Know Your Performance Results by Safety Speaker John Drebinger

Know Your Performance Results
Earlier this year I had the privilege of being the safety speaker for the second year in a row for the Imperial Oil Hauler of the Year Event. They give me the afternoon to share communication skills that will help each of the hauling companies improve their already great safety performance.

The day began when Rick asked the group if they knew what their safety performance was for the previous year. Each one of them had a sealed envelope which contained a report with all the pertinent facts and figures. Before they opened the envelope they had to write down the number they believed they achieved.

This was a fun exercise and made a great point: In order to move forward you need to know where you are today. Whether you are using a map or a GPS the most important data in figuring a route to your desired destination is to know where you are. The directions to Disneyland are a lot different from my house south of Sacramento than they are from my son’s residence in Orange County.

The same principle holds true for safety performance. If you want to move forward you need to evaluate where you are, where you want to be and then you can create the necessary steps to get there.

One Additional Learning
As a safety speaker I am always noticing outstanding presentation techniques. I noticed something in this exercise that teaches a principle you can put to work for you.

Rick allowed every person to keep the number they wrote down private. Only they knew how close they were to the actual number in the envelope. This is a great approach as it doesn’t embarrass anyone. He will continue to get active participation from his audience because he shows them respect. BE SAFE, John Drebinger Safety Speaker