might lose. Thus, Gen Z turned out to be highly competitive, much more so than their highly collaborative Millennial colleagues.

In addition:

• It’s almost impossible to dazzle Gen-Z-ers with technology. Gen-Z-ers are the first digital native generation. All prior generations could be classified as "digital pioneers." Each generation prior has pioneered for one unique aspect of technology, but they are truly native to a world with high-tech solutions. Digital pioneers have had to learn to accept technology into their lives. Gen-Z-ers never had to learn to accept it, they simply expect technology to be there to do anything, at anytime. With that...
• 84% of Gen-Z-ers prefer face-to-face communication. You read that right; 84%. However, it's important to understand that if they can see you, and you can see them, in their minds we are "face-to-face" communicating. Whether you are in the same room, or half-way around the world using a video chat platform, by Gen Z's definition that is absolutely face-to-face communication.?

• Nearly every aspect of Gen Zs life has been customized. From the shoes they wear to the playlists they listen to. Gen Z expects customization, and yes this includes job titles. Other generations didn’t get to customize a thing. They are not entitled or needy, they likely just want their work customized, like everything else in their lives. In fact, those organizations able to create a more custom job experience for their Gen-Z-ers have a much higher likelihood of recruiting and retaining them. "Safety Specialist," not so much. "Czar of Safety Operations," maybe a stretch, but we're getting warmer.
• Gen Z is the DIY Generation. They can login and learn at any time, and they’ve done so since they were kids. Historically, safety and health training has been built on a "just in case" principle. Stick your workers in a room for a day or a week and train them on everything they need to know "just in case" it comes up in their job. Gen Z knows this model is outdated. The new model is all about "just in time" learning or training. Smaller bites of information they will actually need and use. Put them in their day-to-day job and give them access to limited resources such as video libraries, readings, mentorship. Gen Z wants to learn "just in time." Also, the learning must be engaging or experiential. For example, Walmart is using VR to train managers on what it’s really like to be a manager in the real world.?That's speaking the language of the Gen-Z-er!
• Feedback has been desired uniquely across each generation. Baby boomers received very formal and political feedback. They met once per year and discussed performance and pay. For Gen X, that approach was way too formal. So they asked for performance and pay to be separated and requested feedback more than once per year. Millennials are generally not used to getting feedback and constructive news. So feedback didn’t go well at first. Some managers found themselves handing out Kleenex when feedback was delivered. Leaders needed to ease millennials into feedback and now they are awesome at receiving it. Gen Z wants feedback all the time. Why? They post on social media and know within seconds if that post is getting positive, negative, or worst of all, no feedback at all. Feedback in real life should move just as fast as feedback on social media. Don’t beat around the bush like with millennials, give straightforward feedback. If you are going to give feedback, be sure to explain why. They have been raised to discuss and debate. Make it two-way feedback. It needs to be a discussion, which will help Gen Z feel more connected to that feedback and thus want to be partners and owners of any solutions that need to be developed.

• Innovation to Gen Z is all about speed. They don’t want bureaucracy, policy, and process. To Gen Z, innovation is about coming up with a novel idea, and making it possible. Look at the world Gen Z lives in, new apps, trends, ideas, are going viral ALL. THE. TIME. It's illogical to think this would not carry over to the business world and their attitudes toward work.?

Your job, leaving here today Ms. or Mr. Manager, Employer, or Safety and Health Aficionado is to find out what events and conditions shaped the Gen-Z-ers in your organization. Ask them why and how it shaped who they are today.?Finally, inquire if the above aligns with their personal and workplace preferences, or if just maybe they have a different perspective. While doing so, don't be afraid to flip that camera on for some face-to-face communication.

If you are interested in learning more about the largest generation in human history, from two of the foremost experts, we encourage you to check out the following LinkedIn Learning course by Jonah and his father David Stillman:? Gen Z: Unlike any you've managed.

What Do the "Toddlers" of Safety and Health Have to Say?

So how will millennials (and Gen-Z-ers) dominance of the global workforce in the next 5-10 years impact safety and health leadership specifically, and the future of the profession? A recent survey of Waldorf University Occupational Safety and Health students by supply chain expert Avetta revealed the traits that will make for highly successful leaders of tomorrow.

Q: What is it that makes a safety and health leader stand out? In the survey, the majority of respondents (81.48%) stated that open, consistent, effective communication is a critical trait, the most critical actually. Other key traits that are important for leaders to nurture according to the respondents are accountability and consistency.

