Executive Leadership
In the past 40 years I have met hundreds of CEO’s and Presidents of companies large and small. Each expressed their commitment to workplace safety and their desire to eliminate, or at least minimize, incidents and their related cost. Many have been effective in creating the conditions which ensure safety excellence some have not. Here we will look at some of the requisite actions the successful Executives have used to radically improve HSE performance. When we speak of “leadership” we are also speaking of “management”. To be effective you have to be both a leader and a manager.
One of our earliest clients had a CEO who took action and changed a middling performer into a best in class performer. This CEO would regularly visit the company’s various production sites and he liked to get “out and about” to talk with employees at all levels of the organization. On one such visit he met an employee named Russ who wasn’t afraid to speak his mind. Russ and the CEO hit it off immediately as they discussed work, family and shared hobbies. Each time the CEO would visit this facility he would make sure to visit with Russ. About 2years after their first meeting the CEO was in his office at Headquarters and he received a call from Russ’s Site Manager who explained that Russ had been a terrible accident and that he had died. His friend’s death had a profound effect on the CEO who decided then and there that this would never happen again.
After he was assured everything possible was being done for Russ’s family and that the accident would be thoroughly investigated, he picked up his pen and wrote the outline of a manifesto on safety, which was for more than your typical one page HSE Policy Statement. It clearly articulated a set of principles and beliefs that would the decisions and actions of all employees moving forward. This outline manifesto was produced as a videotape (remember this was some time ago). The CEO ensured the tape was seen by everyone of the company’s 15,000 employees and with assurance from there group or facility leader that the CEO was fully committed to eliminating incidents and loss. Within 5 years this company went from a 3rd quartile performer to become the leader in their industrial segment. Here is a question for you: how much of this improvement can be attributed to the tape? I believe the manifesto was a good start, but without the actions necessary company’s processes and culture the video would have had only a minor and temporary impact on performance. I have seen this story; all be it in less dramatic and less tragic fashion, play out in hundreds of clients. Let explore some of the essential actions Russ’s CEO took to improve performance, process and culture.
Essential Actions
Set High Standards
He didn’t set a goal to achieve the best Total Recordable Injury Rate (TRIR) in the industrial segment his company was in, he set a good of zero incident, illnesses and injuries. He knew that in a company the size of his it would be almost impossible to attain this goal. When he announced the goal he received fairly heated pushback from all quarters but, he stuck to his guns. He didn’t equivocate, he didn’t temporize, the goal remained zero. As for priority, he understood that safety couldn’t be first, second or third. It had to be an equal and integral part of every decision and task.
Demonstrate Benefits
He understood the goal was meaningless unless he could translate it into a compelling narrative of how the effort put in to achieving this level of performance would provide tangible immediate and future benefits for the company and all employees. He constantly talked, in great detail, about his vision of an injury free future state. He spoke about the changes which had to be made to achieve the goal; his role in making this happen and the role everyone else was to play. He didn’t sugarcoat it, change is often hard, but he always finished by focusing on the benefits.
Commitment to the Plan
He knew there would be additional frontend cost associated with improved facilities and compliance. Money was needed to improve procedures and training. He knew he couldn’t do it all at once so he integrated the necessary expenditures into the 3-5 year Strategic plan. He put his money where his mouth was.
Utilize Outside Resources
The CEO had a number of intelligent and highly qualified people in positions through the organization, but he also knew he would need external help to move the organization forward at the pace he wanted. He also knew there would be in fighting, turf wars and personality conflicts if he tried to make such a significant change relying solely on internal resources. This is where we (The SRI Group) came in. We had a record of success, a proven approach and a reputation of telling the truth telling.
Set Expectations
Knowing that his goal could invite non-reporting of injuries or outright manipulation of injury logs, he let everyone know:
- He expected absolute integrity in the reporting and recording of injuries. Failure to meet these expectations was grounds for dismissal.
- He would discourage excessive “Incident/Injury Management” as it creates a false sense of progress and send the exact wrong message to the hourly workforce.
- He had the Performance Appraisal system re-aligned to reward both results and quality completion of assigned goals and responsibilities.
Empower Employees
6) He empowered and involved everyone in the organization. He let them know they had a specific role to play and that they would be accountable to execute that role well.
Measure Results Consistently
He made sure the organization measured the correct things on a regular basis. They measured results, process and inputs. They developed proactive metrics for critical systems related to compliance and engineering controls. They ensured that the metrics were widely understood and embraced. This was a very important step; because as Martin Ferris taught me, measurement is first social process.
Simplify
Finally; this CEO knew both the power of simplicity and the need to sweat the small stuff. While these may seem contradictory they are actually quite compatible. In simplifying rules and procedures he could expect increased compliance without sacrificing procedural integrity. By simplifying and clarifying expectations and measurement he could expect improved accountability. In simplifying processes he could achieve some level of symbiosis where the overlap of safety, quality, productivity, etc. could be exploited.