The importance of top management leadership

Lawrence Waterman, OBE

Chairman

British Safety Council

Let us not pray to be sheltered from dangers

but to be fearless when facing them

Rabindranath Tagore

Risk Management through Leadership

3

• Creating an organisational culture for success

• Activities of Leaders

• Focusing on Excellence not Failure

• Broadening the View

Agenda

Large complex, contaminated site, April 2006

7

• Creating an organisational culture for success

Agenda

Let us not pray to be sheltered from dangers

but to be fearless when facing them

Rabindranath Tagore

Risk Management through Leadership

9

• Safety Culture is the organisational culture

• How do you want people to work

– managed but empowered

– reliably rule-following (if a little inflexible)

• Health and safety will sit within this frame

Culture

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• Implication is that fully integrated, innovative phase is best

• Depends on the work, the workforce and other factors

Stages of Development

11

• Creating an organisational culture for success

• Activities of Leaders

Agenda

12

• Leaders are clear about aims and objectives

• Leaders create followers

• Leaders are active and demonstrate behaviours to model

• (Good) Leaders listen as well as speak

• Leaders surprise

• Leaders motivate, encourage and praise what is good

• Leaders operate in a structure

Activities of Leaders

Supervisors – the local leaders

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• We called them “Black Hats”

• Respect – Black Hat Conventions

• Daily – the leaders that the

workers experience

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• Creating an organisational culture for success

• Activities of Leaders

• Focusing on Excellence not Failure

Agenda

15

• Theory backing this

• Behavioural-based approaches

• Safety I and Safety I I

• Reward and Recognition

Focusing on what goes right

Climate Surveys - Questionairres

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• What’s it like working here ?

• The medium is the message !

Just by asking you win respect

• The answers inform the next stage

of workforce engagement

19

• Creating an organisational culture for success

• Activities of Leaders

• Focusing on Excellence not Failure

• Broadening the View

Agenda

Health – not just accident prevention

20

• Porridge – breakfast campaign

• Health as a way to engage

• Ill Health costs us even more than

accidents – lost productivity

• Workplaces as suitable venues for

good health initiatives

• Evidence is that this is a good

investment with a rapid return

Air Pollution

22

Air pollution in the largest cities is a

growing concern

Outdoor workers, inc. police, road

maintenance, construction

New research: Future risk

23

Literature review by

Robertson Cooper

Lots of research about how work is

changing – technologically,

demographically, contractually

- but little on health/wellbeing and

implications of these changes

Research shows the psycho-social

risks of ‘over-engagement’ with work

via new communications

Research vital to prepare for and

influence future

https://www.britsafe.org/campaigns-

policy/future-risk/

Wellbeing

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• Literature review – ‘Not just free

fruit: wellbeing at work’

• Top level recommendations

• A way of engaging the whole

workforce

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• Create a culture for success

• Be very visible leaders

• Build leadership at every (suitable) level

• Health and safety, Wellbeing and Health & Safety

• The mind as well as the body

• Celebrate success

H&S is a good news story

Summary