Key to High-Performing and Safe Teams: Knowing People as Individuals

Great leaders understand that their team members are not just employees but individuals with unique experiences, motivations, and needs. This personalized approach, known by the psychological community as “Individual Consideration,” is essential for leaders who aim to build high-performing teams and improve workplace safety.

When leaders take the time to know their team members as individuals, they foster trust and open communication. Trust lays the groundwork for a workplace culture where employees feel valued and respected, and encourages them to share insights, challenges, and innovative ideas openly. Open dialogue is particularly critical in environments where safety is a priority, as it allows leaders to proactively identify and address potential risks.^[1],[2]

Research highlights that transformational leadership – characterized by behaviors such as individualized consideration – directly influences safety behaviors.^[3],[4] Leaders who prioritize individual relationships inspire team members to go beyond basic compliance with safety protocols, engaging in proactive safety participation, such as helping peers and contributing to a safer workplace.^[5],[6] This approach does more than meet standards; it creates a culture of mutual care and accountability.^[7]

One caveat – individual influence is not sufficient for preventing serious incidents and fatalities (SIFs). Eliminating SIFs from your organization will also require broad organizational influence.

In any case, the takeaway for leaders who rely on individual influence is clear: knowing your people as individuals isn’t just about building relationships; it’s key to safety improvement. Trust and communication, fostered by individualized attention, lead to safer, more innovative, and ultimately higher-performing teams.^[8] Investing in your team members as individuals drives organizational success in ways that transactional management styles simply cannot.

[1] Barling, J., Kelloway, E. K., & Iverson, R. (2003). Accidental outcomes: Attitudinal consequences of workplace injuries. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 8, 74–85.

[2] Roberts, K., & Markel, K. S. (2001). Claiming in the name of fairness: Organizational justice and the decision to file for workplace injury compensation. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 6, 332–347.

[3] Bass, B. M., & Riggio, R. E. (2006). Transformational leadership (2nd ed.). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

[4] Zohar, D. (2002). The effects of leadership dimensions safety climate and assigned priorities on minor injuries in work groups. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 23, 75–92.

[5] Clarke, S., & Ward, K. (2006). The role of leader influence tactics and safety climate in engaging employees’ safety participation. Risk Analysis, 26, 1175–1185.

[6] Conchie, S. M., & Donald, I. J. (2009). The moderating role of safety-specific trust on the relation between safety-specific leadership and safety citizenship behaviors. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 14, 137–147.

[7] Christian, M. S., Bradley, J. C., Wallace, J. C., & Burke, M. J. (2009). Workplace safety: A meta-analysis of the roles of person and situation factors. Journal of Applied Psychology, 94, 1103–1127.

[8] Inness, M., Turner, N., Barling, J., & Stride, C. (2010). Transformational leadership and employee safety performance: A within-person, between-jobs design. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 15(3), 279–290.