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THEM Make them SMART

• Published on April 19, 2016

• LikeSetting Safety GOALS in your Life is just the FIRST STEP in KEEPING THEM Make them SMART

   

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Terry PenneyFollowTerry Penney

 

Senior OH&S and E & R Professional, Presenter, Motivational Safety Speaker and Safety Program Dev.

Do you ever feel like you're working hard but not getting anywhere? Don’t make them into the typical BOOM and BUST principle.When setting your Safety Goals you look at after a proper risk assessment  (1) hard goals produce a higher level of performance (output) than easy goals; (2) specific hard goals produce a higher level of output than a goal of “do your best”; and (3) behavioral intentions regulate choice behavior.

Here’s the real truth and why success is not real YET: either companies set unreasonable goals that everyone knows are not serious (e.g. “zero”) or they pay lip service to the goal and emphasize other priorities (such as productivity) so strongly that achieving the goal is impossible. The result: employees don’t bother trying. They may still try to be safe for their own benefit, but the value of the goal setting and pursuit process is wasted.

Newton tells us to ignore the little diversions that fill up a normal life and focus on the grand challenges. This can be counterproductive in safety when the little diversions include wearing eye protection or lifting according to ergonomic best practices. But flip this argument on its head. Injuries can be permanent losses to our lives in a way that missing one performance quota cannot. Since we know that there are personnel, economic and regulatory considerations present in every business, the question then becomes, where do you focus your time and energies - in an economically oriented fashion, to manage the safety and health of the people and resources of your organization? This means never having a visage of uncertain confidence. Safety pros need to do this constantly. We can’t apologize for requiring safe behaviors, act unsure of whether the behaviors will really keep employees safe, or otherwise be seen as wishy-washy advocates for safety.

Zero tolerance for unsafe acts and goals for zero incidents fit this description all too well. After all, there are a lot of temptations to give up after cookies and a lot of unsafe behaviors to give up after “always wearing eye protection in the machine shop.” Safe behaviors need to be integrated into the standard operating procedures of the workplace. They cannot be pasted on as extras that can be ignored while still completing the job as it is defined. Creating an Effective Workplace Safety Program
The goal of an effective workplace safety program is the development of a long-term plan that is successful in protecting people from injury and death, complying with regulations, and controlling the associated financial costs of loss. An effective plan must include methods to:

• Identify and understand all hazards, real and potential
• Prevent and control hazards so workers are not exposed or the exposure is minimized

Sound safety leadership results in prevention and control of employee injuries, exposures to toxic substances, and other unhealthful conditions (which can produce work-related illnesses). Effective workplace safety systems produce lower costs, higher productivity, reduced waste, and improved employee morale.

1. Management commitment and responsibility (how managers, supervisors, and employees are responsible for implementing the program and how continued participation of management will be established, measured, and maintained). This section delineates management’s commitment (in writing) to safety and health.
2. Employee involvement (and how safe work practices and rules will be enforced). This section discusses ensuring compliance among the workforce regarding codes of safe practice and any other safety and health procedures designed to safeguard their welfare. We have determined through practice and diligent observation, that engaging your employees is an essential aspect to the successful creation and deployment of your roadmap to improve safety activities. Whether employees assist with creating checklists, help with training, participate on a safety committee, or are utilized in a myriad of other ways, their involvement will reap many rewards.
3. Work-site analysis (the methods used to identify, analyze, and control new or existing hazards, conditions, and operations).
4. Hazard recognition and resolution (how workplace hazards are recognized and resolved, and how incidents will be investigated and corrective action implemented).
5. Incident Investigations (Another tactical element of a successful safety program, incident [or accident] investigations help identify how injuries or illness occurred and what corrective action must be undertaken to control the potential for similar events to take place in the future. Just as importantly, incident investigations are outstanding tools to identify training needs). 
6. Training and education (how the plan will be communicated to all affected employees so that they are informed of work-related hazards and controls). This section provides for internal communications that highlight workplace hazards and applicable safety and health procedures. Though training employees on a variety of safety considerations is important, it can not serve as the sole determinant of whether you will have a successful safety program. Coupled with hazards recognition and resolution, training becomes a much stronger component of your overall safety activities. 
7. Record keeping (The maintaining of injury and illness, safety training, and inspection records).

If an organization is not meeting its objectives, especially the ones established specifically for the previous year, it needs to determine why. Perhaps the organization is improving and moving toward its goal but just has not reached it yet. Timelines should be established or reestablished for each of the objectives and the overall goals. If progress is not being made or is being made too slowly, the goals and objectives need to be examined. Central to a successful workplace safety program are the goals and objectives an organization sets for its overall safety and health program. We have found that many safety programs ultimately fail, not because business managers don’t care about the safety and welfare of their employees… rather it’s that sometimes they “bite off more than they can chew.”

Blending big audacious goals and incremental steps into a consolidated safety program is the best way to achieve safety. It enables us to combine motivation and compliance and, in the long run, leads to the best safety results.

1. Set goals and objectives as part of the planning process.
2. Word the goals and objectives clearly.
3. Goals and objectives must be realistic.
4. Accomplishing goals and objectives must be under the responsible person’s influence or control.
5. Objectives must be assigned to someone.
6. Completion dates must be established for each objective and goal.

