"This Zero Harm stuff is a lot of crock!"  "This safety paperwork is a waste of time!" "We're not babies, why don't you just let us get on with digging dirt!"
I need to confess:  I have a strong penchant for being in a room with angry men. Any facilitator worth his or her salt will be able to readily relate to the feeling of genuine elation when someone in the room expresses a passionate surge of strong emotion, regardless of whether its 'good' or bad'. Yes, occasionally we get those magnificent 'straight from the heart' surprises  where someone shares something intimately personal and powerfully relevant. These are jewels to beholden, of course. They bring tears to my eyes (which doesn't take much by the way), and often others in the room. However, way more common in my world (Safety Leadership Coaching), is either a fiery negativity, a caustic attack or a genuine doubt in, well, to be honest sometimes the whole modern safety world.
And, I love it! Seriously! Why? Well, first and foremost, no matter what the emotion, there's energy there to work with.  Try working in those disturbingly toxic safety cultures where the majority of workers eyes are glazed over .You feel the heaviness, the passive and active disengagement as soon as you walk in the room. And to get anyone to talk about anything is like getting blood out of a stone. Now that's hard! On the other hand however, when people express their doubts, their frustrations, their anger, it means they're still personally invested in the workplace They have hope, they are thinking about safety and have a take on it. They're on the inside. They feel that change/improvement is possible, that just maybe they might get listened to.
 It also tells me that this particular culture is at the very least evolved to the extent where the airing of dissidence is accepted ('encouraged' is really good). And this is no small thing. I've worked at places where the 'line in the sand' demand for the politically correct company line is pursued with such Orwellian zeal that contractors have been deleted on the spot for spontaneously and innocently expressing otherwise. 
The next challenge is working with this 'energy', letting it be aired without it taking all the oxygen in the room. 
Don't try and be bullet proof, rather let the bullets go through you. And there's a world of difference between the two. It's not about heroically going into some glorified battle. I'm always surprised how that when crews are given the respect to be genuinely listened to and acknowledged, to vent their spleens, their whole body language softens and then we can move somewhere better together. Real learning is now possible. 
Many Safety Leaders, whether they be Supervisors or Senior Executives, if they are really honest with themselves, don't allow this spaciousness. They default to scripted, two dimensional message deliveries. Why? because it's too scary. We need to have done enough inner work to have the quiet strength and humble confidence to open up in front of a crowd and 'waltz with the grizzly bears'. But seriously, what's the alternative?  If we are truly committed to working determinedly on manifesting a sustainable safety culture where our sisters and brothers truly, deeply, believe, value, and therefore act safely, from the inside out, then we need to be willing to at first listen, to it all.
​

​I just came across the feedback sheets from one of our CTS-delivered Alignment sessions and felt urged to share as a good news story that needs no further explanation:·
  I am compelled to work safely after this
·  Valued a fresh insight to be able to achieve a high level of safety
·  Very informative, should be done at every job
·  Best idea for a shutdown I have seen.
·  It was good to sit together as one united workforce and to get some doubts about certain things sorted out. It was well planned out.
·  Good for information gathering and getting to know all the crews before the start of the job. Helps put you in the right frame of mind to have and be involved in a safe shutdown
·  Very happy. Be good to do this before all shutdowns
·  I regard this training a shining path in the direction of safety. Keep it up
· Puts all workers and contractors on the same page. Brings any doubts and questions out in the open for all
· Great group discussion covering all aspects of safety
· All issues were raised and resolved; this was excellent!
· Very valuable for green people like me!
· Great to prime people for a safe start to the shutdown
· As a new starter, it gave me a chance to see how __ operate and what they expect
· Was so encouraging to be listened to; was informative and gave a much clearer picture for the first time of what the client wanted and how we can work successfully together
· There should be more ; very valuable
· Good to get refocussed; wonderful
· Great information; great content; I learnt a lot and I have been in this game for years!
· Very beneficial for all
· The best training day I have ever attended
· The most memorable, enjoyable and genuinely productive Induction or Pre-employment training I have ever had from ten years of mining and construction throughout Australasia. Very much appreciated. Get huge
· Very enthusiastic and interactive. Very valuable to all involved
·  Worthy sessions and interactive; Good communications and efforts had been made
· I learnt a lot of valuable knowledge
·  As someone who has not been in the industry for a while, it was a great refresher on safety
· Well put together and informative. Best of all, you could have just saved someone’s life; maybe mine
· Coming from a green background it was extremely useful information and was able to take in a lot of information; the course was well done liked how everything was laid out·
 Haven’t been back for 2 years. Hope this is a sign of things to come. Congratulations! Change is not easy in any industry
·  Very informative, gave everyone involved a chance to have their say about their experiences
·  Very well done, should be more of it
·  Awesome, can’t wait for the next one
·  Totally worthwhile. Beneficial for all
· It was good I learnt a lot
·  There should be more, very valuable

