EHS LEADERSHIP IN 2021 - interactive.blr.com

EHS LEADERSHIP

A NOW & NEXT REPORTIN 2021from the

2 EHS Leadership in 2021

EHS Leadership Takes Center Stage in 2021 ..................................................................3

Focused Leadership Skills for New Safety Coordinators ...........................................5

A Seat for Safety in the C-Suite: An Interview with Regina McMichael ............................9

CONTENTS

The EHS Daily Advisor is proud to present this Now & Next report for our 2021 EHS Leadership Week!

The role of environment, health, and safety (EHS) is indispensable within every organization, but it’s often up to the EHS department to make its case to other company stakeholders. This requires a proactive focus on leadership, whether you are a top EHS executive or a new safety or environmental compliance coordinator just entering the profession.

In this Now & Next report, we’ll get insights from three thought leaders in the EHS field on the challenges facing leadership today and tomorrow, from the shop floor to the board room.

Remember: Everyone in EHS has it in them to be a leader. The tips you find here will provide a helpful first step for you to be an effective environment, health, and safety advocate for both your coworkers and your organization.

EHS Leadership in 2021 3

EHS LEADERSHIP TAKES CENTER STAGE IN 2021By Brian Knowler

There is no doubt that 2020 has not been a great year for most organizations, no matter if you’re a business, a nonprofit, or a government agency. The multilayered impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has taken a toll on everyone’s health and wellness and has pushed people responsible for workplace safety in directions they have never had to contemplate before.

There have been few times in our history when the role of leadership has been so important. During a crisis, teams are looking to leaders to provide guidance, support, and direction, and COVID-19 has been perhaps the largest crisis that most people currently in leadership positions have faced. There are many good leaders who have been pushed to their breaking point while exploring these uncharted waters.

2021 doesn’t have to be the same.

Starting with some small changes to how you view yourself as a leader and a new way of thinking, you can start now to reshape the path of workplace health and safety that you and your organization will take into this next year.

During a crisis, eyes turn to the person in charge, looking for answers, looking for validation, and looking for support. There are few things in life more terrifying than dealing with critical incidents while feeling that you are alone; we as leaders have a unique and incredible opportunity to be part of the lifeline for our teams.

The health, well-being, and stability of your team should be your number one priority as a leader. When that happens, great things like increased productivity, better morale, and less sick time usage inevitably follow, even with the wild-card factor of COVID-19 waiting in the shadows.

When people look to you for guidance, however, there is another side of the coin. Those same eyes are on you no matter what you do. What


kind of role model are you for your team? Are you following safety protocols yourself? Are you making sure that your team members have the personal protective equipment (PPE) they need? Are you checking in on those working from home, making sure they still feel like part of the team and that their needs are being attended to? Are you treating mental health with empathy as your team continues to adjust to working at home or starts the process of returning to an office setting?

Anyone can steer a ship through calm and smooth seas; it is the true leader who steps to the helm when the seas are rough and the storms are blowing.

Despite the fear and uncertainty that have been a hallmark of 2020 and that, unfortunately, look to be continuing in 2021, there are incredible opportunities present for those who see them—opportunities to grow and improve your knowledge, skills, and abilities within your field.

The great thing is this growth is inherently connected to being a strong and empathetic leader—you can’t have one without the other.

Leaving a legacy starts with small steps. Let your leadership, your dedication to health and safety, and your service to your team during this unprecedented time in professional history be the start of yours.

Brian Knowler is the CEO and Lead Trainer for Knowler Consulting, where he writes and speaks on issues surrounding trauma, leadership, and public safety across North America.

Brian is a certified leadership coach and a member of the International Institute for Mental Health Leadership, and his CAPITAL L Leadership training program received the 2019 Corporate Livewire Award for Excellence in Mental Health Support. Learn more at www.knowlerconsulting.com.