The desired outcome for the goal is also measurable.

• Poorly constructed safety objective: ‘‘The organization will increase employee safety training offerings.’’ This is considered a poorly written safety objective since it does not establish a time frame for completion. It also does not provide a measure by which success or failure of meeting the objective can be ascertained.
• Well-constructed safety objective: ‘‘During this fiscal year, the organization will provide twelve monthly safety-training programs at which 90 percent of the employees shall attend.’’ This is considered a well-constructed safety objective because it establishes a fixed, short-term focus for the safety program. The desired outcome for the goal is measurable.

When setting safety goals we apply

The balanced scorecard utilizes four perspectives:

• Financial perspective
• Customer perspective
• Internal perspective
• Innovation and learning perspective

Locke and Latham's there are five goal setting principles that can improve our chances of success:

1. Clarity
2. Challenge
3. Commitment
4. Feedback
5. Task Complexity

Setting Clear Goals

When your goals are clear, you know what you're trying to achieve. You can also measure results accurately, and you know which behaviors to reward. This is why SMART is such a useful mnemonic.

Setting Challenging Goals

People are often motivated by challenging goals, however it's important not to set a goal that is so challenging it can't be achieved.

Securing Team Commitment

To be effective, your team must understand and agree to the goals – team members are more likely to "buy into" a goal if they have been involved in setting it.This doesn't mean that you have to negotiate every goal with your team members and secure their approval. They're likely to commit to it as long as they believe that the goal is achievable, it is consistent with the company's ambitions, and the person assigning it is credible.

Gaining Feedback

In addition to selecting the right goals, you should also listen to feedback, so that you can gauge how well you and your team are progressing.

Feedback gives you the opportunity to clarify people's expectations and adjust the difficulty of their goals.

Keep in mind that feedback doesn't have to come from other people. You can check how well you're doing by simply measuring your own progress.

Considering Task Complexity

Take special care to ensure that work doesn't become too overwhelming when goals or assignments are highly complex.

People who work in complicated and demanding roles can often push themselves too hard, if they don't take account of the complexity of the task.

SMART is an acronym that you can use to guide your goal setting.

To make sure your goals are clear and reachable, each one should be:

• Specific (simple, sensible, significant).
• Measurable (meaningful, motivating).
• Achievable (agreed, attainable).
• Relevant (reasonable, realistic and resourced, results-based).
• Time bound (time-based, time limited, time/cost limited, timely, time-sensitive).

SMARTER, for example, includes Evaluated and Reviewed.

• Development of an understanding of the fundamentals that create business success, based on an objective measurement of relative performance (both real and perceived) against relevant companies, in areas involving critical business processes
• Focus on continuous improvement efforts, based on an ongoing analysis of the essential differences between similar processes in comparable businesses and of the underlying reasons for these differences • Management of the overall change process and of the individual changes involved in achieving the improvements, based on the development and implementation of action programs to close the gap between a company and the ‘‘best-in-class’’ companies with the most relevant key performance variables

Specific

Your goal should be clear and specific, otherwise you won't be able to focus your efforts or feel truly motivated to achieve it. When drafting your goal, try to answer the five "W" questions:

• Whatdo I want to accomplish?
• Whyis this goal important?
• Whois involved?
• Whereis it located?
• Whichresources or limits are involved?

Measurable

It's important to have measurable goals, so that you can track your progress and stay motivated. Assessing progress helps you to stay focused, meet your deadlines, and feel the excitement of getting closer to achieving your goal.

A measurable goal should address questions such as:

• How much?
• How many?
• How will I know when it is accomplished?

The benchmark should be measurable in terms of cost, time, value, or some other quantitative parameter. The benchmark should be meaningful and relevant. Benchmarks that use simple performance measures are often the best and the most easily accessible. The benchmarks should be available in external and competitive environments. If an actual external measure cannot be obtained, a well-founded estimate should be used as a substitute

Achievable

Your goal also needs to be realistic and attainable to be successful. In other words, it should stretch your abilities but still remain possible. When you set an achievable goal, you may be able to identify previously overlooked opportunities or resources that can bring you closer to it.

Relevant

This step is about ensuring that your goal matters to you, and that it also aligns with other relevant goals. We all need support and assistance in achieving our goals, but it's important to retain control over them. So, make sure that your plans drive everyone forward, but that you're still responsible for achieving your own goal.

A relevant goal can answer "yes" to these questions:

• Does this seem worthwhile?
• Is this the right time?
• Does this match our other efforts/needs?
• Am I the right person to reach this goal?
• Is it applicable in the current socio-economic environment?

Time-bound

Every goal needs a target date, so that you have a deadline to focus on and something to work toward. This part of the SMART goal criteria helps to prevent everyday tasks from taking priority over your longer-term goals.

A time-bound goal will usually answer these questions:

• When?
• What can I do six months from now?
• What can I do six weeks from now?
• What can I do today?
• Are we performing better than we ever have?
• Are we performing better than other plants or business units in the company?
• Are we performing better than our competitors?
• Are there any other industries that are performing well, and from whom we can learn?

When you use SMART, you can create clear, attainable and meaningful goals, and develop the motivation, action plan, and support needed to achieve them.