This insight from Research to Practice, by NEBOSH, is around leadership in health and safety.
Research to Practice is edited by Luise Vassie, who has extensive professional experience in research, teaching and consultancy. She has a proven track record of delivering sustainable business improvements in health and safety risk management across a range of sectors. Luise is a director of TNL Consulting Limited. Previously she was Executive Director of Policy for a professional body and earlier in her career she held academic posts at Leicester, Loughborough and Swansea universities. She has been published in more than 50 academic and professional publications.
NEBOSH is the National Examination Board in Occupational Safety and Health. Our qualifications are designed to meet the needs of those with responsibilities for health, safety and the environment. Around 50,000 candidates each year take a NEBOSH qualification.
One issue that has been highlighted before is the impact that leadership has in enabling individual competencies to contribute to improving performance.
In this edition we explore the following in more detail:
- Outlining why safety leadership is important and considering what we mean by leadership and safety leadership specifically.
- Examining how different leadership styles impact health and safety and looking to identify the specific leadership behaviours and practices associated with positive safety outcomes.
- Considering the safety leadership requirements for different levels and
roles within an organisation. - Highlighting how you can adopt effective leadership styles and support safety leadership in others.
So what is leadership and safety leadership in particular about?
There are many definitions of leadership but all involve influencing people and groups and achieving common goals and purposes. It is generally regarded as progressive and forward-thinking. Although leadership is not confined to those in formal leadership positions, those who do occupy such positions have a wider remit of influence in an organisation. Although there isn’t a strict definition of safety leadership, pragmatically, it’s about creating a vision for safety, setting up the workforce or team to succeed and demonstrating behaviours that help others achieve safety goals.
Effective leadership is often seen as entrepreneurial, risk-taking and ‘progressive’. This approach is compatible with the description of risk in the international standard for risk management: “Risk in ISO 31000:2009 is neutral; the consequences associated with a risk can enhance the achievement of objectives (i.e. positive consequences) or can limit or diminish the achievement of objectives (i.e. negative consequences).”
Some leaders may find ‘safety leadership’ counter-intuitive to this ‘progressive’ view, as it is essentially a protective function. Health and safety practitioners are well-placed to support their organisations to embrace safety as part of the mainstream leadership agenda while also promoting specific evidence-based safety leadership practices.
Leadership styles
Leaders adopt different techniques and approaches or ‘styles’ to motivate people and achieve results. When it comes to leadership styles – and their impact on safety – transformational and transactional leadership have received the most attention in the research literature, indicating that they may be effective styles for safety. There is a growing collection of work on authentic (or servant) leadership but its impact on safety outcomes is less well studied. Most studies on leadership have been carried out in stable environments.
Transformational leadership
Transformational leaders inspire employees to achieve collective and shared goals. They articulate a vision that followers see value in and can aspire to; they challenge and question the status quo, inviting new ideas from followers; and they are attentive to the needs of their followers by creating a supportive environment for learning and development.
In terms of safety, transformational leaders will act as role models for safety. They will prioritise safety, motivate employees to strive for high standards of safety, demonstrate genuine concern for a commitment to safety and the well-being of employees and explore new ways of working safely. This is important for achieving employee engagement in health and safety.
Transactional leadership
Transactional leaders use their influence to motivate people towards achieving certain standards of performance and objectives in exchange for rewards. They apply performance monitoring with consequence management, such as praise or incentive, to reinforce the desired behaviour. In relation to safety, transactional leadership is important for ensuring compliance with safety rules and procedures. Transactional leaders could be expected to lead safety tours and walkabouts, challenge any inconsistencies in process, plant and people when a safety issues arises and acknowledge and reinforce their direct reports’ good safety performance.
Authentic (servant) leadership
Authentic leaders demonstrate balance in terms of decision-making, transparency in the sharing of information, self-awareness and appreciation of how their leadership is viewed in the organisation and behave in a way that is consistent with their values and beliefs. Their focus is on the followers, with the achievement of organisational goals being an indirect outcome.
Servanthood
demands a personal humility if it is to be sustainable and enacted with integrity. In relation to safety, authentic leaders can be expected to be actively involved in safety meetings, talks and other activities. As a result of being ‘true to themselves and others’ they generate respect and trust from followers. Followers feel a sense of belonging with the team or organisation and so, a supportive environment is created increasing engagement and performance. Arguably, this aspect of authentic leadership overlaps with the inspirational element of transformational leadership. However, the distinguishing factor in determining the style of leadership is the focus of the leader – the transformational leader is focussed on the organisation and their behaviour builds commitment towards organisational vision and goals, whereas the servant leader’s focus is on the followers with the achievement of organisational goals being an indirect outcome.
