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Alive and Well at the End of the Day, 2nd Edition

by Paul D. Balmert

April 2023

Intermediate to advanced

320 pages

11h 4m

English

Wiley

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CALLING ALL LEADERSTHE SAFETY LEADERSHIP CHALLENGELEADERS MUST LEAD!THE FRONT‐LINE SUPERVISORREADING THE BOOKTHE CASE FOR SAFETYJUST IN CASE
TAKE TWO: FROM THE TOPTAKE TWO: FROM THE MIDDLEYOU’RE RESPONSIBLETHE CASE FOR SAFETY
A DAY IN THE LIFELEADING VERSUS MANAGINGWORDS AND ACTIONSLEADING BY EXAMPLEUSING WORDSTHE PRACTICE OF LEADERSHIP

MOMENTS OF HIGH INFLUENCEMISSING THE MOMENTMOMENTS HAPPEN ALL THE TIMECARPE DIEM
ON BEING SEENTHE VALUE OF OBSERVINGMANAGING BY WALKING AROUNDCALCULATIONTHE OBSERVATION STEPANALYZING THE DETAILSTHE LAST WORD
ABOUT THE RULESNON‐COMPLIANCEFOUR FUNDAMENTAL REASONSREASON 1: FOLLOWERS DON’T UNDERSTAND THE RULES2: FOLLOWERS DON’T REMEMBER THE RULES3: FOLLOWERS FAIL TO RECOGNIZE WHEN THE RULES APPLY4: FOLLOWERS DON’T CHOOSE TO FOLLOW THE RULESIMPROVING COMPLIANCE
WHAT IS A HAZARD?WHERE DO I LOOK FOR HAZARDS?THREE LINES OF DEFENSEHOW DO I RECOGNIZE HAZARDS IN REAL TIME?WHAT IS RISK?ZERO RISKWHAT IS THE RISK?ASSESSING RISKFOUR RULES FOR REDUCING RISK
YOUR FIRST DECISIONYOUR INTERVENTION STRATEGYTHE SORRY MODELTHE POWER OF POSITIVE REINFORCEMENTGIVING POSITIVE FEEDBACKMANAGING ATTITUDEWHAT EXACTLY IS “ATTITUDE”?ATTITUDE SURVEYSTHE EXPERTS SPEAKMANAGING BEHAVIOR
THE POWER OF THE QUESTIONTYPES OF QUESTIONSA DARN GOOD QUESTIONTHE RESPONSEPUTTING DARN GOOD QUESTIONS INTO PRACTICE
THREE THINGS TO UNDERSTAND ABOUT CHANGETWO KEY STEPSTEMPLATE FOR MAKING CHANGE HAPPENEXECUTION, EXECUTION, EXECUTION!
IGNORE OR INVESTIGATE?ABOUT FAULTLEADING IN THE MOMENTTHE FUNDAMENTAL QUESTIONSTHE PROBLEM WITH SOLUTIONSFINDING BETTER SOLUTIONS
ACCOUNTABILITYDEFINING ACCOUNTABLEMANAGING ACCOUNTABILITYAPPLYING THE FIVE Ss
THE FIRST THREE QUESTIONSEIGHT RULES FOR SUGGESTIONSGOING ON THE OFFENSIVE
THE PROBLEM WITH MEETINGSBETTER SAFETY MEETINGS“ASK, DON’T TELL” SAFETY MEETINGSSTEP 1: PURPOSE FIRSTSTEP 2: CONDENSE INFORMATIONSTEP 3: MAKE THE CONNECTIONSTEP 4: ASK DARN GOOD QUESTIONSA MOMENT OF HIGH INFLUENCEBIG MEETINGS
DEMYSTIFYING CULTURETHE IMPLICATIONSYOUR SAFETY CULTURECHANGE VERSUS TRANSFORMATIONA ROADMAP FOR TRANSFORMATIONCONCLUSION
KNOWLEDGECOMPLIANCE AND CHANGETRAINING ISN’T ALWAYS THE PROBLEMTRAINING IS AN INVESTMENTWHO’S PROBLEM?A PERFORMANCE PROBLEMTHE THREE Ts OF TRAININGTHE FIRST ‘T’: TIMINGTHE SECOND ‘T’: TECHNIQUETHE THIRD ‘T’: TEACHERCREATING UNDERSTANDING
THE FUNCTION OF MEASUREMENTMETRICS AND INFORMATIONLEADING INDICATORSNEAR‐MISS REPORTSFINDING BETTER MEASURESCREATING A BALANCED SCORECARDMEASUREMENT FOR THE FRONT‐LINE SUPERVISORTHE LAST WORD
