Ten Elements of Effective Safety Kickoffs Volume One by Safety Speaker John Drebinger
Ten Elements of Effective Safety Kickoffs Volume One by Safety Speaker John Drebinger
Looking For Other Articles In This Series?
This newsletter is the 1st in a series of ten on how to have an effective safety kickoff. If you would like to read the following articles go to http://www.drebinger.com/?page_id=690
where they have been posted on my daily blog.
Ten Elements of Creating an Effective Safety Kickoff
#1 Outcome Driven – Tuesday, October 11th
In order for any event or activity to be successful, it is critical that you begin by knowing your outcome. Ask yourself and your team members – what do we want the result of our safety kickoff to be?
- Being able to stay focused on safety and knowing how to to regain focus when it is lost.
- Actively watching out for their fellow workers’ safety and taking action when they see someone near a hazard or doing an unsafe act.
- Replacing shortcuts with the safest behavior thus effectively eliminating shortcuts.
- Having everyone take personal responsibility for their own safety.
Ultimately, the outcome of all safety meetings is to improve safety performance and to eliminate injuries. The problem is in order to be effective an outcome must be much more specific. A broad outcome will not cause people to actually change behavior or take action as it often leaves them in a state of wanting to do the right thing yet not being clear on the specificity of the correct or desired action.
Also, keep your outcomes to an achievable number. If you liked the outcomes listed above then you will be thrilled with my presentations because each of my presentations fulfills one or more of those outcomes. When my marketing director, Diane Weiss, helps you with your kickoff she will guide you to select between one and three outcomes. This was a tough lesson for me to learn and one of my speech coaches fought long and hard for me to keep each of my presentations down to three or four key points.
Guidelines for an Effective Outcome
In order to achieve the outcome you wish, there are some guidelines to create an effective outcome. The following guidelines are excerpted from my book “Mastering Safety Communication.”
- State your outcome in the positive.
- Be specific in what you want.
- Take into account the current behavior or actions of the people involved.
- Dream big.
- Once you have your outcome, make it sensory specific; for example, What will you see when people are taking the actions you desire? What will you hear when they are behaving in the desired fashion? What will you feel when you have achieved your outcome? What do you want people to hear, see and feel?
- Make your outcome compelling. It must be something you MUST achieve.
- Determine specific evidence of achievement. How will you know you achieved the outcome for which you are aiming? It is important to define success before you begin as it makes you more effective. (I always ask one of the leaders of an organization how they will know when my presentation achieved what they wanted? This allows me to make sure that expectation is met.
- Is the outcome what you really want?
- Who is this outcome dependent upon?
- Do you have a choice of ways to achieve it?
- Is the first step specified and achievable?
- What resources do you need to achieve your outcome?
- “Act As If” your outcome is attainable.
Your Outcome Is Your Yardstick
Once you have your outcome(s), you have a yardstick by which every element of the kickoff may be evaluated.
If any element doesn’t help fulfill your outcome then you must be willing to consider leaving it out.
If you just want people to walk away saying how great the safety meeting was you have a broad selection of ways to accomplish this task. On the other hand, if you want people to take action, you need a professional speaker who understands what it takes to get the results you need.
I once heard a top professional speech coach at the National Speakers Association review the presentation of a nationally known speaker (with that speaker’s permission). He pointed out that he had a great story and that people went away emotionally moved by what they had seen and heard during the presentation. The speech coach pointed out that while the audience thought it was a great speech and that they were inspired, there was no skill set given to them to accomplish this task.
It is unfair to expect people to take action unless you teach them what to do. Too many inspirational safety programs leave people wanting to improve their safety performance or to avoid incidents in the future yet there are no new techniques taught to help them succeed.
Feelings and intentions are not enough. Too often, people leave a motivational meeting wanting to work safer or to watch out for others but because the how to has been left out they can’t succeed.
How do you want your people walking away from your safety kickoff?
- Emotionally moved and inspired, yet lacking the tools to act on those emotions?
- Knowing what they want to do, understanding why they want to do it and knowing how they are going to achieve it.
When you want the second result, call Diane at John Drebinger’s office 209-745-9419 and she will help you match one of John’s result-getting presentations to your outcome.
Would You Like to Share This Article With Others?
This newsletter is the 1st 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
where they have been posted on my daily blog. When reprinting or emailing please include credit to: John Drebinger Presentations 209-745-9419 and www.drebinger.com
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 safetyon 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.