FOCUSED LEADERSHIP SKILLS FOR NEW SAFETY COORDINATORSBy David Paoletta

On the road to becoming a safety coordinator or environment, health, and safety technician, you probably focused on developing the compliance expertise needed for the role. Without those skills, the job is virtually impossible. As you’ll quickly find out during your first few months, though, you’re not just doing a job; you’re leading others.

Leadership skills—also known as soft or interpersonal skills—are the tools you use to apply your knowledge in the field. Focus on developing the following skills, and you’ll find yourself naturally building your company’s safety culture and achieving your personal career goals.

Skill 1: AuthenticityWhen you start a new job, you want a lot of things. You want to be liked. You want to be respected. And you want to be successful in your mission to improve health and safety in your organization.

Oddly enough, those wants can undermine your authenticity, leading you to flip-flop between overconfidence and insecurity. To combat this and maintain your authenticity, just be yourself—or a more professional version of yourself.


Being yourself doesn’t mean everyone will love you, but it does mean you won’t waste time trying to adopt some other leader’s personality; people will see through that.

Authenticity allows you to grow from a place of acknowledging your actual strengths and weaknesses. You may be judged by some no matter what you do, so being yourself makes it easier to reevaluate and press on with your mission and stay true to your values.

Skill 2: Knowing When to Say ‘I Don’t Know’If you’re reluctant to admit you lack some nugget of safety information, you wouldn’t be the first. But it would actually be much stranger if you knew everything. Why? Because no one knows everything about safety, not even the most seasoned professionals. You can be an expert and have gaps in your knowledge at the same time.

When you say “I don’t know,” you demonstrate humility. You then have an opportunity to say “But I’ll find out for you.” It’s perhaps one of the best ways to model good safety behavior at work.

Imagine this: A colleague says, “Is this conveyor locked out?”

Would you rather the person’s partner says “I don’t know, but I’ll find out for you” or “Probably. Maybe? I’m sure it’s fine.” The safe answer is painfully obvious.

It’s far better to demonstrate a constant willingness to learn than to pretend you have the answers and have to correct yourself later.

Skill 3: ListeningDo you listen to respond, or do you listen to hear? The distinction makes all the difference in your ability to work and lead in safety.

When you start a new role as a safety coordinator, you will need to actively absorb information about company goals, processes, hazards, and safety plans. You’ll also need to hear—really hear—what workers are saying.


Workers may have concerns regarding too little or too many safety precautions. Remember, no one knows your colleagues’ jobs like they do. Even if they don’t have formal safety management experience, they have practical experience following orders and doing the work.

Listening well doesn’t necessarily mean you agree. (Oftentimes, you’ll have to listen to complaints about how you do things with a level head and thick skin.) It does mean that you understand where others are coming from well enough to articulate it and, if necessary, do something about it.

Skill 4: Presenting and SpeakingYour presentation and speaking skills are a huge part of your ability to communicate the safety message. If you sound unsure, then employees will question your knowledge. If you sound bored, then they’ll be bored, too. If you are so nervous that nobody can hear you in the back of the room, then none of that critical information will reach the audience.

Unless you’re a born performer, there’s a good chance you’ll need to actively practice your small group speaking skills. Thankfully, you’ll have ample opportunity to do just that. Sign up for a group like Toastmasters to practice formal presentations, and take advantage of informal opportunities to practice, like addressing small stand-up meetings or prejob safety briefings.

Plus, you can also use some tricks in the meantime. Gamifying worker training sessions is a great way to take the spotlight off you and make safety talks more interactive. If you need to present safety data to your superiors, try keeping it short and sweet and opening up a dialogue for the remainder of your meeting.

Skill 5: IntegrityIn safety, you must exercise integrity every day. Integrity allows you to remain neutral with respect to workers and management—and hold fast to what’s safest for the workforce.


Having integrity requires a moral compass and the grit required to stick to it. You can measure your integrity by asking yourself a few questions:

• Do I treat others consistently regardless of rank, personality, race, position, etc.?

• Do I let others unfairly influence my words or actions?

• Do my words match my actions?• Do I take responsibility for my actions?

