The Way Forward: Safety Culture Improvements

Developing the Way Forward: Getting a Commitment for ImprovementsSo far we’ve looked at the first three steps of our coaching model for safety culture improvements.  The first step is to establish the GOAL.  The second step it to determine the current state REALITY.  The third step is to generate OPTIONS for improvements. The final step is to develop a Way Forward based on the top options generated in the previous step. [content_protector password=”way-forward” identifier=”way-forward”]

Carving the Way Forward

The final step in the G.R.O.W. coaching process is to piece together a plan of action based on the best options you decided upon with the person you are coaching.  As always, the plan of action should consist primarily of the ideas of the “coachee.”  Remember, “no one disagrees with his/her own ideas.”

The plan of action is a simple process of paring down the options to the top two or three, and setting expectations based on those options, complete with time frames for putting them into practice.

So, returning to the case of my employee, Tom, I might wrap things up by saying:

“Tom, it looks like we’ve come up with a long list of options here.  Tell you what, why don’t you pick the one you want to work on first.  I’ll pick one, too, so you’ll have two options to work on.”

Once we’ve decided on a couple of options, then I might say …

“As I understand it, Tom, starting tomorrow you plan to start doing things differently in these two areas.  Did I get that right? Did I miss anything?”

To make sure this doesn’t fall through the cracks, I’ll want to put a time parameter around it:

“Tom, one of the options we agreed on is your leadership in our safety meetings.  Our next safety meeting is next Tuesday.  Why you go ahead and plan to lead that meeting.  Let’s get together an hour before that meeting to talk about how you plan to deliver the message and engage the audience.  Then let’s meet right after that meeting to discuss how things went.”

Follow-up and follow-through is key to this process.  So be sure you’re not the one dropping the ball!

Well there you have it.  The four-step G.R.O.W. process for coaching safety performance and behaviors.  That’s it for this edition of Recordable INSIGHTS.  Be sure to view the associated video below to learn more about this final step in the coaching process. Until next time.

~ES


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About the Author

SBI
safetyBUILT-IN is the safety-leadership learning and development division of SCInc. We believe sustainable safety performance is best achieved through a core-values based safety culture, and that culture must be driven by leadership. Our safety-leadership programs are competency-based, and focused on performance outcomes. We believe in building capability and ownership into our client organizations—as well as sustainability into our programs—so that our clients can continue running those programs long after we’re out of the picture. Our emphasis is on building better leadership presence, better leadership communication and better leadership coaching by first building relationships of trust with people and learning how to engage them on the level of their core values and beliefs.