A Guest Post From Steve Minshall, CSP, CIH
For me, days 1 and 2 were profitably spent attending "Delivering a High-Performance Safety Management System" presented by the venerable Skipper Kendrick. Skipper, as you know, is a past president of ASSE, and is an instructor in the Executive Program in Safety Management. For those who have not had the pleasure of attending a course taught by Skipper, two of the first things you'll notice are his ready grin and merry eyes, a combination that belies this astute gentleman's professional and consummate approach to the practice of safety and health. Attendees I spoke with hold Skipper in high regard and described him as "tremendous . . . very motivational." (I'll also note that Skipper maintained an easy pace over the 2 days of the course, providing enough breaks to make sure the Butt Numbness Index and the Bladder Full Index were not exceeded!)Others I spoke with about the course were pleased at the opportunity to learn from other attendees and one person remarked, "Everyone was open about how their companies handle their business processes. It's been a great opportunity to share and learn." And in this global economy, a few people commented that they now had new connections in Egypt, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.
During the course, Skipper asked us to come up with two leading indicators we wanted to present to the CEO of a fictional case study company. He instructed us to tell him: 1) what you want; 2) who will do it; and 3) how you'll measure it. Skipper played the role of the rather crusty, no-nonsense CEO whose main intent was to hold us to the task he had assigned. This was a spirited and challenging exchange that presented a real-world scenario in which a concise and well-thought-out presentation had to be made in a matter of a few precious seconds. Skipper urged us all to have our personal "elevator speech" prepared so that when the opportunity to present such an idea to our CEOs arose, we would be ready. This simple exercise drew an enthusiastic response from everyone present and was a reenergizing activity heading into the afternoon of the second day.
Safety 2012 is off and running. I hope each of you will enjoy the same learning/sharing/reconnecting experience I've had so far.