Complex interpersonal issues can test your integrity, but mundane, boring routines can tempt you to cut corners, as well. Integrity is linked tightly to consistency of character.

You can actively develop integrity by building on your strengths. For example, if you audit job sites

David Paoletta is a subject matter expert for Safesite, a free safety management solution, and a design safety engineer with BSI EHS Services. David was the subject matter expert at the NASA Ames Research Center in Mountain View, California, on both Electrical Safety and Hazardous Energy Control (LOTO) Programs, and he has managed safety programs in manufacturing, for the city of Santa Fe, and with Chugach Management Services, an Air Force contractor.

He is a past New Mexico American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE) SPY Award winner and a past president of the San Francisco Chapter of ASSE. He is a certified safety professional (CSP) and a certified utility safety professional (CUSP) and holds an MS in Occupational Safety Management and Industrial Safety from CMSU. Read more of David’s safety management insights on the Safesite blog at https://safesitehq.com/safety-blog/.

impartially, regardless of who’s in charge and their track record, recognize and maintain that consistency. Then, expand this approach outward to other areas where you’re less sure of yourself.

Lead Your Way to a Great Safety CultureIt’ll take time and effort to develop your leadership skills. The good news is that authenticity, humility, and integrity will return your investment with dividends.

Stay focused on doing what’s safest for your workforce, and you’ll be on your way to building a safety culture that everyone at your organization can be proud of.


A SEAT FOR SAFETY IN THE C-SUITE: AN INTERVIEW WITH REGINA MCMICHAELBy Justin Scace

Safety professionals know how important their jobs are, but they are also familiar with the frustrations of pursuing management buy-in for their programs. Regina McMichael, CSP, CET, says it’s time for safety pros to take their seats alongside decision makers at the top of their organizations.

Some EHS professionals have found their way into the C-suite already, but is it enough? “Probably not,” says McMichael. “It is somewhat difficult to accurately measure the presence of safety pros in the boardroom because the title ‘Chief Safety Officer’ means different responsibilities in different companies and industries. Some of these professionals sit at the table with top executives. I have met others with impressive titles who do not have that level of influence.”

Safety is personal for McMichael, who is president of The Learning Factory and has over 30 years of experience as an expert in the field. When she was 20 years old, she received the call that her husband had died after falling from a roof at a jobsite.

McMichael says that was the day her safety career started, and she went from planning her husband’s funeral to investigating his accident, then using her workers’ compensation benefit to earn her university degree in safety. McMichael would later participate in the writing of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) fall protection guidelines that could have prevented her husband’s death, and she is a strong proponent of safety’s voice being heard at the highest levels of business.

“I do believe there are more EHS professionals being consulted by the C-suite, frequently before making decisions that have a business impact,” says McMichael. “But suffice it to say, there is plenty of room for more of that consultative opportunity.”


Know Who’s Who at Your CompanyIt would be great if there was a one-size-fits-all approach to determine which executives the safety chiefs should focus their attention on to maximize management buy-in—but there isn’t.

“It’s different in every company,” McMichael says. “I coach EHS professionals to carefully determine where they should exert their influence. We need to evaluate who in the C-suite most supports our efforts. It could be the CEO [chief executive officer], CFO [chief financial officer], or someone else.”

This makes it very important for safety managers and directors to take the time to learn their company’s business inside and out, including a knowledge of how its particular C-suite culture functions. McMichael says that with this knowledge, safety leaders can best decide whom (and how) they should influence to promote safety and health to the fullest.

“I caution our industry to not make assumptions on who they should influence,” warns McMichael. “If you can connect financial savings to a safety initiative, the CFO might become your biggest supporter. If you can connect safety to product quality or production, you may have found support with the head of operations!”

Talking the TalkJust as it is with safety itself, communication is key to success when navigating the C-suite as a safety

pro. “We must be able to talk about business the way the C-suite does,” McMichael emphasizes. “We need to speak their language—not try to teach them ours. The moral imperative of protecting the health and safety of all workers is always our goal, but if we don’t tie that to an improved business outcome, we are just making it harder for our industry to be successful.”

