Here is where employees learn that. Back in high school, you would ask, “is this going to be on the test?” You needed to know the answer to that question because if what was being taught was going to be on the test, then you would learn it. Of course, you would. It is going to be on the test. You need to learn it.
Something similar happens with frontline employees.
Supervisors are the people who score and assess the frontline employee. The supervisor is the test. So, whatever the supervisor does, employees do. Therefore, employees take their cues from their supervisor.
Whatever supervisors care about and focus on is what employees learn to care about and focus on.
- If a supervisor has strong safety values, you can bet that their discussions and team meetings center around safety.
- If the supervisor makes safety nothing more than a checkbox exercise, then employees will do just enough to meet the minimum requirements of safety.
- If supervisors push heavily on time and production, then naturally safety focus will drop.
- If supervisors are focused on quality and looking after their people, employees will be focused on looking out for each other and doing a great job the first time.
Employees do what supervisors do.
It's more efficient to convince one influencer than 10 employees.
As a safety manager or a senior manager, be aware that when supervisors push back on safety protocols, or paperwork, or reporting, their employees are likely to do the same. If the supervisor does not buy-in, the employees are less likely to buy-in and give only bare minimum effort to safety.
To shift the safety culture in your workplace requires you to get your frontline supervisors on-board first. Their teams will follow.
From an efficiency perspective, there is less effort required in getting one person (supervisor) on-board with safety than a team of ten employees. Let a supervisor’s positive example in safety do the work for you instead.
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