Having a positive culture is essential to improving safety at any organization, but it can be challenging to cultivate and maintain in a changing world.
“The pace of change is occurring more rapidly today than it has at any point in our nation’s history, and we have to be attuned to that,” says Julius E. Rhodes, SPHR, founder and principal of mpr group, a human resources and management professional services firm.
However, safety leaders can contribute to a resilient culture that adapts to change through approachable leadership, inclusion and stronger relationships. “What we need to do is understand the connections we have with other people,” Rhodes says.
Rhodes shared several ways to make a more resilient culture with our Blacks in Safety Excellence (BISE) Common Interest Group during his webinar, “Pass the PEACE: Building an Inclusive, Resilient Safety Culture Through Mutually Beneficial Relationships.”
1. Think About How Your Personal Brand Impacts Others
“People buy into you before they buy into the message,” Rhodes says, so considering how your personal brand impacts your message is important. Having an easy temperament and disposition can go a long way in building relationships that foster a resilient culture.
To reflect on this, Rhodes recommends asking yourself the following questions:
- What is the “user experience” of your personal brand?
- How do you communicate your brand consistently with others?
- How do you assert your brand without being overly aggressive?
- How can you clearly express ideas in a manner that allows people to connect with you?
2. Move Away From Endurance and Toward Resilience
Leaders often confuse endurance with resilience.
Endurance is “putting your head down and grinding through every situation,” Rhodes says. You are tolerating adversity without giving way. While admirable, this can also lead to increased anxiety, elevated stress, burnout and fatigue.
Resilience, on the other hand, is adapting to and recovering from adversity. It’s “keeping your head up, scanning the landscape for what’s out on the horizon,” allowing you to adapt rather than simply push through, he explains.
3. Components Needed for Resiliency
“Great leaders build resiliency in others without calling it that,” Rhodes says. So how can safety leaders intentionally foster resilience without calling it something like “resiliency training?”
They identify workers’ strengths and build on them, creating an environment where people believe in themselves, Rhodes says.
Safety leaders can build resilience by focusing on training for social and emotional learning, which help develop core competencies such as self-awareness, social awareness, self-management, relationship skills, responsible decision-making and empathy.
A supportive environment that empowers workers, establishes clear boundaries and expectations and ensures workers’ time is used constructively allows resiliency to flourish.
4. Recognize the Factors That Impact Behavioral Change
Creating lasting behavioral change that improves culture requires a combination of approaches, although they may have different levels of impact, according to Rhodes. For example:
- Education and awareness: 5% impact
- Skills and tools: 25% impact
- Personal motivation: 30% impact
- Support systems: 40% impact
“If we want the biggest possible impact, we need to identify what things personally motivate people, then build support systems that reinforce that internal motivation and capitalize on the skills and tools we provide, then continue to provide that education and awareness,” Rhodes says.
5. Be Consistent About Communicating Changes
“When you talk about creating change, there’s going to be resistance naturally, so to have that change accepted, acknowledged and acted on, you have to communicate that change eight different times,” Rhodes says.
To achieve this, he suggests communicating changes in different ways, such as email, all-staff meetings and/or personal one-on-one interactions. He also says that for information to stick, you should use it within 72 hours of learning it, so be cognizant of timing messaging to employ new skills.
6. Practice These Five Behaviors Consistently
Rhodes uses the phrase, “Pass the PEACE” to emphasize the five behaviors he believes build the kind of relationships that underscore cultural resilience.
- Patience: Show up with patience to get more out of any situation.
- Empathy: Make a proactive decision to see yourself in another despite factors that may separate you.
- Acceptance: Accept both yourself and others to provide a foundation for growth and positive change.
- Courage: Courage is not an absence of fear. It is a recognition that you must overcome obstacles to move forward.
- Enthusiastic Engagement: Sincere enthusiasm allows you to connect with people on a day-to-day basis.
Although fostering and sustaining a positive culture in an ever-evolving work environment can be challenging, it is crucial for enhancing safety in any organization.
“Resiliency is allowing ourselves to get to know people as people,” Rhodes says. “You should always treat people as if they matter because they do. Be persistent, laugh, get to know others and let them get to know you. A caring person can make a huge difference in one’s life.”
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