Safety On Tap

This is the first interview for 2019, always exciting for me to get back into the groove of these amazingly insightful conversations, and I get really excited thinking about how much you can benefit from these in addition to my solo reflection episodes.  I've got a great lineup of guests this year, we are planned out for a few months in fact.    My guest today is Dr Jop Havinga.  As you'll hear, Jop's PhD is so fresh that he might as well have been wearing his funny gown and hat in this conversation!

Listen in to this episode for my very brief year in review, my word of the year for 2019, and why any of that is actually relevant for you. The reason why I share some reflections on the year that was, and my word for the year that is ahead, is not because that has any specific relevance to you.  But don't switch off, just yet anyway. The reason why I share this with you is because I encourage you to go through a similar process.  This podcast is for leaders, who want to grow themselves and drastically improve health and safety along the way.  That's you.  We cannot grow to our fullest extent, unless we have a practice of reflection.  That is a habitual, and structured approach to thinking about what has happened in the past, and what we can learn from it for the future. I'm sharing with you in the hope that you might feel the value that reflective practice has, with me as an example, and that you might also benefit for your own reflective practice.

Sometimes it's good to just not think.  And then sometimes its good to think, but about nothing in particular.  And sometimes, that thinking leads you to places from which some insight emerges, like about balance, averages, mediocrity and what we don't know. I am really excited to be back with you for 2019, if you are listening soon after this comes out.  In this episode I share with you a few reflections from the break which I thought would be helpful to get your cogs turning, and I have some gifts for you towards the end of this episode. 

So what's in a number? What's in a lost-time statistic, or the number of leadership walks done, or the average time to return an injured worker to work? Or the time-weighted average exposure to an airborne hazard, or the number of times a repetitive manual task is done?   And, what's episode 100 of a podcast all about?   In health and safety we work with lots and lots of numbers.  Well, business in general works with numbers.  And yet the numbers themselves don't mean anything, unless we give them some meaning.  We have to tell a story about what they mean and why. 

Let's get to it.  The year is coming to a close, so much to do and so little time! Today I'm chatting with Eric Knight.  Eric is the Global Head of Safety, Health and Environment at AstraZeneca, who isn't content with implementing good safety health and environment in the company, he thinks there is a bigger mission than that.  And it all ties in with the United Nations 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, or SDG's. 

 The Pareto Principle has been observed in a range of economic areas, like global individual wealth distribution I mentioned earlier, but soverign wealth, quality defects (few defect types cause majority of quality costs/rework time), innovations (where only a few members of staff will provide the majority of innovation ideas), decision making (where only a small proportion of time in a meeting results in the majority of decisions), and complaints (where only a few aspects of your services will result in the majority of your complaints).    Where this gets interesting, is that it enables us to understand how to move away from slow and incremental improvement, to improvement which is disproportional to our time and effort. 

Clive Lloyd joins me today.  Clive grabbed my attention for a few reasons.  First, he came highly recommended by people I trust.  Beautifully ironic give the focus of our conversation.  Second, he is generous in helping people like you and I learn and grow and succeed.  And thirdly, the focus of his work is on a topic close to my heart, which I didn’t realise wasn't just important in my own experience, but what the academic literature says is vital to effective change.  

Dr Jason Fox joins us for a chat today.  Jason's name has come up numerous times in previous podcasts, from me and some of my guests.  Jason's been on the list to talk to as there are so many points of reference or connectedness, or as Jason says today 'poly-angulating'.  Jason's writing and thinking has influenced the way I think and work, and the recent launch of his own podcast The Cleverness [https://www.drjasonfox.com/podcast/] seemed like a great occasion to link up.  It was a real pleasure to go meandering with him, and for you to join us. 

Previous guest and friend of the show Dr Drew Rae joins us in this episode as we poke at the idea of evidence based practice.  Or more appropriately, the lack of it in health and safety.  Drew is a world-renowned academic, research leader and in-demand speaker from the Safety Science Innovation Lab at Griffith University in Brisbane, Australia.  And he doesn't just mind pointing at elephants in the room, he helps us make sense of our safety practice in the process.

