ESSENTIALS OF SAFETY BLOG 3/14
You don’t always get to choose what you do at work. But you always get to choose how you react and what attitude you take to the work you do.
This is the third of a dozen or so blogs covering the Essentials of Safety that I talked about in the first blog of this series. We have covered Understands their ‘Why’.
The other blogs in the series are:
- Adopts a growth mindset – including a learning mindset.
- Has a high level of understanding and curiosity about how work is actually gets done.
- Understands their own and others’ expectations.
- Understands the limitations and use of situational awareness.
- Listens generously.
- Plans work using risk intelligence.
- Controls risk.
- Applies a non-directive coaching style to interactions.
- Has a resilient performance approach to systems development.
- Adopts an authentic leadership approach when leading others.
- Bonus – The oscillations of safety in modern, complex workplaces.
Chooses and displays their attitude
Once we know our ‘Why’, we have a direction and purpose in what we do and how we do it. We can then start to think about how we might approach the work that we need to do. When we work for someone else, and even when we work for ourselves, we do not always have a choice about the things we do in our jobs. At the end of the day, there are some tasks that we just have to do, even if at first glance we do not want to do them. We do not have to be ecstatic about doing these tasks. But we do need to choose how we react to them. We get to decide how we view those tasks. This is what choosing and displaying our attitude is all about. We get to choose how we react to work. We tend to know when a task is coming at us. It could be sweeping out the workshop, taking visitors around the workplace, doing the dreaded reconciling of bank accounts, completing a tax return, changing sheets, emptying bed pans, filling in forms, or some other tasks that we have to do as a part of our jobs. For others, it may be a deadline for a report, a meeting with a peer, an assignment due. Whatever it is, one way of handling those tasks that we are not too keen on doing is to spend a bit of time up front choosing your attitude with respect to those tasks. By this I mean to spend a few quiet moments and ask yourself which attitude you will apply to the task at hand. Will you be aggressive, passive, manipulative, determined, rebellious, optimistic, cynical, humble, cautious, or maybe even self-righteous? The choice is yours. Whatever attitude you choose in your little contemplative moment, you can then apply to the task at hand. This can result, especially if you pick a positive attitude, in making a huge difference to how you perceive the task at hand and how others perceive you as you undertake the task. You can make an enormous difference to those around you if you have chosen an attitude that is supportive and positive as compared to an attitude that is negative and disruptive.
Choosing and displaying our attitude applies not only to the tasks we do but also to how we react to other people. We get to choose how we react to those around us all of the time. We do this with friends and lovers as well as with strangers and people we may greatly dislike. When someone says or does something, regardless of whether it is positive or negative, we can react in any number of ways. If we feel that what they did or said is not in alignment with our views and ethics, we may get upset or take it personally. We might ignore them or maybe we react with anger. If we liked what they said or did, we can react supportively and compassionately, smiling and engaging them in further conversation. How we react is completely up to us.
We need to remember that how we react is a choice we make. Our attitude to a given situation can be greatly influenced by our ‘Why’. If we are clear about why we do something, then the little bits and bobs that go with that activity can be thought of as just something that we do to get to our bigger story – our ‘Why’. We are doing the things we do not like in service of getting to make a difference, or whatever your ‘Why’ happens to be. This approach can make life and work a hell of a lot easier and more fun than otherwise it may be. Choosing an attitude that represents an under-standing of what needs to be done, why it needs to be done, and how it needs to be done is a much happier place to be than choosing a ‘whatever’ attitude and just doing the task. People who know their ‘Why’ and live by it seem to be more likely to adopt a positive attitude.
People who have a positive attitude know who they are, what they want, and how to get where they want to be. Their behaviours are aligned closely with and are driven by their ‘Why’. When our behaviour is out of alignment with our intended attitude, values, or our ‘Why’, cognitive dissonance can set in. Cognitive dissonance is when we feel discomfort when two or more ways of thinking or feeling contradict each other. Cognitive dissonance is uncomfortable and is best described by thinking through a couple of simple examples: ordering a takeaway fat-filled burger and then talking about healthy eating to the kids later; believing you are environmentally friendly whilst driving a V8 4X4 gas guzzler; or smoking when knowing that it causes cancer. Cognitive dissonance can have a detrimental impact on our own happiness, our workmate’s happiness, as well as productivity and the quality of the work. This is mainly driven by the internal conflict showing up on the outside as words and actions. It is therefore very important to help your people learn about their attitude choices, cognitive dissonance, and the strong interrelationships between attitude and their ‘Why’.
An Example I recently ran a workshop on learning from workplace incidents using a modified Incident Cause Analysis Method (ICAM) combined with a Work-As-Done, Work-As-Normal, and Work-As-Written Timeline and Five Whys process. We were talking about the impact investigations can have on leaders’ workloads, including potentially disrupting business-as-usual activities. It was felt by the group that they wanted to avoid leading or facilitating safety incident investigations at all costs. We spent some time talking about why we do investigations – to learn from them and improve the workplace accordingly. We talked about how our mindset and approach to an investigation can actually embrace our leadership and make a difference that results in real change. Viewing investigations through this lens, they agreed (after a while) that being a part of an investigation that leads to a learning outcome would be worthwhile. In the alternative, they felt that simply going through the process and being mindless of the ‘Why’ of the process could easily be painful and difficult. It is often said that the way we think about investigations is more important than the process we use. When talking with a couple of the participants a month or so later, they reported that they had gone into an investigation with an open and inquisitive mind and got a lot out of it, both as an independent investigation leader and also as a driver of understanding the incident and what we can learn from it.
Key Takeaway: You don’t always get to choose what you do at work. But you always get to choose how you react and what attitude you take to the work you do.