Photo: Cavan Images/gettyimages
“As OHS professionals, our greatest impact doesn’t come from the regulations we know or the systems we implement. It comes from our ability to influence.”
So says workplace health and safety management consultant Eldeen Pozniak, who calls emotional intelligence “the engine behind that influence.”
Emotional intelligence is the ability to recognize, understand and manage emotions – both your own and that of others. Safety pros with high emotional intelligence (also known as EI, emotional quotient or EQ), can use that strength to encourage employees to take safer actions at work.
The challenge of influencing Photo: Cavan Images/gettyimages who don’t report to you may be a familiar feeling. “We’re typically not (a worker’s) boss,” said Camille Oakes, CEO of Better Safety LLC and author of the book, “EQ for the Safety Leader.” “We’re usually nobody’s boss.”
Here’s how you can use high-EQ approaches – and recognize and avoid low-EQ approaches – to benefit workers, your organization and yourself.
Appeal to the ‘why,’ not the ‘what’
At work and elsewhere, people often make decisions based on emotions, not logic. This was explored in the 2009 book, “Start with Why,” by Simon Sinek and in a TED Talk that same year.
Sinek explains that a certain part of the brain, the neocortex, is responsible for rational or analytical thinking. Another part, the limbic system, drives behavior and decision-making.
That’s why, among workers, a disconnect between safety policies or procedures and their subsequent actions sometimes occurs, said Dale Lesinski, vice president at DiVal Safety Equipment. Workers may know what they’re supposed to do – and even record a perfect score on a training quiz – then display unsafe behaviors an hour or two later.
A high-EQ approach for safety pros, Lesinski said, is highlighting why workers benefit from following a safety policy or procedure.
For years, he’s given a presentation called Safe 4 the Right Reasons. Lesinski asks participants to think of four people close to them who wouldn’t want to see them get hurt. That process is designed to appeal to the “why” and the limbic system.
A low-EQ approach to this example is focusing solely on the “what,” such as the rules, regulations or discipline. “You follow these procedures or you’ll be sent home or, worse, fired,” Lesinski gave as an example.
That approach can lead to resistance, unsafe actions or unsafe workarounds, especially when no one’s watching, Pozniak said.
Consider the audience
Everyone has motivations and factors they need to balance – and all of us have a boss in some form or fashion. That includes CEOs and other C-suite executives.
When talking with upper management, Pozniak said, a high-EQ approach entails:
- Understanding leadership’s priorities and tailoring your message toward those priorities.
- Framing safety issues in operational, financial and reputational terms.
- Presenting solutions, not just problems.
“As a safety professional, you’ve got to speak their language,” Lesinski said. “You’ve got to know that what’s important to them is production. What’s important to them is the bottom line. It’s profit. You have to know that.”
He gave examples: Telling executives that three fewer lost-time injuries in a year could mean that the sales team wouldn’t have to generate another $2 million in revenue to make up for the cost of those incidents. Or, that a subpar safety/organizational culture that’s causing employees to leave is costing the company $10,000 every time it has to rehire or retrain someone.
In these examples, “we start talking each other’s languages,” Lesinski said.
Not understanding those motivations, nor how safety can benefit those goals, is a low-EQ approach.
Another, Oakes said, is presuming that the safety team is the only group that cares about the health of employees.
Taking the high-EQ approach of thinking about the audience and attempting to “speak their language” can also help make you a better trainer or presenter.
When safety goes wrong (or right)
After an incident or when observing a worker doing something unsafe, it’s perhaps easy – and even natural – to shift to anger, frustration or blame. Those low-EQ approaches, however, can prevent you from learning why the unsafe action happened.
Responding with curiosity instead of assuming an employee had negative intent is a high-EQ approach. Is it production pressure? An issue with training? Something else?
“What did we learn and what are we changing as opposed to how did you let this happen?” Oakes said. “We are here to find out what happened, why it happened and what we can do to prevent it from happening again.”
When safety “goes right,” avoid taking the low-EQ approaches of taking it for granted, taking sole credit for success, or failing to offer at least occasional rewards or motivators.
“People need motivation,” Oakes said.
Ways to provide that motivation, Pozniak says, include using one of these high-EQ actions:
- Give specific, meaningful recognition.
- Connect safe or desired behavior to organizational values and outcomes.
- Share credit publicly.
- Reinforce psychological safety, especially for reporting hazards, near misses, etc.
“When we understand our own triggers, manage our reactions, read social dynamics around us and build trusting relationships, we create conditions where safety conversations land, where people feel heard and where change becomes possible,” Pozniak said.
McCraren Compliance offers comprehensive safety training to help prevent accidents. Visit our class calendar to see how our training and consulting services can enhance your safety efforts.
Original article published by Safety+Health an NSC publication