This post is the third and final 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. To learn more about this key practice, register online for our webinar on January 18, 2012 from 2:00-3:00 Eastern Time.
In part 1 and part 2 of our series on changing behavior to make your organization a safer place to work, we talked about appealing to the Rider – the analytical side of the brain – and motivating the Elephant – the emotional side. The last step is to make the road easier to navigate for the Rider and the Elephant.
Here are some ways you can “shape the path” – that is, remove the roadblocks to change when it comes to creating a culture of safety:
Tweak the Environment
Often people behave based on their environments, so if you change the environment, you can change their behavior. Creating a culture of safety within your organization can help affect this change, but it could also be as easy as building toddler steps up to the changing tables in your childcare rooms to reduce child lifting injuries. Think about what you can do to make being safe the easier path to take for employees.
Build Habits
Once behavior becomes a habit, change is much easier. Look for action triggers that can help shape habits. For instance, staff can remind each other during play time not to participate but rather supervise. Another good rule of thumb is, if you wouldn’t let the children do it, you shouldn’t do it either.
Rally the Herd
It’s a well-known fact that people follow the crowd when it comes to behavior. You must establish a group to lead the change, from executive management to program managers to staff. Make it fun and give them a way to self-identify, whether that’s by having a regular “safety club” pizza party discussion group or giving them titles like “Safety Crusaders.”
That concludes our series on changing behavior. For more inspiration and resources:
- Read the book, Switch: How to Change Things When Change is Hard, by Chip and Dan Heath.
- Explore the Mission First: Employee Safety site for tools and guidance
- Watch the kickoff webinar, Mission First: Employee Safety – Leadership Commitment
- Register for the next webinar in the series: Mission First: Employee Safety – Changing Behavior
Have you found ways to make change easier in your organization or community? Share your stories in the comments below!
