Our goal as safety professionals is to minimize risk in the workplace. Our effectiveness in achieving this goal often hinges on our ability to persuade others. More specifically, the safety professional's task is to get others to recognize that minimizing risk is their goal as well, and to believe that we, as safety professionals, are capable of achieving it. In my experience, I believe the art of persuasion boils down to two things: Integrity and understanding our role in the workplace. Let me explain both of these things in some detail.

The Importance of Integrity

Before you can persuade others, you must first gain their confidence. It is therefore crucial for a safety professional to cultivate and maintain a reputation of being a person of integrity. This means:

• Not stretching the truth.
• Not embellishing a situation to make yourself look good.
• Knowing your material. For example, if you're quoting from a standard, take the time to look it up. Even one misquoted word can make all the difference (e.g., "shall" vs. "should").
• Admitting when you can't answer a question. To say, "I don't know, but I'll find out," gives people what they really want ? honesty.
• Listening to others. Make sure you hear what they're actually asking or are concerned about. Listening skills are the most important tools in your communication toolbox.

Understanding Our Role

Many safety professionals get full marks for integrity, but fall short in another very important area: Understanding of their role.

The safety professional is essentially an advisor, not a manager. What's the difference? The advisor provides information needed by the manager so the manager can make an informed decision. The safety professional's role is not to make decisions but to be an information source that the manager can rely upon.

Unfortunately, safety professionals sometimes cross the line from advisor to manager and start to make decisions themselves. When safety professionals do this they put themselves in a very precarious position. They must take ownership of the decisions. And with ownership comes responsibility and being held accountable or liable if something happens. This ownership also involves discipline, a job that really belongs to the managers.

Achieving Balance

At the end of the day, the safety professional must walk a fine line. He or she must get the point across while considering the possible consequences of a given situation. Walking this line could involve making subtle suggestions, quoting the applicable standards and other techniques of persuasion.

Striking the right tone is also important. Too little emphasis and you may not be taken seriously. But quoting standards may sound like preaching and pose a threat to the boss.

Ultimately, it all comes back to your integrity and what people think of you - more precisely, whether they trust and believe in you. If you are held in regard, your task will be much more realistic. If you are not, it will be next to impossible to achieve.

Measuring Success

How do you know if you have gained the trust of the people in your workplace? Little things will tell you, every day occurrences such as:

• The company president or a middle manager calling to ask, "What do you think?"
• An employee (non-union) off the shop floor stopping you to discuss a concern.
• A site crew foreman / or crew member (unionized) stopping you during an inspection visit to pass on a concern.
• A senior union local representative calling you to ask, "What do you think?"
• Other safety people calling you to discuss concerns they're facing.

Conclusion

Remember: "People will perceive you by the image that you project." We must gain the confidence of others and understand our role in the workplace, so that we can effectively achieve our goals.

LEADERSHIP QUIZ

Who Said It?

Match the following quotes with the world leader who uttered them.

1. "We have nothing to fear but fear itself."
2. "You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty."
3. "The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: 'I'm from the government and I'm here to help.'"
4. "Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects."
5. "We shall not fail or falter; we shall not weaken or tire. . . Give us the tools and we will finish the job."

1. Mahatma Gandhi
2. Franklin D. Roosevelt
3. Winston Churchill
4. Lester Pearson
5. Ronald Reagan

Answers:

1. FDR; 2. Gandhi; 3. Reagan; 4. Pearson; 5. Churchill

Lester Pearson: Canadian Prime Minister, Statesman, Nobel Prize winner and skilled wielder of blunt objects.

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