There are many facets that go into successfully transitioning into a cultural shift. However, there is one method, among the rest, that may be your greatest ally in achieving the cultural change you envision – sharing positive results.

Beginning any new initiative, much less a movement, can be painstaking at the beginning. It is true that people tend to be hesitant about change. But if you believe in the change you are trying to create, you’d be served best by not dwelling on the difficulties and instead, identifying ways to cultivate some buy-in. With each person converted to the vision, you’ll get closer and closer to the domino effect of a movement.

One of the best ways to initiate early adoption is to share good news. In a movement’s infancy, the wins may seem small and insignificant, but it’s very simple to demonstrate how the small positives can turn into industry-altering changes if your team continues with the approach.

In terms of the Safety Culture movement, just a few of the short-term wins an organization can share are:

• the certainty that the workforce know and understand their Basic Safety Rights and have a better grasp on identifying and addressing hazards – both of these topics are covered in our Safety Culture 100 Online Course.
• having an integrated management system with specific standards customized to your organization’s activities.
• having the processes and approach in place to begin generating data that can be used to identify areas for improvement.
• an improved, positive work environment that everyone is happy to be a part of.

Committing to these short-term wins listed above will undoubtedly provide your organization with the path toward reduced incidents and injuries, lowering of costs and better performance in the supply chain bidding process.

At every opportunity, leadership should reiterate these small positives to mount a coalition for the Safety Culture movement. We must provide reasons why the change is a worthy endeavour. It isn’t that people don’t want to be part of something, but we are trained to be critical – which is good. A critical eye will keep your Safety Culture transformative and adaptive once it is established.

The big ticket, long-term wins only come when you have a unified team behind the initiative, and you create that unified team by involving them in the cultural shift. Keeping your team in the dark will dissociate them from the outcomes and will deny them from having a sense of responsibility and ownership. It only makes sense that if we want people to get behind something, they need to be made to feel like they are part of it – not just witnesses. Sharing the small wins and giving credit where it is due will activate your team members toward the cause and will gradually fill out your roster with Safety Culture advocates.