​The definition of loitering is 'to stand or walk slowly around with no obvious or apparent purpose'. And yes, in some circles you can be arrested for it.
Yet from my experience, positive, agenda-free 'loitering' serves an invaluable purpose. In fact I believe it forms the essential bedrock for any chance we have to understand, transform and then sustain a positive safety culture. 
Not trying to fix stuff or prod people, not asking a stranger after one minute how they are "effectively mitigating the hazards for this task", not saying we care (the only thing worse than not caring is pretending to care).
Generally, people won’t ask for advice or heed our wisdom or perspective until they feel understood.  To attempt to tick off our 'safety interactions' before really connecting is like painting a fence with high enamel gloss before scraping back the old stuff and seeing if the woods okay. Without investing the time at the front end nothing of value will stick. Sure, we may get someone to do what they’re told and achieve excellent short term outcomes, but that’s more a management activity than a leadership one.
Looking, listening, learning, connecting, being genuinely curious and non-judgmental in this person, right here, right now. And hence slowly and gently building trust, candor and openness.
Cultural anthropologists spend years living in villages to deeply understand what’s really going on. I’m not saying it takes that long of course, but you’ll know when it’s working, when you’re in the zone of being accepted and heard.
It's easy to then feel the cultural pulse whenever we need; we're in behind the curtain. People come to us to share improvement suggestions or concerns. It becomes almost self-propelling with just occasional investments.
And then, lo and behold, by giving the respect to connect, we are respected and listened to and people are then way more willing to change and to be inspired by our enthusiasm.
Loiter, with positive intent (even if you don't call it that). It may feel weird at first (even 'unproductive') yet it really, really works, big time.

​When speaking with your teams (or even within earshot) do you ever slide into criticism, blame, disagreement, anger, frustration or accusations in regard to messages/ directions from senior management ?
Come on, be honest. Do you ever say “they said we have to…” or “this is what we’ve been told to do by…” etc. etc.
Believe me when I say, it’s extremely common, and extremely toxic.
When I hear this (and to be honest I hear it a lot, and I've have had numerous coaching conversations about it) it's not only a cultural canary in the coalmine, it tells me straight up that this person has leadership lessons yet to learn. And that’s okay, but we need to work diligently on removing any Us vs. Them language.
Think about it for a sec. Your team generally follows your lead, your shadow, your words and actions more than anyone, on site. And this form of communication encourages the very opposite of interdependence.
Now don’t get me wrong. I fully empathize with the fact that there can be many pills that are hard to swallow. However, what we need to do is process this internally, with our peers or our leaders (that’s part of their support role for you).
It doesn’t work to try and seek team favour or soften a blow by blaming ‘them’. Your credibility and integrity withers.
As leaders on any level it is a hugely significant responsibility to work through, and out the other side, of challenging messages, find the positives and deliver accordingly.
No one said your job was easy.

Safety Leadership is all about what happens between people. It’s about connection and understanding. And being attuned to others is more critical to effectiveness than cognitive intelligence.
The key to genuine connection is a rare and endangered species. It goes by the name of …listening.
We put so much pressure on ourselves to come up with all the answers, to give advice and problem solve, yet all too often the reverse is true.
Filling the space with strategies or solutions almost never is. In fact it can often get in the way of the transformations we are after.
Deeply listening encourages individuals to take responsibility and open themselves up to new insights and approaches, to find their own new way forward.
It requires being fully present, non-judgmental, still and quiet, not looking at your watch or thinking about what you are going to say or need to do next, not checking log books or schedules while we are ‘listening’, not second-guessing or coming to conclusions.
It’s about having the genuine intent to understand, listening for potential and possibility, being curious to learn something new, really being there.
It’s letting go of the need to control and trusting that individuals, with our enabling support, have the insight and capacity to solve the challenges themselves.
Whether it be in the field or at a Start-Up, I strongly encourage all of us to experiment with allowing the space, the silence, to truly listen. And remember, you can’t truly listen and do anything else at the same time.
And the rewards? Unlimited. They include: respect, trust, engagement, ownership, accountability, commitment, empowerment, increased productivity, compliance, time savings, motivation, innovation, safe work, and….. a lot less stress!

