Can’t get no respect

This comes from the Linkedin group EHS professionals. A new safety officer complains that workers always sleep during his general meetings and he gets no respect.

What to do? Member of this LinkedIn group jumped in:

Let's look into why the guys are tired, hours of service, travel, weather, partying, etc... something is causing fatigue and needs to be addressed.

I would not read too much into it. Even the best instructors will have sleepers

I fell asleep in my best Professors classes after working all night shift at the hospital.

Sorry but teachers are born, not developed by methods.

Avoid meetings after lunch, first of the day is best if you are given the time. Even 3rd shift I can back at 11am to ensure I had their full attention.

2. Lay down ground rules. In a positive manner you can state your meeting rules. I kept my on a board...no cell phones, no talking in small groups.

3. Start meeting or training with a fun video or YouTube segment. Liven it up at the start. If you can, walk around the room to keep attention. I have even thrown in ergo stretching sessions.

4. Address sleepers by asking them to stay after class to have a discussion. In our case it was a contractual rule (no sleeping during work hours) that could be enforced. I would often do a well check without crossing the lines and tell them that I next time be talking to their supervisor. (One time I had someone admit they had problems at home and they were working 2 jobs to keep up, this was the 2nd shift after a 1st shift somewhere else and he was exhausted, another time a gentleman's medication would make him drowsy and we had him see medical right away for advice to ensure his further safety at work).

5. I would ask supervisor to attend my next class with sole purpose to observe those sleeping. I wouldn't give names to the supervisor so they were at attention the entire class. It was up to the supervisor to enforce the rules.

6. In my worst case scenario, I did not give credit for a class attended and made them attend a 1/1 session with me at a different time. This happened once and when word got out, it didn't happen again.

Perhaps they just don’t like you.

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What is TED?

www.TED.com "Riveting talks by remarkable people, free to the world." Try this one:

www.ted.com/talks/simon_sinek_how_great_leaders_inspire_action.html

Be careful, you will spend WAAAAAAY too much time on this site.

This web site is fantastic! And you're right, I can see it would be too easy to spend a lot of time there. Thanks, you opened up a whole new world.

Compiled by Dave Johnson, ISHN Editor