Self-Motivation Styles of Effective Safety Leaders

By Josh Williams, Ph.D.

Effective safety leaders have self-motivation styles that help them accomplish organizational goals. Four self-motivation styles (Steers & Porter, 1991) are relevant for understanding the self-motivation of safety leaders.

• Need for Affiliation (nAFF) – Leaders high in nAFF are motivated by group cohesion and healthy interpersonal relationships. They often attend to the emotional needs of others and have a strong desire to be liked by individuals in their group.
• Need for Achievement (nACH) – People with a high nACH take responsibility for solving problems, are often competitive, and are extremely concerned with successfully completing their tasks.
• Need to Avoid Failure (nAF) – Unlike nACH individuals, those high in nAF typically avoid challenging tasks and are drawn to tasks that are very simple to ensure success or very difficult so that failure can be attributed to the nature of the task.
• Need for Power (nPOW) – People high in nPOW are highly motivated to exert influence over their environment. This category is broken down into the need for “personal power” (i.e., controlling others is an end in and of itself) and the need for “institutional power” (i.e., controlling others for the good of the institution).

Effective leaders are typically high in the need for affiliation, achievement, and (especially) institutional power, and lower in the need for personal power and the need to avoid failure. Employees are likely to understand that safety leaders with a high need for institutional power have the greater good of the organization in mind in developing safety rules and regulations, implementing new safety initiatives, and providing safety education and training. Also, safety leaders with a high need for affiliation are likely to work directly with employees in an open, respectful manner to improve workplace safety.

A few considerations with your safety leadership motivation:

• How would you rate yourselves along these four dimensions?
• Where are you strong?
• Where are there gaps?

Understanding your own safety motivation is the first step to improving your overall safety leadership skills. Use the best elements of these fundamental styles to maximize your leadership potential.

At Propulo, we coach leaders to focus on prosocial safety behaviors and avoid pitfalls that derail safety efforts. We can help your leaders stay on track and make step change improvements in your safety performance. For more information on this topic, read about Safety & Safety Culture at Propulo Consulting.