Want a Thriving Safety Culture? Nurture It!

Want a thriving, supportive, congruent safety culture? You have to nurture it.

It takes constant, thoughtful attention.

Cultures are fragile and require constant, committed nurturing...It's like tending a garden. Care for your culture as if it were a seedling...because even the most mature cultures can be crushed under the weight of one bad leadership experience. (from a recent post of mine)

Here's the link to my full post.

Here are some ways to nurture your safety culture:

Make sure your actions match your words

As most of us have experienced, nothing erodes your culture more quickly than leaders who hold people to a different standard than they hold themselves. In fact, it actually doesn't matter if it is PPE use or WFH policies - it's all relative to those who are watching.

Keep your champions close...and your naysayers closer

Whether you are a leader or implementer, finding and developing champions is how you scale your effort. You will never reach new heights of engagement without champions. And avoid the urge to move away from the harshest critics. Given time, patience and effort, they could be some of your strongest champions (I'll dive more into the how to find and develop champions in a future edition of this newsletter.)

Be mindful of how the broader organizational culture impacts your safety culture

Safety culture and organizational culture are intertwined. Downsizing might not directly impact someone's choice to work safely...but, it very likely will make them think twice about participating in company safety initiatives. Check in with your teams frequently and be open to candid feedback.

Build trust by weeding out micromanaging...because micromanaging behaviors erode the bonds of trust and belonging.

My Recent Poll About the Impact of Micromanaging on Safety Culture

When it comes to nurturing safety culture, vigilance is a word that readily comes to mind. Your team members and broader employee base are constantly looking for signals of how supportive your organization's culture is and where they fit within it.

Micromanaging is a quick way to erode any culture - even the strongest. It only takes a couple bad stories and they spread like wildfire. If your experience is anything like mine, company rumor mills are thriving (especially in organizations with historically poor communication) and are normally about 70% directionally accurate. News travels quickly and most people waste no time formulating their own opinions about what is happening...largely based on their own personal experiences.

Every organization (even the top performing ones) has micromanagers...or at least experiences periods of micromanaging during more turbulent times. Micromanaging is often a stress response. So, even the best leader who is characteristically the opposite of a micromanager can go through episodes of micromanaging when demands or tensions are high.

The problem with this though is that many people are particularly sensitive to these sorts of changes in team dynamics. If everything has been great for a long time and then all of a sudden your senior leaders start micromanaging people who were trusted to get the job done all along, this can begin the process of rewriting the culture stories. Even if only brief, these sorts of episodes will create negative stories that can take a long time to rewrite.

So, what can we all do in these situations?

For starters, we can all be a bit more self-reflective. People notice when your actions do not match your words. Be a beacon of hope and a champion for the culture you want for your organization. Even when times are tough, if it is really that important to you, you will find a way to reach your desired state.

I recently posted a poll here on LinkedIn about the impact of micromanaging on the safety culture. The results are below - as well as the link to the post. Of all respondents, 71% strongly agree that micromanaging would likely negatively impact an organization's safety culture.

I'd love to hear your insights and experiences with micromanaging and its impact on safety culture - either across your organization or just within pockets (subcultures). What has been your experience?

Here's the link to my full post.

We all have personal stories about safety and organizational culture. About how to cultivate thriving cultures and what dysfunctional cultures look...and more importantly...feel like.

I'd love to hear about them. Please share your experiences in the comments. This is the way we all continue to grow and improve together.

Kind regards-

Stephen

My name is Stephen and I have a deep passion for ???????????????? ???????????? ???????????????????? ?????????????? (????????), ???????????? ??????????????, and ???????????????????? ??????????????????????. I've been at this stuff for over 25 years.

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