Accountability & Moments of Truth

Much like risk and prevention through design, leadership and accountability were widely discussed during Safety 2013. In his proceedings paper, C. David Crouch, MSOD, a senior consultant with Caterpillar Safety Services, shares four steps to creating accountability and three moments of truth in which the leader’s behavior is critical.

• Step 1: Define safety activities required for each role—from CEO to frontline. “Everyone must clearly understand what’s expected to create the presence of safety,” Crouch says. 
• Step 2: Train everyone on those activities to ensure that they know how to do them correctly. “It’s a breach of integrity to expect good performance if you haven’t provided proper training and preparation,” Crouch asserts. 
• Step 3: Measure performance with periodic spot checks and conversations to ensure that activities are being performed correctly. According to Crouch, companies must make sure they have the right combination of leading and lagging indicators at each level. “At the front line, measure the activities that drive safe behavior, not safety results such as incident rates,” he explains. “For middle managers and executives, measure activities that build the presence of safety and track safety results.” 
• Step 4: Recognize employees when they perform their safety activities correctly—and coach to improve their performance when needed. 

So what are the three moments of truth in a relationship?

1. Beginning. Establish what’s expected and how it will be measured. 
2. Each day. On a daily basis a leader must reinforce safety activities and behaviors. “Positive recognition is much more powerful and effective in influencing behavior than criticism or correction,” Crouch says. “The emergent leader must administer both, but positive reinforcement should be used at a ratio of at least 7 to 1 over correction or discipline. The more you recognize good behavior, the less you have to address poor performance.” 
3. Periodically. Meet regularly to gain clarity and make adjustments, Crouch advises. 

If you weren't able to attend this session during PDC, be sure to look for David's paper on the proceedings CD or look in the July 2013 issue of Professional Safety for information on ordering those sessions that were recorded.