Safety Culture Change
The key to your success 70
We know that 70% of change initiatives fail. We know the value of great cultures and we seek to improve those odds because of success by tapping into our evidence-based research.
Propulo has been in the business of “safety culture change” for operational outcomes for over 15 years. We’ve learned that:
Culture change truly represents the sum of multiple individual change journeys. To be effective, we need to incorporate learnings from brain science and psychology around individual change in behavior, mindset and system with broader organizational change research.
To drive change, the intangibles of culture need to be measured. We created our Safe Production Model to drive the ability to explore an operating culture against key facets of safety, quality and productivity. This goes beyond employee engagement to explore the elements that drive business success.
Culture change needs to have a defined outcome that will capture the hearts and minds of team members. Culture change initiatives that don’t have this central focus tend to fail.
Culture change can’t be owned by HR. It needs to be owned by the broader organization and operations and must be linked to real results, not just soft numbers like employee engagement.
Culture change can’t follow the same models as other change initiatives. What works to implement a new IT system won’t work for culture.
Training won’t change culture without a broader focus on change at the individual and organizational level.
To maximize outcomes, our Propulo Science Team recently completed one of the most comprehensive reviews of research and thinking in culture change. We reviewed all of the leading change models, explored research in individual change and combined it with our own experience to create a modern, evidence-based change model, focused on people.
12 Key Stages of Change
To lead Safety Culture Change, we have identified 12 key stages that need to be followed to maximize the chances of success.
The Sum of Multiple Individual Change Journeys
Safety Culture Change represents the sum of multiple individual change journeys. Each team member is presented with new information or cultural norms and at some stage either agrees or opposes (sometimes unconsciously) the desired change. These shifts in attitudes, beliefs and mindsets reoccur multiple times within a workforce and will continue to shift as more and more team members choose to embrace the new path. Change initiators will be the first ones to embrace the change, followed by early adopters.
Adoption Stages
Until critical mass is achieved, it will be an uphill battle to make the change stick. Once that critical mass is achieved, change efforts will need to be sustained but will become easier.
The Case for Culture
94
Percentage of executives that believe that a distinct workplace culture is important to success
19
Yet, percentage of executives believe their culture is widely upheld
87
Percentage of leaders that cite culture and engagement as a top organizational challenge
46
Percentage of EBIT that Culture can account for
Top quartile cultures post a return to shareholders 60% higher than median companies and 200% higher than those in the bottom quartile
Culture Impacts Business Outcomes
Higher Productivity
Improved Safety
Increased Organizational Agility
Increased Innovation
Increased Revenue & Profits
More Challenging to Copy
Increased Engagement
Reduced Turnover
Decreased Absenteeism