What works best for safety?
There is overlap in the linkages between the leadership style and safety performance outcomes; for example, all three styles considered can positively influence safety culture and climate13. Circumstances may mean that a certain style is more likely to yield a better outcome. In reality, leaders may need to vary their approach according to:
- The demands of the situation – stable, dynamic or even crisis.
- The type of organisation and its processes and structure.
Importantly though, and emphasised in authentic leadership, leaders should be aware of their follower’s needs. In a dynamic or changing environment there may be benefits in the leader letting the organisation feel some pressure. This may challenge and extend the workforce or provide useful discussion, for example, if conflicts are allowed to surface. This differs from the more conventional transactional leadership response which is to provide clarity and protection and restore order. This may sound surprising and the approach has not been applied to health and safety; however, health and safety practitioners should at least acknowledge that they may need to adapt their approach accordingly. In a crisis or emergency situation, a directive approach giving out instructions to achieve control and compliance may be needed.
Safety performance and safety compliance are positively related to transactional leadership, whereas participation in safety is encouraged by transformational leadership. While safety leaders clearly need transactional skills, without transformational skills they won’t be able to generate employee engagement. The skill is in knowing what style is needed when having considered the
situation and followers’ needs. The positive impact of any safety leadership style can be significantly diluted by leaders who express concern for safety, whilst allowing known hazards and risks to go unaddressed. To allow leadership efforts in safety to flourish, organisations’ known hazards and risks must be managed. Health and safety practitioners are well placed to support their organisations in advising on effective solutions.
Who are safety leaders?
The importance of those in senior positions demonstrating leadership of health and safety has been articulated in several investigation reports into major incidents such as the Piper Alpha explosion in 1988, Deepwater Horizon and the Costa Concordia capsize in 2012. The Institute of Directors (IoD) and HSE guidance has been produced guidance for senior leaders and executives on leading health and safety.” Key principles of this guidance are: strong and active leadership from the top, worker involvement and assessment and review of performance.
At other levels of management, such as operations or middle managers and supervisors, leadership is equally important. Good practice guidance produced by the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work sets out practical tactical steps that management should take, such as:
- Understanding their organisation’s risk profile
- Leading by example
In particular, supervisors’ leadership is aided by increased autonomy over the way they supervise and by receiving support from fellow supervisors.
Demonstrable leadership is not only the reserve of those in senior positions in organisations. We can all think of people who weren’t in senior positions who have influenced us because of their inspirational, engaging and supportive behaviours.
Arguably, safety leadership should not be the reserve of those in senior positions; while it may need to start at the top it needs to be distributed across other roles in the organisation. In their roles as advisers and advocates of health and safety, health and safety practitioners are also safety leaders19. Their role is two-fold:
- demonstrating leadership in their own practice; and
- supporting others, such as senior managers and supervisors, to actively lead.
They and those they support need to be involved in three main areas of activity:
- Controlling – including policy development, recruitment, goal setting, incident investigation and performance monitoring.
- Caring – including learning and development, two-way communications, engaging and consulting with workers and their representatives, reinforcing values and supporting less-experienced health and safety practitioners.
- Coaching – including acting as a role model and mentoring line managers.
Four personas have been identified for health and safety practitioners, these
are explained below.
The four health and safety practitioner leadership ‘personas’ or characters.
- The Monk – Hands down the safety rules for others to obey, preserves and develops wisdom, but does not interact with others.
- The Mercenary – Offers support when asked. Regards safety as the preserve of the safety professional and others as incompetent.
- The Missionary – Widely broadcasts the importance of safety. Tells people what to do without explaining it.
- The Mentor – Develops health and safety awareness and skills in others.
Monks and Mentors both believe in rules and procedures but the Mentor will help managers produce these rather than hand them down like the Monk does;
Missionaries and Mentors believe in getting the health and safety message across but the Mentor listens and tailors the message for the particular audience’s needs, rather than broadcasting a one-size fits all message to raise awareness like the Missionary does.
Mercenaries and Mentors both believe in resourcing health and safety but the Mentor will persuade managers that health and safety is good for, and integral to the business, so that they get financial support rather than sell what the managers want to buy like the Mercenary does.
