Food – Ten Elements of an Effective Safety Kickoff Volume Ten by Safety Speaker John Drebinger
#10 Food – Thursday, November 10th
I have noticed that many of the most successful safety meetings and kickoffs include food as part of the event. Conversely, I have seen people take a negative view to a meeting when they arrived and there was no food or beverage. I suspect that had to do with previous meetings and expectations.
It seems there are regional differences. I know one Texas refinery that serves Kolaches (I hope I spelled that right) before the meeting. There are other regional favorites that are easy to hand out before the beginning of the meeting.
I think the most important factor is to be consistent with what you have done in the past. If they are used to having food or refreshments and you can’t provide them it is best to let them know ahead of time to eliminate disappointment. You can always exceed people’s expectations. Disappointment can really damage the results of a meeting.
Money, Budgets and Safety As A Value
Often, food is a budgetary consideration. It is important when looking at budgets to consider the real dollar investment of a safety kickoff. First, you have the time you and your team put in to make it a success. Unless you are a full time meeting planner, it means that you sacrificed some other task you and your team could have done for your company. Next, there is the cost of time that employees must take away from their job in order to attend your kickoff. Even for a short kickoff of one to two hours, people must leave their work location, transport themselves to where you are holding the meeting, spend time at the meeting, and then return to work. This is a real dollar investment of your company and it is a way I know the leadership is serious about safety being a corporate value.
There is a great quote that expresses commitment and dollars.
“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
I understand money can be an issue. The key is whether or not your company invests its money equally amongst the areas they claim to be corporate values.
Corporate budgets do not have any room for waste. When you hold a safety kickoff you owe it to everyone to squeeze the most impact and results out of every dollar. The investment in a professional safety speaker like myself is nothing compared to the investment of employees’ and leadership’s time in attending and preparing for such a kickoff. This series of articles is designed to help you maximize your effectiveness even if you contact us too late to bring me in this season. Better yet call today to set aside a date so that I can give you the best presentation your dollar can buy.
Dollars Are Invested In Safety and Have A High Return On Investment
For years, I have told safety professionals they should tell management how much profit the safety department generated for them. Leaders don’t get excited about savings; they get excited about profits. Do the math and let your leadership know how much more profit your company realized because of the outstanding results of the safety team. I would trade my fee any day for a percentage of the increased profit made by my clients because their people were safer after I spoke to them.
Thanks for what you do to get people home safely every day.
Yours in service,
John Drebinger
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This newsletter is the 10th in a series of ten on how to have an effective safety kickoff. If you would like to share any of these articles go to http://www.drebinger.com/?page_id=690
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Outcome Based Presentations For Your Safety Kickoff
“Would You Watch Out For My Safety?”
We tell everyone that they should be their “brothers keeper” and yet we don’t teach them how to do it. This presentation which accompanies my new book by the same title is designed to create a culture in your workplace where watching out for each other is the norm rather than the exception.
“Would You Watch Out For My Safety?” will:
• Give people the five reasons they should watch out for the safety of others.
• Explain the three reasons people fail to watch out for the safety of others and then give them a perspective that will allow them to overcome the obstacles that keep people from helping others.
• Give them specific techniques they can use immediately to share safety with someone else in a way both people will feel great.
• Finally the most important lesson of the presentation is showing people how to respond when someone watches out for their safety. This lesson ensures that people will continue to watch out for each other and will seek out ways to watch out for the safety of their fellow worker.
This presentation is so powerful that John has written a book by the same title that is provided for each attendee so they can review what they have learned and share it with their family and friends. It has been so well-received that we have already made our second printing of 5,000 copies only four months after our releasing the book.
“Ensure Your Safety”
If you want people to take personal responsibility for their own safety on and off the job this presentation is for you.
Your employees will learn:
• Why they need to take personal responsibility for their own safety.
• How to stay focused in order to ensure safe performance.
• How distractions impact their personal safety.
• How to regain their focus on safety when distractions get in the way.
• Why they want to avoid shortcuts for themselves and others.
Everyone will develop a positive association between safety and their job and understand how working safely directly benefits them and their families, today and in the future. Using magic, group participation, specific safety principles and universal truths, John will show the seasoned worker why they play a vital role in helping the “new guy” work safely by avoiding shortcuts and doing everything the safest way we know how.
John shows them why using the appropriate personal protective equipment ensures their safety even when machinery fails or human errors occur. This presentation covers safety from the time they leave home to driving safely back to their family at the end of the day.
His unique presentation breaks through the mindset of, “We have heard it all before.” His magic captures their attention, and the message they hear will make them take action resulting in fewer injuries.
“Safety as a Value”
In this completely different program, John shows your employees how to improve their own safety by sending the right message via their actions and words at work and home.
Your Employees Will Learn:
• What their real values are.
• How to convey those values to their family and friends.
• Safety is a value for everyone.
The key to his insightful approach is the premise that safety must be a personal value, and that values don’t change when conditions change, even in tough times. John will help your people raise their expectations, vision, passion, and energy to work safely and make a safer and more productive workplace.
With new stories and magic, this presentation will help your employees continue their enthusiasm and focus toward another year of safety success!
What do you want from a safety presentation?
• People to walk out saying, “That was the best safety meeting they have ever attended.”
• Everyone to talk about the safety meeting long after it is over.
• You want all of the above and most of all you want to get results. It doesn’t matter if everyone loved the speaker, their message, and yet they don’t change how they work.
John Drebinger is the only top safety speaker specifically trained to deliver an effective message. In addition to his Bachelors degree in Speech he has been a member of the National Speaker’s Association for over 16 years and has attended seminars from some of the most effective communicators in the nation.
From the descriptions listed above you have already noticed something that separates John Drebinger from other professional safety speakers. As an author and speaker he has many different presentations he can do for your employees. To help you deliver your safety message John customizes each of his presentations to convey your theme and concepts. Unlike many other safety speakers who have only one speech or story to tell, John has developed presentations that build on each other to help you improve your safety performance.
Logistics
John can do multiple presentations during the day so that all your shifts can hear his outstanding message. Diane Weiss his marketing director can help you with your scheduling as she has worked with hundreds of companies over the past twenty-one years and knows what will serve you best.
John’s presentations can be done in virtually any location. If you can safely gather an audience he can get his message to them.
These presentations are designed for employee meetings with 45 minutes to 1-hour time available.
