“The most powerful leadership tool you have is your own personal example.”—John Wooden
Leading by example may seem like an over-used description that is used a lot in sports (“He sets a good example for his teammates”) and in philanthropic endeavors (“His generous contributions have spurred others to give.”). But nowhere is the concept of leadership by example more important, or have the potential to cause more harm when ignored, than in the workplace.
When it comes to workplace practices, some companies overlook the concept of leadership when it comes to a culture. Comments such as “They must have great management leadership qualities because they don’t have a lot of employee turnover or employee injuries.” are comments you don’t hear about companies, but are actually leading indicators of a good or poor culture.
Being a leader goes beyond title and rank. Being a leader, or more importantly, being followed by employees, is earned and not just given. Employees do not care about their work unless they know management cares about them.
Three senior management team members, while visiting the company’s fabrication facility, complained about the costs of employee turnover, shortage of employees for the amount of work they wanted to bid on, and their workers’ compensation premium. Even though their compensation and employee benefits were good, retainage was poor and they could not attract new employees. The company provided necessary protective gear and safety trainings, but several employees had been seriously injured from “doing something stupid” or from “unavoidable accidents,” which led to increases in workers’ comp premiums. All of these issues affected the company’s bottom line.
In order to analyze the company’s culture, safety and HR, a risk management consultant spoke with employees and supervisors in order to understand the employees’ work environment, how they performed tasks and how engaged they were. Shop employees, as a whole, were highly skilled, but not all were wearing the required protective gear, nor were they paying attention to their work environment. Excess steel cutoffs were frequently building up in the walk areas with a visible accumulation of dust on them that clearly showed they were there for long periods of time.
The consultant observed the supervisor interacting with employees more like a buddy than as a manager, addressing questions that were brought to him rather than addressing issues such as the steel cutoffs in the walk area. The consultant also noted that the COO shouted at employees to put on eye and hearing protection “as the people touring could have been from the insurance company or OSHA.”
As the consultant reviewed employee injuries, someone noted that the safest way of doing something was ultimately the most productive way for an employer. The COO disagreed, saying if a 70 to 80-pound piece of steel needed to be moved and an employee was able to carry it, and the forklift or overhead boom weren’t close by or available, then it was more productive for the employee to carry it to his workstation.
The COO didn’t consider how much productivity would be lost or that workers’ comp premiums might increase when the welder was out on workers’ compensation for seven weeks due to back and knee strains from material handling. Ironically, one injury report was for an employee who moved a 60- to 70-pound piece of steel by hand to his workstation when he lost his footing, almost fell, then stepped on two cutoff pieces of steel.
re was a conflict between the COO and the shop supervisor due to management styles. The COO was a “my way or the highway” person and the shop supervisor tried to be everyone’s friend. Each had different expectations of the other person’s position. This was exacerbated by how the company president defined each person’s role and his expectations. Since the company was profitable, some things went unaddressed by the president, creating culture issues that led to employee turnover and injuries.
The president knew that the shop supervisor was the best person anywhere when it came to figuring out how to weld something so projects were completed correctly and on time. The supervisor’s defined role was to get the job done right.
The president designated the COO responsible for overseeing the shop, primarily in terms of production schedule, sales and estimating. To the COO, escalation of costs and employee turnover affected his ability to bid and win work for the company. Because the company was losing jobs or unable to complete them on time due to staff shortages, the COO frequently yelled at employees to get things done quicker.
The CFO was thinking of hiring an outside safety company to come in once a year for required OSHA training. He was more interested in finding the most cost-effective way to meet training obligations than in understanding the true financial costs of employee turnover and injuries. The CFO would shout at the supervisor to make sure the employees had their safety protection equipment on.
When it came to leading by example, senior management and the shop supervisor fell significantly short. They were trying show they cared about their employees by offering excellent wages and benefits, but barely provided the regulatory minimum for their safety. They told employees that they should be working safely and doing things correctly, but all their actions and communications told employees that management was mainly concerned about productivity and speed.
In private conversations with the consultant, employees said they felt their value to the company was solely in their production and that management did not truly care for their well-being and safety.
Actions speak louder than words. But, ultimately, if management does not address something that is below standard, then they now have a new standard. The same could be said of culture, in that if management sees something that does not fit company culture and it is not addressed, a new culture has been established.
