This post is the first in a series about our new initiative, Mission First: Employee Safety. The purpose of this initiative is to re-frame the conversation about workplace safety to one about the important role of staff in pursuit of your mission and ultimately, reduce injuries by providing the resources and guidance to create a culture of safety within your organization. There are five key practices, and the second one we will focus on here is about Change.
We all know that change is hard. And in order for a workplace safety initiative to work, people need to change. Many employers think staff are resistant to change or lazy, but when a change initiative fails, it’s actually more likely due to confusion or a lack of knowledge of what to do, rather than refusal to do so.
In the book, Switch: How to Change Things When Change is Hard, by Chip and Dan Heath, the authors describe human motivation as an elephant being driven by a rider. The Elephant represents the emotional side — passion, drive and empathy — and can be distracted by temptations and shrinks at big challenges. The Rider is the analytical side — planning and long-term thinking — and can be weakened by over-thinking and decision-making paralysis. As you can imagine, a rider could have a tough time controlling an elephant, and you can see why change can seem impossible.
In this post, we’re going to explore how to “direct the rider” – in other words, provide the clear direction the analytical part of our brains needs to avoid wheel-spinning. Here’s what you can do to start driving change around the issue of workplace safety:
Find the Bright Spots
Identify what’s working. We’ve found a bright spot in the Peninsula Metropolitan YMCA. Do you have employees that you can look to and gain insight on techniques or habits they use to stay safe? Locations which are incident-free? Peers who have success stories in workplace safety?
Script the Critical Moves
After you determine what’s working, replicate it across your organization. Lay out the steps to creating a culture of safety, using the tools provided on our Mission First: Employee Safety website.
Point to the Destination
Paint a picture of success for your employees to strive towards – not just “X amount of days since our last workplace injury” but within the context of fulfilling your mission. Use imagery to show what a culture of safety would look like.
Have you seen bright spots in your organization when it comes to workplace safety? Share what’s working in the comments below!