Having coached numerous leaders in how to effectively facilitate their tribal gatherings (Pre-Starts and Toolbox Talks), I feel urged to share with you my shock/horror after witnessing a few recent live events. To be honest, I haven’t seen such low quality skills in action for a long, long time. These guys, even if they don’t know it, need some serious help here.  
From my assessment, every critical indicator observed would receive a rating of ‘very poor’. Nil preparation, monotone, lack of interest in subject matter, inappropriate humour, regular reference to their company as ‘they’ (e.g. this is what they've said you have to do), nil engagement, pervasive negativity, either not caring or unaware that many in the room were chatting or browsing on their phones, dismissive of others views, I could go on and on.
This is perhaps needless to say, but Pre-Starts and Toolboxes are extremely potent tools for establishing safety standards and culture as well as building the very fabric of the team, creating (or destroying) trust and morale. They not only set the tone of that whole shift, they have the power to inspire or demotivate the team’s very DNA. And believe me it was the latter going on. I do get engaged increasingly to do culture whispering but there wasn’t anything subtle about these coalmine canaries.

​We all know how critically important Pre-Starts are for a team and the major impact they have, for better or worse, on the rest of the shift.
They can switch us on, tune us in, lighten us up, join us together, ignite our fire, affirm our mission.
Apart from the usual expectations of discussing events and pre-empting the risks awaiting, has anyone witnessed more creative inspirations to enliven, build trust and unite a team?
Choose a song to play before we start.
Tell us a (clean) joke.
Talk about what you really love doing and why.
Take turns facilitating.
Share what you learned from a close call.
Why are we here anyway?
Tell us the best thing about working on this team?
Do you reckon we all trust each other?
How does it feel when we stuff up? Do you talk about it? If not, why not?

​In the ongoing search for effective SL coaches (please do drop me a line ASAP if you are one) I've been pondering on just what it takes to do this job well. And it's, well, complex. Firstly, I've learnt over the years not to expect or constrict what great looks like to what works for me personally. There are many winding trails up the same craggy mountain.
You don't need to be an extrovert, you just need to have empathy and curiosity. Finding everyone interesting definitely helps. You can't be a wallflower but you don't need to be gushy. I'm by nature fairly spontaneous and animated but we have successful coaches in CTS who are reserved and deliberate and it seems to work for them. You don't need to be a Tradie (I'm not) but you need to have spent enough time in a related industry to be able to convincingly empathise with the coachee's day-to-day life.
One thing that you can't be is arrogant. A know-it-all will never, ever get behind the curtain, will never, ever succeed. If you even sniff of having all the answers you are guaranteed to fail, full stop. It's more about listening and genuinely, humbly connecting than bringing 'off-the-shelf' solutions. The work that needs to done arises from building sufficient rapport to gently open the leader up and the rest follows. The journey is different for everyone.
However, what's the biggest, most critical attribute of all? Non-judgement. People pick up whether we are judging them or not in a second and if we are, it just won't work. You can come in with all of your fancy, new, shiny toys, all of your intellectual 'insights', and they will be of no avail. If you in any way judge people for where they are at right here, right now, you are wasting both your coachee's time and your client. Nothing will stick, it will all just be vain words, a dis-genuine dance of no lasting transformational effect whatsoever.
For me personally, I had a Chairman of the Board, working-class background dad who would come home to enthusiastically share stories about the fella who ran the company car-park. And my mum's a living saint. And what also helped was my life plan from mid-teens i.e. to both travel the world and to have as many jobs as possible and they all be as different from each other as possible. This journey, along with a perennial exploration of spirituality and hagiographies can't help but inspire a fascination with what makes people tick.
But, as I've said, that's just me. Whatever it takes, however you get there, this unusual calling to gently guide leaders in creative ways to infect their team with safety-from-the-inside-out has to have an open, respectful, centred, strong, optimistic, caring curiosity.
P.S. Guess what's just dawned on me? The attributes I've just described for an effective Safety Leadership coach are actually scarily similar to what I'd say makes a great Safety Leader! Go figure. Funny old world.

​As a prompt question to aspiring leaders I ask for example if they know what type of wedding celebration Julie is having, or how many kids Frank has, or what really rocks Rob's boat, or where Liz is going for her holiday, or when Barry's birthday is, or what type of motorbike Ian has, or what Sue likes best about working here, or what Greg's favourite type of music is….you get the drift.
Yes, we may have 20+ people in our team but if we want to lead and not just manage we need to be genuinely interested in each one of them as a complete person, not just a unit of production.
Our team will only be fully present and give their very best when they convincingly feel us there on that heart-to-heart depth of human care and connection.
High-energy, ever-improving, safe work is a by-product of a close-knit, high-trust workplace community.
Yes, I know, it takes some of our valuable time to hang out enough to cultivate trusting relationships.
But believe me, I've seen plenty of cold, hard, disengaged workplaces with "higher priorities". And they're not pretty. And, amazingly, they wonder why the output is meagre and incidents are relentless.
P.S. You can be strong and warm, in fact, it's a necessity