Punishing Out the Little Things

Recently, a relative stayed the weekend with us; to guests in my home, mi casa es su casa. Thirsty, she grabbed something out of the fridge, and within, she noticed the warped orange juice container donning a reduced-price sticker. She shared, "I used to fix these."

Elaborating, she shared that she worked for a large chain of grocery stores when she was younger. Whenever stocking similar beverage containers, she would go out of her way to fix the bottles, thus negating the need to be marked down at a reduced price to sell. She estimates she likely saved the store a couple of thousand dollars.

While her immediate supervisor took note and thanked her for this discretionary effort on little things, the store manager did not. The manager was one of the "manage by exception" types of leaders, only providing team feedback when things were not going to plan. "I felt constantly punished," she added.

Without balanced feedback and, in fact, mostly negative, discretionary behaviors like fixing the containers came to a stop. When pride exists in the workplace, with healthy and robust relationships between the workforce and management, people will go above and beyond.

We all know the importance of positive feedback, especially if we are married or have children. But for some reason, we often forget to bring this behavior to work. Seek out the little things people are doing outside of their job responsibilities and do that difficult thing we all know is essential but often forget. Say, thank you.

"A lot of the values of millennials are shared by all of our generations. Who doesn't want purpose, feedback and balance?" - Julie Sweet

"Employees who report receiving recognition and praise within the last seven days show increased productivity, get higher scores from customers, and have better safety records. They're just more engaged at work." - Tom Rath

Lessons from a music video: From saving children to improving workplace safety

May '24 ISHN Magazine

The Unseen Peril of Risk

May '24 BIC Magazine

Five Core Capacities for Sustainable Safety Excellence

April '24-Incident Prevention Magazine

Creating a culture of psychological safety has become a strategic priority for organizations dedicated to the continuous pursuit of safety excellence. Are your leaders enabled for this endeavor?

Elevate your organization's safety performance and culture by unlocking the intrinsic power of psychological safety. In this workshop, we dive deep into the core principles of psychological safety, empowering attendees to cultivate an environment where every voice is valued, and every idea has the potential to flourish. Attendees will be equipped to foster an environment where safety is ingrained in every interaction and every decision. Learn more at: https://proactsafety.com/events/leading-psychological-safety-excellence

Shawn M. Galloway is the CEO of the global consultancy ProAct Safety. With over twenty years of experience in safety systems, strategy, culture, leadership, and employee engagement, he serves as a trusted advisor, keynote speaker, and expert witness. He is the author of eight books and has multiple regular columns in leading magazines, with over 400 articles and 100 videos to his credit. He also created the first safety podcast, Safety Culture Excellence, which has over 800 episodes.

Shawn's passion, dedication, influence, and significant contributions to the field of safety have been recognized with numerous awards and accolades from prestigious organizations such as the American Society of Safety Professionals, National Safety Council, EHS Today Magazine, and ISHN Magazine. He is also an esteemed Avetta Distinguished Fellow.