The greatest and most effective safety leader of our time (and hero to me) died this morning in Pittsburg. It is a huge loss to the community of people who value organizational leadership, and in particular, workplace safety.
The connection between safety and business performance comes down to creating the conditions for organizational success—and it just so happens that safety is the perfect platform to support that collaborative effort.
Big visions require resources. In a world where resources are limited, safety leaders need to be able to demonstrate why their investment is not just the right thing for the workforce, it’s the best thing for the business.
Putting a solid safety management process in place can be difficult. One thing I think we can all agree on is that you must start with a desire and commitment to having one. Real commitment to a properly designed and implemented safety management process does work, and it works for the whole of the organization.
The Hippocratic Oath was originally written over 2,400 years ago, and meant primarily for the medical profession, but what if safety leaders at all levels committed to a Hippocratic Oath? What do I mean by ‘safety leaders’? Anyone in a position to influence safety is a safety leader; this is not meant just for EHS professionals. How many lives would be saved? How many injuries prevented? How much less pain and suffering would families endure? With some minor edits to the original oath, I’d suggest the following is worth discussing with your leadership teams:
Most leaders have heard the idea that safety performance is foundational to overall organizational performance. But do leaders really believe that this principle is accurate–to the point that it influences their action and decision making? Getting to this level of understanding requires that leaders see the mechanisms by which safety leads performance. Dr. Krause explains this to a group of senior executives.
Most people readily agree that safety is good business, but they span an enormous spectrum in what they mean by that and the degree to which they truly understand the connection between safety and their business. Understanding that connection is important. Without the right understanding, anyone who recognizes their fiduciary duty to their organization will…
If a client came to us saying, “We know we have some leadership and culture issues: Communication is poor, skill level of supervisors and managers in inconsistent, our people don’t understand system thinking, and behavioral reliability is sketchy. Performance is suffering and we need an organizational improvement strategy. How should we approach it?” Our answer…
Paul O’Neill was the CEO of Alcoa from 1987 to 2000. Under his leadership, Alcoa’s market value increased from $3 billion in 1986 to $27.53 billion in 2000, while net income increased from $200 million to $1.48 billion. O’Neill began his first speech to Alcoa shareholders in 1987 by saying, “I want to talk to…
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