#SafetyforLife: More than words
Safety has come great strides in recent decades. We are reaching the point where marginal changes to our safety metrics and leading indicators are considered measures of success. This is a great thing! Seeing where we are and where we have been indicates the increasing level of diligence across private industry. So with so much success in lowering incidents of injury, how do we keep inching our way toward zero? How do we continue to raise the bar?
At AECOM, safety is a core value, and the values of an organization start at the top. The next stage of safety success starts with leaders who understand that investing in safety should be a priority. AECOM’s leaders know this well, and our company is headed in the right direction.
Once an organization has a plan to invest in safety, the next step is to take action and communicate safety messages to employees. Communication is not simply a series of composed newsletters or verbal messages about the status quo or things to come — it is how leaders share their core values and what truly matters to them through the decisions they make. When the message is consistent with their choices, leaders gain trust and guide others to align their own values to those of the organization. Leaders who give lip service to safety will never be as effective as leaders who consistently and consciously choose to enhance its value to their employees, relationships and the organization’s safety program.
Image: Gallatin Safety Girls (from left to right) Stephanie Miller, Alexis Ludovissie and Jayme Hobson.
Humans learn most effectively through experience, and what we see or feel is far more influential than what we hear. Degradation occurs in employees’ willingness to propagate the corporate vision when their experiences tell them the alleged “core values” are nothing more than words on a page. We all see through words alone. It takes authenticity at the source to trigger desire in others to follow.
I am fortunate to work at a project site where this transmission of safety commitment has taken a strong hold. At the Tennessee Valley Authority Clean Air Project in Gallatin, AECOM project managers understand what safety as a core value really means. They understand that an investment in safety will come back around to improve the bottom line. When you combine that kind of leadership with an interest in individuals and positive, reinforcing messages, the result is a workforce of employees who genuinely look out for each other and do their best for the team.
So ask yourself as a leader, “Do my choices align with our core values? Am I leading authentically? Would employees in my organization say that I truly hold safety as a core value?” If we are to keep raising the bar in safety, we must continue to build on our coordinated commitment to show it through leadership actions.
Safety Tip: Make your decisions consistent with the safety-as-a-core-value message, and reinforce that desire in others by giving positive feedback, even to leaders, when you see the right behaviors displayed.