The shadow you1/7/2023 The 'gap' had in fact become a 'gulf' during this Managers' tenure and sadly he had indeed cast a shadow over his team which meant that rules were there to be challenged, belittled and mocked. Anyone who knows anything about health and safety knows that procedures are very rarely followed but we don't bother to do anything about it until the shit hits the fan so my investigation report detailed the 'work as imagined' vs 'work as done' dichotomy. I investigated the incident and discovered that indeed the individuals involved had not complied with a procedure. We had a major incident and 2 members of staff were immediately suspended by the Manager - why? They broke a safety rule. Suddenly everything was a matter of choice and this team could choose not to follow the rules - any rules! In fact the rules became more like guidelines and if you didn't like the guidelines you could step outside of them. I started to see in increased number of low level incidents in his department, I stopped getting safety inspection reports in from his managers and supervisors, I noticed that the attitudes of the team were changing, it was harder to get them to attend training courses, take part in workshops or contribute to improvement programmes and safety committees. Don't panic, I'm not going to tell you that he slipped and broke his neck or anything but something else did happen. Time and time again, workers would put a 'near hit' on the system because they had seen this Manager breaching the hand rail rule or walking and talking on his mobile phone (another golden rule) but he point blank refused to comply and in fact went out of his way to make a mockery of it, posing on the stairs taking selfies, or pretending he was going to fall over the hand rail. He was incensed by his perception that the company assumed he was incapable of walking up and down a flight of stairs without rules to keep him safe. I knew a Manager a few years back who was absolutely disgusted with his company's golden rule of 'Hold the Hand Rail'. Today he holds a very senior position and has carved an amazing career for himself he understands that the things he 'does' have so much more impact on his people that the things he 'says'. He acknowledged back then that he had a lot to learn and set out to improve not only his leadership skills but also his competence as a health and safety champion. The story clearly had a huge impact on his confidence as a leader at that time - he received 3 prohibition notices in 3 visits to his projects from the organisation's own internal regulator. I recently heard a senior leader from one of our client companies share a personal story with over 100 employees. ![]() Recognising that we are on a journey and that every day we learn something new which may or may not fundamentally shift a belief or a paradigm that we held firm to in the past, or even yesterday! It is sharing that learning with your peers and your subordinates and being brave enough to say, ok - I've learned something new which has challenged my thinking and I want us to give this a go. ![]() So what is Courageous Leadership? Courageous Leaders are those who have the ability and confidence to hold up the mirror to their own attitudes, values and behaviours and find themselves wanting. I would do anything to change those events but sadly I can't turn back time and so I have had to carry that learning forward and it has helped me to grow and develop both on a personal and professional level and now as the owner of Paradigm Human Performance I can share my learning with others in the hope that they can avoid some of their own 'expensive lessons'. I learned a very valuable lesson many years ago about the influence I have as a Leader and how, with very little effort (and absolutely no intention or awareness at the time) I drove a some 'undesirable' behaviours by the members of my team which sadly resulted in tragic circumstances. Anyone who has attended one of my talks or training courses will know that courageous leadership is something I feel very passionate about.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply.AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |