January 03, 2021
The practice of culture change recognizes that everything is connected. From worker safety to your customers’ experience, your organization is an ecosystem full of variables that are difficult to measure and even more difficult to adjust.
Safety is a profession that has understood this for a while. With its emphasis on active listening, example-setting and collaboration, it teaches practitioners how to put people first. With its emphasis on design, technical specifications and systems, it teaches practitioners how to plan, do, check and act.
But others in your organization may not be as proactive about culture change or may not even see its value. That’s a problem, say researchers Mark Lundell, GSP, and Cheri Marcham, Ph.D., CSP, CIH, CHMM, FAIHA, because only leadership can drive and develop a culture in which looking out for each other is a shared priority.
“Leaders or managers who place profit and production over the safety of their employees, who are