Operating as a coach or mentor will help raise awareness of health and safety and, done well, will inspire others who need to lead to do so too. This means balancing the transactional approach (communicating and enforcing the rules) with the transformational approach (influencing, engaging and supporting) activities. Adopting this approach means that health and safety can become
part of mainstream business.
As part of your own continued professional development, you might like to reflect on where you think your own persona falls in relation to the four described. Importantly, consider how you could adapt to develop a mentoring approach. If health and safety is to become mainstream, persuading managers that health and safety is an integral part of the business is key. Practitioners that adopt the Monk, Mercenary and Missionary styles are trying to make managers do something they don’t really want to do. Mentors, however, influence what the manager wants – in this case
getting them to see the value of health and safety to the business.
What behaviours support effective safety leadership?
Most of the literature on general leadership and safety leadership focuses on characteristics, traits and behaviours of leaders rather than the leadership practices or the influence of context on practices. However, the evidence points to some leadership practices that encourage workforces to deliver positive safety outcomes. For example:
- Ensuring effective two-way communication between leader and followers helps to define and reinforce desired safety-related behaviours
- Expressing enthusiasm for safety, belief in its importance and seeking to identify potential harm before it happens
- Encouraging worker involvement through challenge and engagement
- Observing workforce behaviours and coaching and mentoring leaders to reinforce safe behaviours
- Following up and providing feedback on actions and letting people know the outcomes of their suggestions demonstrates leader commitment
- Empowering employees to problem solve and make decisions
- Reducing risky driving behaviour using telematics and behaviour change
- Taking safety tours and talking to workers while doing so demonstrates leadership, provides opportunities to learn about safety issues and promotes workforce participation
- Developing a positive response to failure that seeks to care, compensate and learn.
Safety leadership behaviours at different organisational levels
Depending on the leader’s position in the organisation different leadership practices or behaviours may be required.
Senior management
- Ensuring safety is part of core business and integral to competitiveness
- Assuring statutory compliance
- Developing trusting relationships with subordinates
Middle management
- Adequately resourcing safety programmes, policies and procedures
- Prioritising safety into work plans and schedules
- Appreciating workers and demonstrating concern for their safety and health
- Communicating openly in multiple ways and providing feedback
- Being visible in taking responsibility for safety
Supervisors
- Providing open, fair feedback and initiating safety discussions
- Being involved in training, meetings, inspections and investigations with
workers - Encouraging teamwork and building trust
Defining an organisation’s required safety leadership behaviours or competencies can help clarify what is expected of safety leaders, support consistency and further reinforce the importance of safety leadership. This could be achieved through the development of a competency matrix linked to elements of the organisation’s health and safety management system. Health and safety practitioners are well placed to assist and support their organisations in defining the expected behaviours. Practitioners should also appreciate that the defined behaviours are equally applicable to them as safety leaders.
To support practitioners in developing leadership (and other) skills, the International Network of Safety and Health Practitioner Organisations (INSHPO) OHS Professional Capability Framework sets out performance criteria in ten areas of personal leadership. This could provide a useful starting point for developing an in-house competency matrix.
Health and safety practitioners involved in advising on, or delivering, health and safety training and development programmes for leaders in their organisations need to be mindful that such programmes should incorporate practices that encompass different leadership styles. Most interventions that have addressed safety leadership behaviours have focused on transformational leadership. There is little guidance on interventions that focus on a wider range of behaviours or the ability to change between leadership styles according to the demands of the situation.
Additionally, as training alone is not usually effective in behaviour change, health and safety practitioners will need to follow up training interventions with further support through coaching and mentoring.
Looking ahead…
Other approaches to leadership may offer alternative models for safety leadership given that it does not seem to sit in one role or at one level25. Two examples are ‘shared’ and ‘distributed’ leadership:
- Shared leadership involves other members of a group sharing leadership roles in addition to the designated leader. Group members might lead each other on a particular issue or task.
- Distributed leadership involves multiple members across different levels of the organisation leading over time and taking on responsibilities and tasks. Members work together in a supportive environment to achieve shared goals.
Effective health and safety management requires more than leaders to exhibit the right behaviours. Safety leadership, as any other leadership, is about influencing followers. Health and safety is about people – it is a social activity. People need to be involved to keep people safe. Although a wide range of stakeholders need to be involved, a key target group for leaders is employees or workers. We will take a closer look at the research evidence relating to the role and impact of worker involvement on health and safety outcomes in the next issue of Research to Practice.