Some of the concepts that safety pros should be prepared to talk about when they find their seat at the boardroom table include cost benefit analysis and return on investment (ROI) in order to properly make financial proposals to executives. Basic business courses can help, as can mentoring from fellow leaders.

“I recommend asking the CFO for coaching (if the C-suite culture supports that concept),” says McMichael. “We also must be able to write and speak the corporate language. If you are not sure what that means in the company, again, seek out a mentor at the executive level who can help you.”

Tips for the C-Suite Safety ProSafety professionals must adapt quickly once they have gained a spot in the C-suite and earned the attention of their company’s executives and decision makers. McMichael describes three strategies that can be particularly helpful.

• Once you get there, act like you belong there. Pick up on the corporate culture, and use it to your advantage. “Use their language and learn how they want to give and receive


information at these meetings,” advises McMichael. “Do they have long meetings with long presentations and lots of data, or are they succinct where reports and discussions are brief and to the point? Do they want just big picture updates, or do they want to hear about your specific plan for improvement?”

• Look the part. McMichael admits that this recommendation rankles some EHS professionals since it may be a very different work environment for them. “Even if an EHS professional is doing a great job on the factory floor or in the field, the executive team might not appreciate your work boots tracking in mud or chemical residue to the corporate office,” McMichael says. “Proving you can get dirty on the job doesn’t get you that seat, so if the corporate way is suits and dress shoes, then you may need to invest in those for the times you are sitting at the table.” Even if it seems a bit superficial or perhaps ingenuine, McMichael urges safety pros to keep their eyes on the prize. “Keep the end game in mind and acknowledge that sometimes we must play by a different set

of rules than we are used to if we want to influence change.”

• Actively demonstrate how you are part of the team. “In some organizations or industries safety is seen as a separate silo that costs money, time, and energy to comply,” McMichael points out. “Be prepared to show that safety can be profitable, lead to efficiencies, and can actually save the company from huge financial, public relations, or quality failures.”

The final point above reminds McMichael of a safety colleague of hers who had a seat in his company’s C-suite and was able to prove both his worth to the executive team as well as highlight safety’s importance to the overall success of the company.

“The executives came to him for his perspective on buying another company as part of their business expansion plan,” explains McMichael. “This company looked like a great buy in after a careful review, the EHS professional pointed out that the potential acquisition’s EMR [experience


modification rate] was just high enough that when averaged with their organization’s current EMR, it would limit their opportunity to bid on projects within the company’s current appetite for work. Obviously, they did not buy that company—but it was the business-savvy safety professional who derived that critical piece of information!”

Safety on the RiseWhen it comes to EHS making an impact on decision making at the highest levels of business, McMichael is optimistic for the future. “It is definitely getting better every day!” she says. “Many EHS professionals go back to school for advanced courses in business to make them better at communicating with the C-suite.” Many university programs in safety are also offering business courses, sometimes requiring them for graduation.

“But most importantly, I see this topic of discussion on the agenda for many of my clients and the profession as a whole,” notes McMichael. “Both the Board of Certified Safety Professionals (BCSP) certifications and International Network of Safety & Health Practitioner Organisations’ (INSHPO) OHS Professional Capability Framework recognize the need for business acumen in our industry if we wish to grow as a profession and as a part of the business decision-making process.”

Regina McMichael, CSP, CIT, is President of The Learning Factory, Inc., and is the author of—and is known as—“The Safety Training Ninja.” Regina has helped companies grow their safety passion and leadership capabilities for over 31 years, mentoring and coaching professionals to leverage their influencing capabilities to achieve their safety goals. A leading motivational safety speaker and a director on the Board of Certified Safety Professionals,

she has developed, delivered, and implemented training programs for every type of organization. You can reach her at [email protected], or visit ReginaMcMichael.com.

EHS LEADERSHIP

EHS Leadership Week

A NOW & NEXT REPORTIN 2021

Documents

EHS LEADERSHIP IN 2021 - interactive.blr.com