We have all been there. We often find oruselves looking for ways to make things more efficient. Can we run multiple errands in one trip, or can we get five things at one store instead of making two or three stops just because of different sales? Are the sales worth the extra gas and time expense?
In some ways it is easy to find ways to multitask and do things more efficiently. In other ways, it might seem logical to do so, but how to do it seems unattainable due to human limitations. Take the concepts of celebrating safety culture in a workplace and increasing injury prevention. They sound like they could fit together, right?
Too often, however, we find that we believe that each item has to be addressed separately in order to be done effectively, and what ends up being the case? Our limited resources get stretched too thinly to be effective, and the we end up with a (pardon the French) half-assed approach to both targets.
[Image courtesy of Flickr user the_moment via a Creative Commons license]It is common in business to face dilemmas. There are pros and cons no matter which direction you choose. But Robert Pater puts forth an idea to blend a perceived dilemma about safety from an either/or into a both/and situation: preventing injuries with improving the safety culture in the workplace.
What he stated about this challenge was interesting, and is something that I am sure many of us have done. While the two concepts seem to be related and thus should be able to be done efficently, Pater equates to setting up two targets on an archery range. He says many of us seem to set the targets next to each other and we use two different arrows – that is, two different approaches, two different staffs, two different sets of guidelines and protocols to achieve each result. In reality, he says, we should be looking like lining up the targets and finding the right bow with the power to send a single arrow to penetrate both targets.
That does seem to be the tough part, but Pater suggests that it is possible if you are willing to do the work.
After all, aren’t most workplaces about trying to do things safety and efficiently? And it’s it safer to only shoot one arrow and try to hit two targets than to shoot two (or more) arrows to two targets?
The more arrows you shoot, the higher the risk of shooting out an eye. And of course that means, more lost time and more paperwork.
The Common Dilemma
At some point or another, companies have to face this common problem – there are too many injuries on the work site, and the culture of safety has to be changed. The thought process is often that preventing injuries is something that can be done in the present, while changing the culture is a step-by-step approach for the future.
And when you think you are working in two different places on the space-time continuum simultaneously, you think you can’t do both (in other words be in two places at the same time).
The Common Decision
What companies seem to do then is prioritize according to time. Since now (the present) is sooner than tomorrow (the future), a company will tend to focus more on the prevention of injuires and will look at changing protocols or putting in new training for workers. The culture change can happen tomorrow.
But you know what the problem is with that? When you are always in today, tomorrow never comes. What that means is that, while you do what you can mechanically to prevent injuries, your existing safety culture has a pin in it and doesn’t actually get around to changing. What ultimately happens? At the end of the day, nothing much changes. Oh sure, you might have a decrease in injuries in the short term, but an improved safety culture is what ulttimately leads to long-term success.
But if something has a pin in it, it doesn’t move or change until you take the pin out.
One Arrow, Two Targets
The more efficient way to operate, of course, is to find a way to do two things at once. Maybe while you are on a long-term road, you make some short-term stops along the way. That seems easy in theory, and for many aspects of life it is attainable. But when it comes to safety, we often get caught in the trap of somehow thinking that preventing injuries and changing culture are really two divergent things. They have different road maps.
But they don’t have to. Think of it this way: You are going to Grandma’s house 1,000 miles away, but you need a few things to take there. You could take a tirip around town, running errands to get everything and then go to Grandma’s. Or, you could check the route to Grandma’s, find the places along the route where you can pick up the different items along the way. In this case, one trip in the car to accomplish the short-term goals (getting the items) and the long-term goal (reaching Grandma’s house).
Pater discusses how to set up this route when it comes to blending injury prevention and improving safety culture. In my next post I wil unfold Pater’s five steps to creating a single trip that achieves the short-term target (injury prevention) with the long-term destination (an improved safety culture).
I can’t guarantee, however, that Grandma’s homemade cookies will be waiting at the end.