Getting primær to follow safety standards.

The Problem:

I am trying to encourage employees to work safely, but often meet with resistance and feel like people only behave when the safety guys are around. How can I create long-term change and encourage employees to take responsibility for creating a safe work environment?

The Solution:

Thanks for asking this important question. At first, it seems strange that people would resist following safe work practices. After all, none of us wants to be injured at work. Yet the problem you describe is very common—in part because many of us already feel safe at work.

Our workplaces are far safer than they used to be. In the U.S., time lost due to injuries has dropped by more than 50 percent since 1991. This means many of the most obvious sources of danger have been addressed and resolved. Now we are focusing on less obvious dangers and more stubborn behaviors.

Another complication is that many of the most dangerous behaviors are ones we are guilty of in our personal lives as well as at work. We accept the risks at home and we think we should be able to take the same risks at work. For example, many of the most fatal workplace accidents involve bad driving behaviors—we fail to buckle up, we speed, we drive carelessly, and we back into things. Another huge source of injuries involves bad ladder behaviors—we fail to use a ladder when we should, we don't tie off our ladder, or we carry tools in our hands as we climb the ladder. How many of us ignore these risks when we're not at work? So, it's a challenge to get us to take these risks seriously when we're on the job.

I'll use our Influencer model to suggest a few steps you can take to create a safer working environment.

1. Focus on a few crucial moments. My guess is that most of your people follow most of the safety practices most of the time. This means your safety problem boils down to a few perfect storms—crucial moments when some of your people fail to follow some of the safety practices. Get your team involved by having them identify the handful of crucial moments that are most dangerous in their work environment. Our research study Silent Danger identified five crucial moments that we often use to justify skipping safety practices:

• Get It Done. Justifying unsafe practices due to tight timelines.
• Undiscussable Incompetence. Unsafe practices that stem from skill deficits that people don't feel able to discuss.
• Just this Once. Justifying unsafe practices as exceptions to the rule.
• This Is Overboard. Justifying unsafe practices because the precautions seem excessive.
• Are You a Team Player? Unsafe practices that people justify by saying they are for the good of the team, company, or customer.

2. Identify the vital behaviors in these crucial moments. The vital behaviors are the few actions that will keep people safe during the crucial moments they've identified. For example, suppose one of the crucial moments your team has identified is, "When it's our fault that we're behind schedule, we do whatever it takes to make up our lost time. And a typical shortcut is failing to use ladders when we should."

The vital behaviors are: a.) Watch out for this crucial moment and warn others when you think you are at risk; b.) Be especially careful to avoid dangerous and tempting shortcuts when you're in this crucial moment; and c.) Confront those you see taking a dangerous shortcut.

3. Build personal motivation. Your question revealed that people aren't taking personal responsibility for their safety behaviors. They know what they should do but they aren't doing it. This sounds like a motivation problem.

The typical mistake we make in motivating is to rely on verbal persuasion: data dumps, lectures, sermons, and rants. These are the least effective ways to motivate people.

The most effective way is personal experience. For example, we found that nurses who suffered a hospital-acquired infection were much more likely to remind their peers to wash their hands. Their experience turned hand hygiene into a moral passion.

But people don't need to be injured to become motivated. Personal experience isn't required. Our nurses were just as motivated if they'd had a family member or close friend who suffered an infection. Vicarious experience can be just as powerful.

4. Build Social Motivation. Another of your concerns is that people see you as the enforcer. There should be social motivation, but reminders should come from their peers as well as supervisors.

Often, it is important to involve senior managers and leaders and show them what they can do during crucial moments. For example, during a crisis when everybody is rushing and tempted to take shortcuts, it is very helpful for the manager who is over the entire crisis to remind people that they still need to take every safety precaution. These timely warnings from senior leaders counter the cynical expectations many employees have about their organization's commitment to safety.

Obviously, these are just a few ideas to add to the mix. You'll want to consider actions in each of the six sources of influence. Remember, leaders who combine four or more of these sources are ten times more successful at achieving their desired results.

David Maxwell

- On the road with my iPhone

Dealing with a Braggart

The Problem:

My coworker continuously boasts and brags about almost every aspect of her life. When anyone from our team discusses their successes or their life, she has to outdo them and frequently talks over people in order to be heard. I have tried to deal with her bragging but I think we are officially on the path to a difficult conversation. I do not want to damage the relationship or cause tension in our department but it has become so excessive that I have even contemplated finding a new job! Do you have any advice?

