Take the Coaching Approach During Your Next On-Site Meeting
Using a coaching approach during on-site safety meetings fosters a learning environment that encourages awareness, shared experiences and behavioral change.
- By Kai Gransee
- Aug 15, 2024
Globally diminishing returns in safety performance have been reported by leading boards such as NEBOSH. Influential attendees of health, safety and environment (HSE) conferences and key figures in the world of safety mutually echo the same sentiment; there’s a need for a shift in leadership and mindset to bring awareness to, and counteract the behaviors that lead to near-misses, injuries and incidents.
Stand-down meetings have been the standard operating procedure that’s brought people on-site together post-near-miss or incident, with the intention of bringing a proactive mindset and awareness to the situation. Traditionally, these are usually one-way “conversations”, often judgmental, repetitive in terms of messaging and with little to no learning.
The challenge at hand is to view safety from a non-traditional lens.
This would be one in which, for example, stand-down meetings aren’t fear-driven or blame-led as they often can be but instead cultivate an environment of shared learning, behavioral change and, ultimately, awareness.
“Awareness is curative” is a seminal quote from Sir John Whitmore, a pioneer in the coaching world. His coaching approach is an effective way to imbue stand-down meetings with awareness, and in turn, cultivate positive behavioral change on-site.
The Coaching Approach in Action
During a project in Saudi Arabia in March of 2022, an incident nearly occurred when a contractors’ truck left at 6PM, which was peak time for commuter traffic.
Loaded on its platform were some large and heavy steel pipes. Seconds before the truck merged into a busy, congested highway, one of the pipes broke loose from the trailer. If only seconds later it happened on the highway, the consequences could have been very significant.
The site manager immediately asked for a stand-down meeting. Response to this event was critical for the further development of the cultural journey. This near-miss was an opportunity to integrate a coaching approach.
“Gentlemen, we have a decision to make,” I began the meeting. “Do we want to blame or do we want to learn? Because we can’t do both. So, what are we going to do?”
There was a pause; the men looked at each other. Surprised, one man broke the silence, “...learn?” The others chimed in, “Yeah, okay, let’s learn.”