(10b) Moments of Safety Transformation - Developing Strong Safety Leaders

There are pivotal opportunities for leaders to make a fundamental change in the way others see the future state of safety and how they fit into and can contribute to that future state. When leveraged to the fullest, this opportunity becomes a moment of safety transformation—an instance where a leader uses the full power of the transformational style of leadership by inspiring, influencing, challenging, and engaging employees in safety improvement. For executives these moments might be infrequent, so it is crucial not to miss them when they occur. For leaders closer to the work being done, more opportunities exist. That is why it is important to hone and refine their leadership skills through a focus on safety. This presentation focuses on a unique approach to developing leadership skills around the most essential safety activities leaders do every day. We call these activities moments of safety transformation because they are unique opportunities for leaders to strengthen the safety culture in a small amount of time.

Leaders create the culture and easiest way to strengthen it in support of safety is to practice transformational leadership. Transformational leadership is a way of inspiring employees to go above and beyond self-interest—to get them to harness their personal commitment to safety. Transformational leaders don’t use their power to coerce people to follow the rules or do things a certain way. They use intrinsic values and an emotional commitment to inspire and influence people’s behavior. A leader’s ability to influence, inspire, challenge, and engage people comes down to her ability to change the way employees view her. If she is perceived as credible and trustworthy, her influence will go much further than if she is seen as self-interested or unreliable.

This talk provides attendees with a model for leveraging moments of safety transformation for leaders at all levels. Attendees will:

• Learn the five safety activities that provide leaders with critical moments of truth that shape their safety culture and build leadership best practices.

• Understand the concepts of task-oriented and relationship-oriented leadership and how they impact your interactions with employees.

• Explore the transformational leadership style and learn how to inspire, challenge, influence, and engage the workforce.