In part one of this series I, along with insight from Trevor Bent from Easson’s Transport, shared some advice for safety managers when dealing with CEOs. Bent has a wealth of experience working both in safety and running a company. We shared insight as to how safety managers can generate buy-in from both drivers and execs, as well as how to develop their own personal brand of constant improvement instead of just constant compliance.
But what about the other way? If you’re in the C-Suite, what more do you need to know about safety beyond the dollars and cents of it? As it turns out, there is a whole set of recommendations for executives who don’t necessarily have a safety background, especially how you can use safety-specific metrics to manage the business's overall health.
Three big issues stand out: Safety and the bottom line; the tug of war between departments; and staying on message.
Why safety is key for the bottom line
Ultimately, the CEO's role is to grow the value of the business – ‘show me the money,’ as it were. And there will inevitably be pressure from investors, advisory boards, or similar stakeholders to make those dollars happen.
However, safety isn’t necessarily one of those immediate impact investments – it’s more of a slow burn. So how do you get those stakeholders excited about something that is going to produce value incrementally and down the road?
As Bent says, “Any leader in trucking that just talks about revenue and reining in costs without talking about safety -- especially exposures, liability and risk -- they’re missing a very, very, very big piece of the puzzle.” That’s because growing the business isn’t just about expanding your reach, but also about managing the value you have and making sure it isn’t bleeding away.
When looking at financial statements, Bent told me that he almost always goes to the ‘other’ items (category) which speak to claims and accidents, because it is often more indicative of how the month is going to turn out. From managing customer expectations around receiving their goods on time and in proper condition, to keeping people safe and working, to minimizing exposure and the need for claims, safety is a core driver of the profitability of the business, especially when other elements (like rates, volume, etc.) have so much variability.
If you want to make sure you’re keeping what you’re earning (while also looking for new opportunities), focus specifically on those safety KPIs. And that’s something that even the stingiest investor should get behind.
Tug of war
When Bent moved into the CEO role, he told me it meant getting a close-up view of how different departments strive for their own targets and goals. It also meant the front office had to orchestrate those different objectives. “You start to see the tug of war between, say, production and operational demands, safety, HR,” Bent told me. To me, this indicates some leaders think of themselves as referees, rather than something more.
The opportunity, though, is that you can help people see how things interconnect, draw parallels for people by sharing their respective needs. You start to lead better when you can, for example, show that safety and operations have a lot more in common than people might think. By bridging those understanding gaps (and spending time with each department so you understand them), you can spend less of your time on conflict resolution and more of it on process management.
Staying on message
In part one of this series, it became clear that one of the most important things for a safety manager to have is consistency from the front office in terms of messaging. When the things that safety managers are talking about are backed up by everyone above them, their effectiveness as safety managers skyrockets.
To make that happen, though, CEOs (and other leaders) need to have a good understanding of what those folks do and what they need—even if the execs themselves don’t have a safety background. Make sure time is spent with safety leads each month to find out how they are driving improvement. Make sure they are getting the support they need. From there, it’s about accountability and consistency.
Because your safety people are so critical to the bottom line, empowering them to deliver on the improvement programs they’ve championed and supporting them with consistent, top-down messaging is vital.
Coming full circle: Even if you don’t have a safety background, there is significant evidence that you’ll become an even stronger leader if you take the initiative to understand how critical safety is to the functioning and well-being of the business as a whole. Monitor the right KPIs. Understand the connections between safety and virtually all of your other departments. And stay committed to the goal of constant improvement. Your customers, your people and your bottom line will thank you.