This podcast episode has mostly come to you at around 4.30am on the day I'm due to fly out from Los Angeles back to Australia.  I get on the plane in 19 hours time, but need to stay awake for an additional 5 hours after that to hopefully get my sleep patterns all right.  The reason for the early start is I've taken ages to get used to the jetlag coming over here, and now having to start to adjust my sleep to get ready to return.  It's a pain in the butt, and getting frustrating, and tiresome.    I think we say and think this statement way too much: just get through it.  If I get through it, I'll be ok.  We encourage other people, 'you'll get through this', and it won't be so bad.  'It won’t be long/much effort/much pain before you are through this, and the other side will be better'

One of the things I explore in my chat with John Lee today is the concept of bureaucracy.  As you'll hear, John has been a senior public servant, a bureaucrat, and I was curious to explore the linkage between being a bureaucrat, working in the bureaucracy, and the bureaucracy that is so often associated with health and safety. I talk a bit in the interview about him and his history, so I won't repeat that here, suffice it to say when I met John, I was leaning in and wanted to get to know him more, so you get to listen in too! Here's John:

Asking questions is a great way to learn, to grow and improve.  Today, my question for you, is what's it for? Discovering the answer to the question of what is it for, is hard. And it gets harder to decide what to do next. Having someone else ask, to listen and encourage reflection, to challenge and cheer you on, is helpful. Learning & growing is a social thing. Like that panel, we get great value when we learn together.  

Sometimes we find ourselves victims of our circumstance. Other times, we have the ability and the potential to totally change the way we operate. It take courage, clarity and persistence, but it is possible. Learn from how Kobi Simmat is going about changing himself, his business, and his entire industry for the better. Downloads & transcripts at safetyontap.com/ep091

This is the topic of a recent coaching call I had with a client. Check this out if you want to learn how to prepare to deliver an amazing conference presentation, or any presentation to a large group.

The water cooler.  The hospital bedside.  The ride along in the truck.  The smokers outside.  The open ended question.  The conversation that happens after the conversation inside the meeting.  Silence.     What do these have in common that makes them so useful, so powerful?   Time and space.    You might realise that I'm trying to change the way I approach these solo episodes.  I've realised loud and clear that many many people won't and can't tap into the work I do, whether that's facilitating or coaching or whatever.  I wanted to bring a taste of that, and the stories in particular, which I reflect on as distinct in my work, in the hope that they offer some insights which are helpful for you.  Let me know what you think about these episodes, leave a comment at safetyontap.com/ep089, send me an email to andrew@safetyontap.com, or leave a review on iTunes. 

Sara Pazell is my guest today, and she isn't a, well she's more of a….aw I'll let you hear her explain it.  Rather than eloquently describe what she is, in this episode I was far more interested in HOW she goes about her work, with the human at the centre.  What I love about Sara's work, her obvious passion and some of the perspectives she brings to this conversation, is that she helps us with some practical tools, concepts and language to help us move beyond 'we're the health and safety people here to help health and safety' to something else,

Sometimes you can’t plan things, or you can but the plan doesn’t work out.  On the other hand, I've learned to observe and listen for signals, which let me know what to do next.  Here’s one that crept up and jumped in front of me this past week, and it’s about permission.  You don’t need permission to begin.  Start small, and see if the world falls apart.  I guarantee you that whatever happens, you'll learn something, and that'll help you take the next step, and the step after that.

Today I've got something a little different for you.  This episode is based on an article [I wrote for the NZ Safeguard Magazine in early 2017, called from Teflon to Coach.As you listen, I want you to focus on what the explicit takeaways are, as well as the implicit lessons in the way I've created this piece.  Make sure you download the article and refer back to in your reflection, or better yet grab it first and have it with you whilst listening.   This episode is brought to you by Safety on Tap Connected, the worlds only growth accelerator for health and safety professionals.  One of the biggest levers for accelerated growth is through coaching.  High performance in many fields, including sports teams and individuals, executives, performing artists and more all have coaches.  Because a coach propels them forward, a coach holds them accountable, a coach isn't encumbered by all the day to day stuff that clouds our life and time and heads.  A coach helps you accelerate your growth.  I coach members of Safety

Today I'm joined by Ben Hutchinson, a generous learner and teacher, a Ph.D. candidate and an all around great guy. We talked about fantasy planning which is such a great word to get us squirming uncomfortably about this potential problem we create or at least might contribute to? It's not a new concept but the language is new to me, which is what I love about this learning journey I am on, alongside you. Why not connect with Ben, check out his example, and maybe take his lead in sharing learning, rather than just info?

Safety in unfortunately full of BS. Well-intentioned, but nonetheless BS. Why not take a BS test and see if you can remove some it? Get my handwritten reflection for this episode, your own reflection template for this very episode, and the full transcript at safetyontap.com/ep084