As someone who writes and communicates my thoughts freely, it was a shock to hear from one of my Fast Track your Safety Communication Results students that she has to follow a script for toolbox talks.
We all have different styles when it comes to making decisions. When it comes to making a choice at work, how do you like to operate?
Do you:
A. Prefer to receive lots of detailed information, so that you can make a comprehensive assessment, or
B. Make a quick decision using minimal information?
One mistake I often see safety professionals do, is that once they have created a new company safety procedure, they get all excited about it and go and tell the next colleague they see. Usually their workmate has their mind on something else such as they're busy filling out a form or using a machine.
Recently, I was talking to Julie Honore from Safesearch, a safety professional recruitment company that specialise in finding safety staff in Asia, Australia and the Middle East. She told me that there is a growing demand for sophisticated safety professionals that can coach, influence and engage on safety.
Over the years, I've had the honour of reading and improving stacks of standard operating procedures (SOPs).
Recently, I was talking to the Managing Director of a large recruiting firm for safety professionals in the Asia Pacific region about the importance of communication skills.
As a safety professional, it's vital that you can get your fellow workers in alignment with the company safety goals, so that everyone is working safely and productively.
You can have the best safety system in the world, but if you are not communicating it correctly, your organisation is at risk.
If you've ever felt that a lot of your friends or colleagues are robotic and don't think much, I've got some news for you. You're probably right.
One of the interesting things I find when it comes to safety is that some safety professionals (some, not all) like to play bad cop when it comes to getting their safety message across.