• Is there a benefit to investing in training and other essentials to improve productivity to achieve World Class Performance?
• What is the ROI (Return on Investment) that makes it worthwhile?
• Does taking the time, money and other needed resources to improve S, H & E performance and enhance productivity - your own and that of others - pay off for your company?

We say yes, without a doubt. Today's managers, supervisors and line personnel who play a key role in insuring high levels of productivity for themselves and others which includes changing their S, H, E & Quality culture and improvement process, must view themselves as change agents and sales people. They must be clear of their vision and purpose, what they are selling and to whom they are selling it. They require new skill sets to develop strategies to "sell" management and labor leadership on the benefit of investing in the human, financial and material resources necessary to go "beyond compliance" to achieve excellence in all the necessary areas to maintain their competitive edge.

The Difficulty of Gaining Management Buy-In

From our 27 years of experience in the field of Organizational Effectiveness and S, H & E culture change and attitudinal and behavioral improvement, we have met, interacted with and grown to know well a vast number of safety professionals and management and line leaders. Many of them work in our client organizations. Others we have met while attending national and local safety conferences.

Many have expressed frustration at being unable or believing they have to stand on their head to gain management approval for an array of safety initiatives, including training programs, safety and quality improvement processes, equipment, safeguards, etc. that they consider necessary to prevent incidents of all kinds and achieve high levels of productivity. Safety professionals often tell us that that they are in fierce competition for company resources.

Safety Professionals as Salespeople

In many cases, the failure to obtain approval was attributable to an inability (on the part of the safety professional, manager and/or committee) to effectively plan, prepare and "sell" their initiative to the company's decision makers. One of the problems is that safety professionals above all value the health and welfare of all employees and their families and even the planet. But these values are not always enough to motivate some profit-minded companies to take action. Obviously, companies also want and need to make money. The more safety contributes to that goal, the greater support it is likely to attract within the company. More and more companies, as well as, the general public, check out a company's safety and environmental performance before they will do business with them.

Thus, selling safety requires a skill set that safety professionals find hard to master. Simply put, most safety leaders do not view themselves as "change agents" and "sales people." The typical lines:

• "I'm just a manager, supervisor, line person or safety professional."
• "What do I know about selling?"
• "I'm no sales person."?

To make matters worse, past failures to sell a safety initiative often exert a discouraging effect that hampers the effectiveness of subsequent efforts. After all, after you get "shot down" once, why would you want to go through the experience another time? In addition, in today's corporate environment even the strongest willed of individuals might be inhibited from being too assertive by personal fears and a concern for maintaining their positions.

Salesmanship Requires Introspection

So, if you are a safety leader, what do you do to get your programs adopted? Do you wait for management to take action? Do you wait for labor to take action? Waiting for others to act is, by definition, absence of effective leadership.

The answer, of course, is to develop the skills and mindset necessary to advocate your initiatives successfully. The starting point is to look inward. Be clear about your vision. What do you want to accomplish? Where and how do you truly want to make a difference? Also importantly, what is it possible for you to accomplish? Determine what you truly value and your level of commitment to taking the actions necessary to engage and gain the commitment of management.

Introspection is not necessarily easy or comfortable. It takes an honest appraisal of oneself and an assessment of what has thwarted you in the past. To be a successful change agent and sales person, (and a making a difference person) you must be aware of where you are not as effective as you could be and work to build skills and the muscle to overcome any personal or organizational obstacles. You must concentrate not simply on saving lives and alleviating human suffering but also helping your company earn money and market share.? Both can be accomplished without sacrificing one for the other.

Conclusion

Of course, ensuring health, safety, protecting the environment and making money are not contradictory goals. They are perfectly compatible. Promoting safety, health and environmental excellence is not simply "right"; it is good business. It boosts productivity and profit. First recognizing and then demonstrating this is the key to selling safety. We will discuss this more next week in Part 2.

MEET THE REAL ST. VALENTINE

"St. Valentine: Lost his head for love."

By Glenn Demby

The historical personage after whom the day of love was named was a priest who lived in Rome in the third century A.D. at the height of the persecutions against Christians. Legend says that Valentine performed secret marriages in defiance of Emperor Claudius II's ban on marriage. Claudius enacted the crazy law to aid in army recruitment efforts - men tended to be reluctant to join the army when they were married. Valentine got caught and was thrown into the dungeon.

The inmate became a magnet for young visitors, among them the daughter of one of his guards. The two would sit in Valentine's cell and talk for hours. Valentine preached the importance of love.

On the day he was led off to be beheaded - February 14, 269 - he wrote his friend a little note, thanking her for her friendship and loyalty. The note was signed "Love from your Valentine." It was truly a hallmark moment.

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