Hey, it's good that you're here! Shall we have a chat? Tell me, how is the safety journey at your organization?
There are so many ways to answer this question, right? And so many models of Safety Culture out there. But seriously, the truth is that you can choose whichever model you want.
Models are just that, mere representations of a reality that help us explain something. They are not an absolute truth. The real difference lies in how you will apply this model.
And that's where the secret is! Let's go for another Beyond Zero! Now, back to my question.
At what stage of the journey are you? Or your organization? How about we use the model proposed by Clive Lloyd in the book Next Generation Safety Leadership?
It works like this: level one: Apathy. Leadership blames the workers and safety is summed up to following the rules. Level two: Reactive.
Safety becomes a priority after incidents, punitive measures are used assuming that incidents are caused by people. Level three: Involvement. The front-line people get involved in safety as they start to trust leadership a bit more, the management decisions are seen as factors in the incidents.
Level four: Proactive. Everyone understands that safety makes sense for the organization, both in its moral and economical aspect. Trust increases.
Leadership is visible and exercises genuine care for the people. Level five: Integrated. Safety is ingrained in the organization, driven by trust and mutual learning.
Even if there is a sustained period without incidents, the focus remains on resilience and continuous improvement. There are two very interesting things about this model that are worth us highlighting here. The first one is that it demonstrates progression, a journey with highs and lows.
Not discrete levels you either achieve or don't achieve. And another is that at the more mature levels, the golden rules, the procedures, the slogans don't increase in frequency or cost. What really increases is trust, the visible and perceptible leadership, the psychological safety, and the sharing of authentic information that make the difference.
Where do you think your organization is at? A good exercise for reflection that can even be done with your team is: if we were already one level above, what would we be doing? Not only with your team but with all the teams.
After all, the responsibility must be shared with everyone, as well as the authority to decide. And now that we've touched on this topic of responsibility, I think it's worth discussing a bit about locus of control, or place of control. After all, to exercise your responsibility, you need to feel that you have some control over the situation.
Locus of control is about how people perceive control over the events that occur in their lives. People with an internal locus of control believe that their actions control their own destiny, they take responsibility for their lives. On the other hand, people with an external locus of control believe that they are victims of luck, of external events, or even of other people.
They tend to believe that they don't control their lives. [Applause] [Music] A simple way to communicate this concept is to talk about acting above the line for internal locus of control, and below the line for external locus of control. Keeping your thinking and your communication above the line has several benefits, while being below it has none.
It's all about your perception of control. It has been scientifically proven. Several studies show a direct correlation between being above the line and living a healthier life, having better relationships with people, and even being safer.
Yes, being safer! And if being above the line makes us safer, why not simply take everyone there? You can't force people to act and communicate above the line, but we can certainly influence them.
That's the path we should take, or at least try. I'll share some tips that I've learned and that can help us bring people to the above-the-line side. Consider your portion of responsibility in any situation.
If you are going to influence someone to take control of their life, you also need to demonstrate that control. You need to demonstrate that you're above the line, that you first consider how your own actions make a difference. Focus on what you can control and influence.
Take a pause before you ask. This is one of the greatest lessons I learned in the workshop with Clive Lloyd. This pause makes you activate your Conscious Mind instead of simply reacting to what's happening, reacting to what people said.
This will make you act intentionally and not simply automatically. Ask good questions. The kind of questions that we ask can have an influence on whether people are above or below the line.
Below the line questions include a hidden statement, something like "you're not okay" "you're doing something wrong. " Above the line questions tend to elucidate above the line answers. Questions such as: "How can we act to improve this situation?
" "What are the possible solutions for this? " "What is within our reach? " "What is our part in this and how can we contribute?
" "What actions can we take to move forward? " This kind of question influences people to take charge of the situation or at least begin to understand what is their portion of control over everything that's happening. It was really good having you here up to now for this conversation.
How about we continue on this video, or maybe on this one here? Don't forget to subscribe to the channel and share it with a colleague, a friend, someone you'd like to receive this message. A hug, take care and don't forget to have fun, ever!
