Larry was a cool boss. He let me come to work whenever I wanted as long as I gave a safety meeting to the craft every week, kept the OSHA log up to date and spent some time out in the field. Other than that, I could pretty much do what I wanted. I was the “safety guy” on a Stone and Webster electrical project. I knew everybody on the project, as I should, and was doing your typical safety tasks.
However, one day Larry asked me to do something that I had never done before. Something that ended up having a profound affect on my outlook about my job as a safety professional. One morning when I came into his office to say hi he asked me to go out and “see how the guys are feeling.”
‘Do what?’ I replied.
“We’ve been behind schedule a bit and I know the supervisors are trying to get everyone to hustle and I want to make sure it’s not causing them to get stressed out and sloppy. So, go look around and see how everybody is feeling,” Larry explained.
So, for the first time as a safety professional, I purposely went around a site trying to figure out how everybody was feeling. It was odd at first but after a bit it was fun. Not only that, but I also came to realize that Larry wasn’t just a cool boss, he was insightful too. Over time, I’ve learned that how people are “feeling” matters more than any other single thing (besides developed skills) when it comes to personal performance, which of course has a direct affect on a crew’s performance.
I came back and gave Larry my first “how everyone was feeling” report. I don’t remember what was in it but I do know I remember thinking that it was a novel and powerful idea—to directly connect a performance with emotions. Now, I give talks and workshops on the subject. Thank you Larry.
How about you? Do you include helping your employees handle negative emotions better as part of your safety and health efforts? There is an amazing amount of evidence both scientific and “tribal” showing that emotions are a driving force behind the quality of human performance.
Let me know.
‘till next time.
Richard