Additionally, one of the most important things for leaders moving forward is to continuously emphasize safety, not only through their communication, but also by serving as role models. Clearly, not only does leadership create culture, but culture drives behavior. It's critical for the leaders of tomorrow to understand that with this generation especially, talk isn't necessarily cheap, but you will cheapen your talk if you fail to honor your word. Gen Z wants to know (and see) that their leaders' actions are aligned with their ambitions.

Finally, when it comes to identifying the leadership style that can have the most impact, the majority of the survey respondents (41.51%) have preferred coach style leadership that involves identifying and nurturing the individual strengths of each member on the team and focusing on strategies that will enable the team to work better together.

When we think about coaching, there is an evolution that has to take place as shown by this April 2021 Professional Safety Journal Article. Skills are taught and verified. It is not simply providing the same information over and over, instead, it is a connection of skills to purpose, to action. Ensure the next generation knows what they need to excel, through the setting and communication of clear goals and expectations. Then, building in consistent feedback and learning, focus on small, incremental, and continuous updates, pivots, and revisions. Continuous improvement in overdrive.

With Gen-Z-ers and Millennials especially, “strengths” is a key word that stands out. Good coaches work with their proteges to identify strengths, weaknesses, and areas that could or could not improve. They then channel energy and resources toward those strengths first and foremost, while being selective with the weaknesses and areas that can improve. If they are not detrimental to the strengths or the whole, why let perfect be the enemy of good when good could become exceptional?

For more on how to deploy a coaching leadership style that's met with responsiveness instead of resistance, see Habit #6 of the Seven Habits of Highly Effective Safety and Health Professionals.

Putting Insights into Action | 3 Steps You Can Take Today

Here are three things each of us can do today to help prepare for the imminent transition happening within the profession.

1) Identify and understand the critical skills, abilities, and knowledge needed to influence your organization.?Then freely and generously share them.

As a senior, experienced, seasoned leader, what is it that allows you to have sustained success breaking down silos and influencing other organizational functions? What have you learned about your organization and the way that work actually gets done that alters your approach? What is needed to be successful in your role that was learned through trials, failure, and hard knocks?

Identifying the answers to these questions, then sharing them is a critical first step to preparing the leaders of tomorrow and setting them up for success early and often in their journey.

2) Find the areas that we as leaders can influence within our organizations to support the development of our people.?Gen Z wants to learn their way up the career ladder, and smart companies are providing the rungs.

What resources do you control? What influence can we exert? What additional resources are available for growth, learning, and development? How do these resources need to be deployed to serve the learner?

Development is a critical consideration for Gen Z. If customization and upward growth are limited, the ability to continually provide development opportunities might be what keeps the team around. It is critical that the resources under your control or available for use are identified, understood, and deployed. If limited, it might be worth utilizing some of the influence you've built up over the years to change the organizational status quo as it relates to developing your top talent.

3) Dig in to understand your people, working to close the gap between where they are and what is needed, using the resources and influence within our control to accelerate their progress.?Rules, structure, and policy clearly have their place within safety and health, but rules without relationship will undoubtedly lead to resistance, especially with the younger generations.

Who are they? What makes them tick? What experiences have shaped their growth? What motivates them to do what they do each day, especially considering ~60% of the profession reports they have a somewhat, or very high degree of stress at work.?A little bit of vulnerability on your part will lead to a great deal of victory when trying to understand the emerging professionals entering, and soon to be leading your workplaces.

Now, as much as ever we have an opportunity to identify and then meet people where they're at. Inviting them into opportunities to grow and thrive. And, through genuine interest, continual feedback, and development opportunities, help close the gap between where they are in their career journey, and where they would like to be. Providing the tangible tools, guidance, and insights needed to be as successful, then more so than we've been.

It goes without saying, we must first develop these skills within ourselves to support them in actuality.

Listening

This is not the "listening to respond" that most of us practice. Nor stopping at F.O.R.D. This is “the gentle art of asking instead of telling” as described by Edgar Schein in his new book Humble Inquiry. Sincerely asking, with vulnerability on the part of the asker. Being willing to bring in, then extract candor from the conversation in order to create connection. Spending much more time being interested, than attempting to be interesting. This is talking like TED - Tell me, Explain to me, Describe to me, with a genuine interest in the answers being provided. This is leaning into the conversation, listening to learn. That's an idea (and an irrefutable law of leadership) worth spreading.

