Safety Team Workshop-Team-building / OHS Leadership / Review of current Safety Management System-Draft for input from the stakeholders

Conduct as a one day workshop or 3x2 hour modules

Objective

Build a highly effective safety team that will lead the organisation to safety excellence.

Review the effectiveness of the current Safety Management System.

Discussion

The following is based on the author’s Leadership / Team-Building learning in the Australian Army, Leadership l Team-building learning the author participated in with a past employer, Leadership / Team-building work the author has done with the “Connect” Program for at risk youth, examining Intel and McDonalds leadership learning programs and wide reading on leadership and team-building. A few drinks and discussion with experienced learning facilitators has also helped.

Initial thoughts on the content of the two day “Teambuilding / Safety Leadership /Excellence in OHS.” workshop. Note timing-It is a big day!

Note-An experiential learning approach will be used for the workshop with lots of activities, discussions, case studies, and practical exercises. We will then reflect on the lessons to be learnt from the activities .Participants have some pre-reading to do prior to the workshop and have to prepare 2 brief presentations. A number of tasks will be required after the workshop.

Pre-reading

LEADERSHIP-George’s “ OHS Leadership” (Participants to prepare a 1-2 page summary for presentation), OHS-George’s “What makes a safety management system fly” and TEAMBUILDING-George’s “Team-building notes”( Participants to prepare a 1-2 page summary for presentation)as pre-reading.

Workshop program-Workshop to be conducted off-site so there are no interruptions

0800-0815- Opening by a senior manager.

0815-0830-Facilitator gives an overview of the learning program-subject to change dependent on participant needs. There will be a gift for all who participate in a meaningful manner towards the workshop. Inform participants they will be required to develop a safety WOW project. Mobiles to be switched off during workshop sessions, no exceptions. If you cannot comply with this there is no place for you on the workshop. If you are going to feel compelled to rush off and do some business after you receive a phone call in a break and not be available for the workshop, do not bother attending the workshop. The only acceptable approach is 100% focus on the workshop. If a serious injury occurs and you are needed this will be the only exception.

0830-0900-Participants give a professional and personal self-introduction (about 5 minutes), what they expect from the program and discuss their needs.

0900-0915 Morning tea.

A Team-building

1 0915-1030 Participants to talk to the 1-2 page summary of George’s Team-building notes they have prepared. Identify the characteristics of highly effective teams, group discussion.

2 1030-1130 Explore what is necessary to have a highly effective safety team in council-explore in groups & report back.

* Homework You will be encouraged to prepare a Personal Action Plan for making the safety team a highly effective team. This is to be sent to George within 2 weeks of the conclusion of this workshop.

B Leadership

1130-1215-Participants talk to the 1-2 page summary they have prepared of George’s OHS Leadership paper and explain what safety leadership means to them.

1215-1245 Lunch- Sandwich, juice, fruit lunch.

1245-1345 George’s safety leadership presentation.

*Homework-Participants will be encouraged to submit a plan to improve their safety leadership efforts within 2 weeks of the conclusion of this workshop

Excellence in O.H.S.

1345-1515 Force-field analysis(see attached description of the force-field analysis process) on the current state of O.H.S. in the organisation-Facilitated by George.

1515-1600 “Where to from here?”-What additional assistance is needed to build an effective OHS team, improve safety leadership and have an effective Safety Management System?

1600-1700-Develop a set of rules, principles or charter the O.H.S. team would operate by. Individuals will identify a health & safety “Wow” project that they will contribute to. Presentation of Kouze & Posner’s text The Leadership Challenge” to all workshop participants who made a meaningful contribution.

After the workshop

You will be encouraged to prepare a Personal Action Plan for making the safety team a highly effective team. This is to be sent to George within 2 weeks of the conclusion of this workshop.

Participants will be encouraged to submit a Personal Action Plan to improve their safety leadership efforts within 2 weeks of the conclusion of this workshop.

George to provide a summary of above homework to all workshop participants and management.

George to provide a summary of workshop discussions and recommendations to participants and management.

Write a reflective journal reflecting your efforts to implement the learning from the workshop and your implementation efforts for at least 3 months, at least weekly, discuss monthly with your team leader, share with team as appropriate.

Monthly discuss with stakeholders progress on the safety WOW project.

Celebrate success of the safety WOW project.

Recognise the best safety WOW project.

Force-Field Analysis

Force-field analysis(similar to S.W.O.T. analysis) is a simple, yet powerful technique, useful at the,6-8, stakeholders is required. Defining the scope of your deliberations is important-Put some boundaries around your discussions.

The process goes something like this-

1 Revise the brainstorming rules

BRAINSTORMING RULES

Say the first thing that pops into your mind

Do not be judgemental of your or others ideas

The wilder the idea the better the idea

Do not be constrained by convention

Think out of the square

Quantity not necessarily quality

Every person and every idea has equal worth

Build on the ideas put forward by others

2 Brainstorm an objective for the Safety Management System The objective may be zero harm, zero permanently disabling injuries, may reflect a number of positive performance measures, may include financial measures and so on. Caution is urged in using measures such as the Lost Time Injury Frequency Rate.

3 Brainstorm the promoting / facilitating forces acting towards the objective

4 Brainstorm the constraining / restraining forces acting against the objective

5 Develop an action plan to boost the facilitating / promoting forces and negate the constraining / restraining forces.

Discussion needs to be recorded on butchers paper, on a recording whiteboard or on the fly with a lap-top & data projector. One of the outcomes of the above discussion is that you will define a number of the things you are already doing in safety, in itself, not a bad thing to do.

Creating high performing teams

Get the vision, scope and objectives right

Create expectations

Call a spade a spade

Get the right people

Require people to do their homework

Never move slowly on critical personal issues

Constantly upgrade skills

Build trust through appropriate self-disclosure

Consider “What’s in it for me” from the perspective of the other person

Create short-term wins

Celebrate success

Clearly defined roles

Have fun

Be a bit crazy when appropriate (calculated risk-taking is good!)

Ten Commandments of Leadership

Search out challenging opportunities to change, grow, innovate and improve.
Experiment, take risks, and learn from the accompanying mistakes.
Envision an uplifting and enobling future.
Enlist others in a common vision by appealing to their values, interests, hopes and dreams
Foster collaboration by promoting cooperative goals and building trust.
Strengthen people by giving power away, providing choice, developing competence, assigning critical tasks and offering visible support.
Set the example by behaving in ways that are consistent with shared values.
Achieve small wins that promote consistent progress and build commitment.
Recognise individual contributions to the success of every project.
Celebrate team accomplishments regularly.

(Source: Kouzes JM and Posner BZ 1995 The Leadership Challenge)

Safety Team Workshop-Team-building / OHS Leadership / Review of current Safety Management System-Draft for input from the stakeholders

Conduct as a one day workshop or 3x2 hour modules

Pre-reading

A Team-building

1 0800-0900 Participants to talk to the 1-2 page summary of George’s Team-building notes they have prepared. Identify the characteristics of highly effective teams, group discussion.

2 0900-1000 Explore what is necessary to have a highly effective safety team -explore in groups & report back.

B Leadership

1000-1200-Participants talk to the 1-2 page summary they have prepared of George’s OHS Leadership paper and explain what safety leadership means to them.

1200-1230 Lunch- Sandwich, juice, fruit lunch.

1230-1345 George’s safety leadership presentation.