Teaching Sharpens Your Edge

I had been extremely consistent in completing the expected weekly observations, became a member of the steering committee, and got somewhat involved in the training sessions during the two years leading up to accepting responsibility for facilitating the behavior-based safety process at our plant in Harrisonburg, VA. During the 18 months leading up to that first trip to provide training in Hartwell, GA, I guided several groups through the full two-day observer training course and I had brought a few new folks onto the steering committee. All of that, though, was under the watchful eyes of mentors like Terry, Kevin, and Rod. Anytime I felt over my head, support was just a few steps away. Further, our process had a decent foundation. When I walked into the plant in Hartwell, and almost every other facility that asked my help, I had none of those things to back me. The challenge I was faced with then lied in paying forward all the guidance I had been blessed with to that point in hopes of providing the team members and executives in each location with return on what they invested by bringing me in.

Initially, especially during the first day at the plant in Georgia, I felt extremely inadequate. I had sat through multiple sessions where several of the company's best trainers cover the content I was there to deliver. While I was no longer terrified of speaking in front of a small group of my peers, I certainly wasn’t as versed in the content as the folks I had learned the material from. I struggled to be as eloquent in covering the scientific methodology backing the initiative early on so I was forced to rely heavily on the only other thing I knew: my practical experience in conducting the observations, providing feedback to the people I observed, and working with them to initiate behavioral change that reduced or eliminated any risk they were exposed to. 

With each of the people I trained in that observation process being hourly manufacturing workers who had similar experience to what I had done before accepting that position, what I shared seemed to connect - even if it wasn’t as articulate or as thorough as it was when I first learned it. But each time I covered the material, especially with groups in facilities where it was all on me, I became more competent and more confident in everything I was sharing, at least with the folks I was training directly.

As I wrapped up my time at each location, I had to provide a report to members of the local management team, typically the site safety manager, operations manager, and plant manager. Working through the how-to’s with a handful of folks I viewed as my direct peers forced me to get good at presenting the material, but presenting a list of action steps for the facility’s management team - which I was expected to share with the corporate safety director afterward - was a whole different kind of challenge. In many cases, the management team members I met with had only vague familiarity with the behavior-based safety methodology. And sometimes, they were adamantly opposed to supporting it. 

Whether it was in earning commitment from a press operator to perform weekly observations or getting enough buy-in from their managers to allow them to have time to do the observations, the training I was providing others soon helped me clarify my own knowledge in every aspect of behavior-based safety to a level that built the influence necessary to lead when I had no real positional authority. Teaching others what I had learned myself not long before helped me master the technical aspects of the process and it refined my leadership ability. Over time, the results I could help each location achieve became better and better. Through all that though, I would have fallen flat on my face if I hadn’t been able to delegate some responsibilities at home to a few key team members - so we’ll pick up there next.