Communicating

Listening is a piece of the communication puzzle, but effective communication is so much more. The Osgood Schramm Model of communication denotes how we transmit messages. The sender encodes the message, which is then transmitted through a method of the sender's choice. Upon receipt, it is decoded, interpreted, and the cycle starts over again...except that the receiver has generally already had their method of transmission chosen for them. The key to this cycle is that much like trying to decipher a secret code, the method is the lynchpin to the entire process.?

Each of us have communication preferences. In part, these are shaped by the contexts of our surroundings as we grew up and solidified our presence in the workforce. If we are communicating, it is generally important that the receiver be able to interpret the message correctly. This in turn requires that the message can be accurately decoded which ties right back to method. If not, it's almost as if the communication never took place.?

The four walls communication activity is a great exercise that can be used to identify method preferences within the team and have fundamental conversations about communication. Even if the organizational rigidity puts bumpers on what can change wholesale, understanding preferences and where we might be able to pivot as a team could be valuable in supporting the continual feedback, learning, and engagement demanded by Gen Z.

Mentoring

Gen Z is getting antsy at work. Nearly two-thirds of Gen Z job seekers have switched industries or are considering doing so, according to a?recent LinkedIn survey. Why are they leaving when they are only just getting started? A key undercurrent seems to be the lack of mentoring and access to seasoned management because so many are working remotely.

And no, this is not your corporate mentoring program of an assigned, senior level mentor working through a checklist supporting your “assimilation” into the organization, but in actuality just perpetuating whatever bias already existed. That is onboarding, induction, training...any name but mentoring. It’s time to take back mentoring for our profession. As Dan Hopwood and Wyatt Bradbury describe in their June 2021 Professional Safety Journal Article, the original mentor was a "who," not a series of "whats."?

This is that experienced and trusted advisor, guru, guide, confidante, counselor, and consultant who is going to advise the next generation and develop an enduring relationship based on a covenant of respect, trust, and understanding. It is formal, active, engaging relationship building. This is a relationship working to develop another as a professional and individual.

Sponsoring

In contrast (but not mutually exclusive of) mentoring is sponsorship. Joann Eisenhart, Chief People Officer and Executive Vice President at Northwestern Mutual writes, “a sponsor is someone in a position of power who uses his or her influence to advocate on your behalf.” Instead of just providing advice, this individual is acting as an advocate on your behalf. Eisenhart writes, “mentors help individuals get better, while sponsors help individuals get ahead.”?

Pam Walaski has been a staple of this practice within ASSP. Not only is she advising and counseling the next generation, but putting herself out there on behalf of them. Pam is not afraid of advocating for the next generation to get a seat at the table when it comes to leadership of the society, from working to get them on committees to advocating for them to have speaking opportunities at professional development conferences (PDCs), Pam puts herself out there on behalf of the next generation while working hard to help them develop their most critical skillsets.

Empathizing

Empathy is the skill of understanding and recognizing others' feelings and perspectives. It is also a character trait of highly effective leaders, one in which only 40% of leaders are said to be strong in. Empathy requires “active listening” — truly engaging with what the other person has to say without giving in to the many distractions that surround us today — which allows us to connect and be more effective communicators.

Ryan Estis, a Minneapolis based keynote speaker and leadership expert writes: "As leaders, it’s incumbent upon us to act with empathy. Writing in the Harvard Business Review, Jennifer Moss?breaks it down this way: 'Empathy requires stepping outside of your own needs, assessing and removing bias and privilege, actively listening to your people, and then taking action.'"

Our guidance? Take the time to look at your employees’ workloads. On average, we’re working?three hours longer per day?during the pandemic. It’s no surprise that more people (across all generations) are feeling anxious, overwhelmed and exhausted. Instead of asking, "how are you doing?" Ask, "how are you and your family coping during this challenging time? What can I do to help?"

Ryan continues, "as Jennifer and the leaders she interviews emphasize, listen to your people — and meet them where they are. Focus on being present and removing the distractions around you, especially technology. Ask effective, open-ended questions (see law #11), and probe so understanding is achieved.?Learn to embrace silence. We have a tendency to fill the awkward silence with unproductive conversation just because silence makes us uncomfortable. Instead, give people time to think and don’t give in to the temptation to potentially change the course of a productive and meaningful dialogue. You may be surprised with the direction of the conversation if you give it time to breathe. Finally, circle back after a tough conversation to check in. This allows you to strengthen your rapport, and it also signals to the other person that you were present and that what they shared resonated in a meaningful way."