1. THE ACCOUNTABILITY DILEMMAMANAGING THE DILEMMAIDEA 1: RECOGNIZE THAT YOU ARE ON THE HORNS OF A DILEMMAIDEA 2: CALL THE DILEMMA BY ITS PROPER NAMEIDEA 3: LEAD BETTERIDEA 4: LOOK TO YOUR FOLLOWERS2. THE RISK DILEMMATHE DILEMMATHE TRUTH ABOUT CONSEQUENCESTHE RISK CONUNDRUMTHE HAZARDSMANAGING THE DILEMMA—AND THE CONUNDRUMIDEA 1: AVOID BEING TRAPPED BY ABSOLUTESIDEA 2: THINK BETTER ABOUT HAZARDS, RISKS, AND HOW TO MITIGATE CONSEQUENCES3. THE INVESTIGATION DILEMMAMANAGING THE INVESTIGATION DILEMMAIDEA 1: RECOGNIZE THIS DILEMMA WHEN YOU FACE ITIDEA 2: INDEPENDENCE HELPSIDEA 3: MAINTAIN YOUR PERSPECTIVEIDEA 4: BE PREPARED4. THE SYSTEM DILEMMAWHERE’S THE DILEMMA?THE IMPLICATIONSMANAGING THE SYSTEM DILEMMAIDEA 1: RECOGNIZE THE DILEMMAIDEA 2: THINK LIKE A PARENTIDEA 3: THINK CRITICALLY5. THE MIDDLE DILEMMATHE MIDDLE DILEMMA AND MANAGING SAFETYABOUT REALITYMANAGING THE DILEMMAIDEA 1: DON’T HIDE THE TRUTHIDEA 2: PRESENT REALITY BETTERIDEA 3: THERE IS POWER IN NETWORKING WITH PEERSIDEA 4: REMIND THOSE AT THE TOP WHAT’S AT STAKE6. THE LEADER DILEMMATHE DILEMMAMANAGING THE DILEMMATHE LAST WORD ABOUT “BEING ON THE HORNS”
UPWARD LEADINGFEELING POWERLESSCONTROL VERSUS INFLUENCECRITICAL SAFETY FACTORSSTOPPING THE JOBTHE POWER OF INFORMATIONORGANIZATION POWER IN PRACTICELEADING FROM THE MIDDLEIT’S NEVER EASY
MISTAKE NUMBER 1: FAILING TO PREPAREMANAGING OTHERS: THE GREAT CHALLENGE“THEY’LL DO JUST FINE”MISTAKE NUMBER 2: DRIVING OUT ALL FEARA GIANT LEADING THE WAYTHE PIPER MUST BE PAIDTHE REALLY PAINFUL CONSEQUENCEMISTAKE NUMBER 3: FOCUSING ON THE SHORT RUNINSTANT IMPROVEMENTTHE LONG TERMMISTAKE NUMBER 4: TRYING TO BUY A GAMECAN YOU BUY PERFORMANCE?MISTAKE NUMBER 5: CONFUSING PERCEPTION WITH REALITYMISTAKE NUMBER 6: COMMUNICATING WITHOUT A COMMON VOCABULARYWHAT’S IN A WORD?COMMUNICATING CLEARLY
WHAT IS EXECUTION?THE VALUE OF EXECUTIONTHE EXECUTION GAPPERFORMANCE VISIBILITYDRIVING EXECUTIONTHE PRINCIPLE OF HONEST DIALOGEXPLODING THE MYTHSBACK TO THE BASICS
SAFETY LEADERSHIP TOOLSLEADERS MUST LEADTOUGH CHALLENGESIT’S YOUR CHOICEMAKING A DIFFERENCE

Content preview from Alive and Well at the End of the Day, 2nd Edition

CHAPTER 21DRIVING EXECUTION

If you can’t execute well, it doesn’t matter what the strategy is.

—Tom Peters

Coming as it does at the end of the book, a chapter on execution might seem like an afterthought: with all the important matters properly treated, time to finish off by looking at execution. Nothing could be further from the truth. There’s a good case to be made that this chapter should be the first chapter in the book. But the ideas about execution will make so much more sense being built from all that you’ve learned.

Alive and Well really is a book about execution: safety execution. Execution means everything. We began by identifying the toughest safety challenges leaders face every day. The common element for most of those challenges is the need for better execution; the solutions offered in the succeeding chapters will translate into better safety execution. Nowhere in this book is there to be found any suggestion that the solution to these safety challenges is to create more procedures or launch new programs. Instead, the focus has simply been on things for leaders to do to lead and manage safety better.

The ideas and leadership practices described in this chapter will serve to unite everything you’ve read in Alive and Well, creating a coherent strategy to successfully drive safety execution.

WHAT IS EXECUTION?

As with other words that are part of a leader’s vocabulary like accountability and culture, when execution is tossed around in everyday conversation, ...