We hear a lot about the significant role trust and credibility play in a safety effort within an organization looking for a step-change in safety performance and culture. I agree with this; however, I take a different view of how this all plays out. If an organization is struggling with trust and credibility in safety, I believe it is simply a reflection of the lack of trust and credibility in every aspect of the business. And I use safety to build that trust and credibility in the organization – not just in the safety movement.; as safety can be a very powerful game changer in many ways – not simply in safety performance! But for safety to be a powerful game changer in building trust and credibility between management and the workers who do the dirty and dangerous work, management MUST LEAD with EMPATHY.
Empathy is defined as the ability to understand and share the feelings of another. You may know it as the old saying… “Walk a mile in my shoes”. Or as we learned during the pandemic “rules for me, but not for thee”. Nothing erodes trust and credibility more than observed behaviors (and decision-making) that conflict with the words coming out of our leader’s mouths. Whether that be a politician or a company CEO and even more significantly, frontline managers and supervisors who are closer to the actual risks. But it ALL STARTS at the very top.
