Constant improvement

What are you doing to be the best at what you do? Take a few moments and try the following exercise, which is a great process to improve areas in which you are already proficient.

What Activities Improve Safety The Most?

First, ask yourself what activities do you do that improve the safety of others in your area of responsibility. Really give this some time. Think of all the activities you do each day, week, month or year. Ask yourself which of these activities have the biggest impact on safety or have the potential to have the greater impact.

Write down all the activities you do that fit the criteria listed above. Take that list and do your best to prioritize it. Once you have done this, ask yourself which of these you do the best. The ones you are most competent in and feel comfortable doing. Now, look to see how you can become better in those areas.

Improve What You Do Well

I know you may be asking, “Shouldn’t I be working on the ones I am weakest in?”

The answer is yes and no.

Performance experts have discovered working on what we are best at gets the best return on investment of time and resources. It is always good to remember no matter how good you are at something there is always room for improvement.

Gee, that sounds like a good approach to safety in general. In fact, it is one of the things I love about our profession; no matter how safe we help people be we always know we can do better. Even clients of mine who have achieved zero injuries in one category, move the standard up to eliminate the next level of severity.

Developing a personal plan for constant improvement will help you have the same approach in all your safety efforts.

Improve What You Must Do Well But May Not Currently

Next, take a look at those activities you don’t do well, but are very important.

Pick one of those and find the resources to improve your skills in that area.

One of the most common areas I hear from safety team members has to do with their public speaking skills. It is an area in which not many people have been trained. Also, speaking skills are something anyone can learn. Just a couple of months ago, I had the privilege of spending two days teaching an entire safety team at one company my Dynamic Safety Meetings Program. The company realized communication skills are critical for any safety team member to be effective.

I Work On Improving Every Year

This week, I am in Philadelphia for the National Speaker’s Association Convention. For five days, I will be soaking in all I can to be a better communicator of my safety message. I will be networking with some of the top speaking experts in the world. I have been in this association since 1995 and three short years later earned their highest earned designation, Certified Speaking Professional.

Yours in Service,
John Drebinger