The Solution:

You are facing an interesting challenge—one I've seen or heard about many times. The most memorable comment came from an old high school buddy who, when we were about 40, made this comment about another person we knew: "When I toss pebbles in a puddle, he throws boulders in the ocean!" When my buddy made this comment, he sounded as frustrated and angry and perplexed as you do. Certainly, this is one of those conversations that is difficult and challenging to hold.

I once had a professor who had been entrapped by the same behavior as your coworker and who had overcome that particular challenge—with some help from his wife. My professor had a PhD, and he taught at the Air Force Academy and other universities. He was a full bird colonel and during his military career as a pilot, he traveled all over the world. At lunches, wine-and-cheese parties, and backyard barbecues, he would get entrapped. Someone who just returned from a cruise to the Baltic would mention a lovely dinner they had in Oslo, and the colonel would say, "Oh and isn't the museum that's next door to that restaurant lovely." Another person would say, "I just got back from Rio and was on the greatest beach I've ever seen." And the colonel would say, "It is grand, but I prefer the one about a mile south of that." He had a comment to one-up just about everyone at the party.

The colonel didn't see the problem until his wife said, "I don't think you notice that you come across as bragging when you top everyone's stories. Just because you've been all over the world, doesn't mean you have to diminish what others have seen or done." Then she added that old adage, "You have one mouth and two ears. You need to listen more and talk less." He got the message. He changed. He found that if he asked the storyteller multiple questions, he enjoyed the conversation more. He could remember the places he'd been without topping the storyteller. And he found he could still be the one to take a turn at sharing a story. He had been topping people unintentionally, but his wife's comment helped him see the consequences he hadn't intended. The colonel didn't change all at once. He commented that occasionally his wife tapped him with a stealthy elbow.

How do these examples relate to your challenge? Let me explain.

Get your motives right. What are you trying to accomplish? Are you trying to help or launch a guilt trip? Are you intending to be a coach or a critic? Ask yourself these questions, "What do I really want for her, for me, and for our relationship?" When you can feel in your heart that you are genuinely trying to help, then you are ready to talk.

Make it safe. What allowed the colonel's wife to share her feedback? They had a wonderful and trusting relationship. It was safe for them to talk about annoying behaviors and they had both made corrections based on the other person's assessment of their behavior.

The step above is essential to building safety. If your heart is right and your motive clear, it will be safe to talk. But if you come in with frustration and prejudgment on your face, you will make it unsafe. In order to make it safe, you should also make sure the conversation is private and convenient. You wouldn't want to talk when you or your coworker is feeling stressed or tired.

You can also make it safe by clarifying your motive. We call this contrasting. For example, you might begin with, "I have an observation to share. I don't want to come across as a critic. I do want to share an issue that will help our relationship and improve camaraderie within our team. I'm trying to be a friend." When you have the right motive, you will find the right words to clarify what you don't intend and rather, what you do intend.

Start with a specific observation and a question—not conclusions and emotions. Let's explore the options. You could keep silent—the consequence being that you'd find a different job. To me, the stress and suffering of switching jobs far outweighs the costs of speaking up.

You could go in with moral indignation and say, "I can't believe you are so dense that you brag and boast and interrupt people all the time! It's horrible, and I, the other teammates, and most of the people in town, hate it. I've had it!" Also not a good option.

Instead of jumping ship or blowing up, I would say something like this, "Last week at our team lunch, I noticed that when Joyce talked about her camping trip with her kids, you commented that you and your family had taken your RV to Jackson Hole and then you talked about the elk and the art you had seen for several minutes. I noticed that Joyce frowned and shut up. I've seen you do this more than a half dozen times. I think it's hurting the relationships in our team, and I'm not sure you even know you're doing it. It's difficult for me to bring this up, but I am hopeful that we can talk about it as friends. Can we talk about it?"

Prepare for alternate responses. Your coworker has a few options. She can say, "No I haven't really noticed. I certainly want to do better. Could you help me?" Wouldn't that be nice? And often that is what happens. However, there is the potential she will become defensive or emotional. If that happens, describe what you see, "I can see you're upset." And then contrast again. Share what you were not trying to do—offend her—and what you were trying to do—help. At this point, you can decide to end the conversation, or as often happens, your coworker will calm down and you can have a dialogue about the issue and some behaviors your coworker can practice when tempted to boast.

I hope this will help you prepare to talk to your coworker. If I had this problem, I'd hope for a coworker who would make it safe enough for me to hear how I could improve my relationship with my teammates.


- On the road with my iPhone