So, what skills do H&S professionals need moving forward to be successful, and how can they develop them? We talk about this every day at Acre Frameworks and are fortunate enough to have the pleasure of collaborating with a community of H&S industry ambassadors working passionately to change the perception of H&S, the Acre Frameworks Advisory Panel.
I’d like to introduce you to one of our advisory panel members, Steve Howells, Group HSSE Director at GVC Holdings (Ladbrokes Coral). Steve shared with me his lived experience and expert insight on how to build influencing skills to have the most impact in an H&S role, which I’ll share with you now!
We hear a lot of people talk about the importance of getting buy in from senior leaders. As a health and safety professional, what does this look like on the day-to-day, and how do you gauge progress?
“Gone are the days when being just a technically proficient health, safety, and wellbeing (HSW) professional is enough. We now need to be more rounded business leaders, and that involves having the necessary skills to be able to communicate and understand all aspects and requirements of the business from HR to finance to marketing, etc. These skills enable us to effectively influence the C-suite, leaders, and colleagues at all levels, convincing them that HSW is an enablement tool and not a blocker to business performance/improvement. HSW leaders now need to be adept at selling ideas, gaining acceptance for strategic plans, shaping policy and winning buy-in from senior leaders, the board, and colleagues more than ever before.
“I truly believe we’ve spent many years creating an industry for ourselves. One where we held all the expertise, knowledge and competence, and inevitably delivered on everything required for HSW. We now want what this discipline was driving toward all along; ownership of HSW risk by relevant operational leaders and managers.
“Leaders must champion change. Leaders have the power to lead the change or kill it stone dead. It’s important that ‘big’ relationships are built with leaders in the business before you can have ‘big’ conversations; that’s done both formally and informally. There must be a benefit prior to commencing any programme or initiative, which is normally financial; then, there is focusing on the legal requirements and finally (and more importantly because it’s typically in the world in which we operate), moral duties. Understanding what motivates senior leaders will help steer them toward doing what is right for the company.”
Five ideas to bring leaders on board
“Of course, traditional lagging indicators are one way of gaining progress. My preferred way is to ask the question of the leader on their perception of progress. Once a relationship is built, it’s easier to have conversations about success, and maybe where progress hasn’t developed as required. I firmly believe a set of pre-agreed, risk based leading indicators is a far more practical measure of progress.
“When influencing leaders on the benefits of leading indicators, I focus on Aubrey Daniels techniques as they:
“Leading indicators help me identify areas of improvement required to improve safety through awareness and prevention and will show stakeholders the proactive steps being taken”.
Where do you think HSW professionals typically go wrong when they fail to influence senior leaders? What would you like to see more of in terms of influencing skills?
“‘Being right is not enough!’ We cannot rely on just being right and relying on the persuasion of legislation and moral duty. Some of the key mistakes I’ve seen, and made myself many times, are:
How would you respond to a board member who said: ‘Safety is our number one priority’?
“‘Safety is not the number one priority, never has been, never will be and never should be!’ So, I would, and do, challenge that suggestion! Of course, the perception at that time may well be the case (and this is usually when something has gone wrong!), but as we all know, in business, priorities changes almost daily. It’s far more important to have health, safety, and wellbeing embedded into an organisation as a core business value rather than a priority. By ensuring this is the case, and of course having leaders role modelling required behaviours, it supports the need for HSW being part of the decision-making process.
“The HSW of our people is, of course, part of the success of a business, as is minimising our impact on the environment. But we must also acknowledge that reducing waste, increasing effectiveness and efficiencies and having proper financial control (turning a profit) have an equally important a role.
“If HSW really was to be the number one priority, that would mean that we would have to assign a disproportionate amount of resource to HSW at the expense of other requirements, and that could put the business at risk.”
What enables an HSW function to gain credibility so they are able to influence across the business at all levels as well?
“Quite simply all the above. When I served in the Royal Navy, something said has stayed with me throughout my career. Our Padre (Vicar) said in conversation, seniority is unimportant to me. I’m the rank of the person I’m talking to, whether that be the lowliest of seamen (no women on ships at that time!) or the most senior of officers. Each person is as important as the next.
“And that applies to HSW – whoever you’re talking to or dealing with, treating them with the respect they deserve for the role they play is vital. We’ve ‘done’ safety to people for many years. It’s time all levels of seniority within a business had a part to play in a more collaborative, engaging approach to developing HSW for all.”
Steve Howells is an HSE Professional with many years operational experience within a diverse range of industries, including manufacturing, construction, aviation and retail. He is currently the Group Health, Safety, Security & Environment Director at GVC Holdings, a FTSE 100 company. Steve has a confident, versatile approach to HSE and a passion, natural flair and ambition for continual improvement across the discipline. He is successful in change and performance improvement being a (Lean Sigma Black Belt/PRINCE 2 Practitioner.