Empathy is a skill, one of the most critical any leader can possess. And like any other skill, it must be learned and practiced. Regardless of the generation we're in conversation with, empathy is an attribute that will serve us well.

The Changing Tide: Where Do We Go from Here?

We often say that experience is the best teacher. That's not right. Actually, that's quite wrong. Experience is not the best teacher. Reflected and evaluated experience is the best teacher. One of the most important things we can do today and moving forward is to reflect on and evaluate our experience of the work of those who came before us. What worked? What didn't? What do we need to do differently moving forward? Then, ensure we honor their extra-ordinary efforts. Humility and honor will guide our pathway to a brighter future. Humility to acknowledge that there is always a better way, and honor for the people and the paths that have gotten us to where we are today.

Regarding those who will navigate where we need to go next, people are constantly becoming what we say about them, so wouldn't it be virtuous to honor them? In words and by welcoming them to the table. During this time of remarkable transition, we must ask ourselves:

• How open am I to learning what I think I already know? (humility)
• How often do I disregard what people are saying due to my generational biases? (honor)

You can't rock the boat and row it at the same time. But we do need to encourage the generation coming next to rock the boat. We cannot expect the same principles and practices that got us to this point, to move us past it. Nor can we lean on yesterday's logic to solve today's problems. Encourage the boat to be rocked, then grab an oar and help row it into a brighter future.

In the next five years, Millennials will represent 75% of the workforce. Over the next ten, 1.3 billion Gen-Z-ers will be walking into workplaces everywhere for (hopefully) highly customized, "just in case", technology-forward orientation, training, and career opportunities. In that same timeframe, somewhere between 34-43% of ASSP members will retire. With 36,000 members currently, that's an estimated 13,860 seasoned safety and health professionals with approximately 554,400 collective years, or 144,698,400 collective days of lessons learned sailing off into the sunset. What needs to be transferred? What can be thrown overboard?

Regardless of where you find yourself on the generational scale, this is a time of immense opportunity. May we be so bold as to say, immense obligation. Could it be that what's needed most is for each of us to walk with, work with, and wander the shop floor and job sites with those who have different perspectives than our own? To rock the boat, then come together to row it?

No matter what the future holds, we should not have to ask ourselves,?"But what am I supposed to do now?"?Because we know the answer: our job.

There will never be any obstacles that can ever truly prevent us from carrying out our obligation...if we do our best we can be proud of our choices and confident they’re the right ones.?Because we did our job?— whatever it is. ~Ryan Holiday

The seas will be turbulent, the adjustments difficult. But what doesn't challenge us, does not change us. And we're due for some change, aren't we? Change that will require everyone to...do their job.

The same way is the safe way, but the same way is not serving the worker, nor is it serving our profession. We need a new way.?Moving forward, we can 1) sit back on our heels and wait for what happens next 2) remain flat footed or 3) forward our center of mass and lead our organizations and our profession ahead. Doing so by honoring the past, leading with humility in the present, and writing a brighter future. Don't expect it to be easy. Instead, commit to evolving.

It's not because things are difficult that we dare not venture. It's because we dare not venture that they are difficult. ~Seneca

Will you lean into the changing of the tide? Dare to venture into what's next? Regardless of the difficulties and uncertainty of the seas ahead. Will you fight the wind, try to control it, or adjust your sails? We can't rock the boat and row it at the same time. But the boat needs some rocking...

Wyatt Bradbury is a Senior HSE Advisor at Hitachi Rail and is part of the Department of Engineering Faculty and the University of Alabama Birmingham teaching Professional Ethics and Introduction to System Safety for the Advanced Safety Engineering and Management Program. He has experience in aquatic and recreation risk management, electrical construction, powerline safety, rail safety, and safety consulting. He believes that through the development of relationships with the employee, employer, and customer we create the safest and most productive environment for our employees. He believes in the value of continual education and learning and participation in local and national organizations that develop relationships personally and professionally. Safety and Health is everybody's business.

With over a decade of experience with the 3M company in a variety of technical and leadership roles, Jason Kunz demonstrates his passion for the safety and health profession across multiple platforms. A forward-thinker, with the objective to elevate the health and well-being of all workers, Jason uses his voice to amplify the profession and the professional. His life journey, blessings, and struggles have inspired a commitment to building professional communities that ensure an empowerment of their people. Jason is a husband, co-founder, speaker, coach, and community advocate. He's a CIH and CSP, but mostly grateful to have a J-O-B and work with some of the most passionate and compassionate people on the planet.?Married since 2019, Jason and his wife Malia call Minneapolis home.