The balance between discipline and positive reinforcement in your safety culture
By Brie DeLisi
In any strong safety culture, both positive recognition and discipline are valuable. However, often organizations find the discipline piece is often considered an ‘easier’ method to drive change. Unfortunately, a focus on discipline without positive reinforcement and recognition will keep an organization at a ‘Compliant’ level of maturity – in which employees will solely focus on how to avoid punishment, rather than owning safety to keep themselves and others injury-free.
You may wonder, what’s so bad about a motivation to avoid punishment?
It is similar to only following the speed limit when you know there is radar and police monitoring, then speeding when the coast is clear. The risk is still being taken, following the speed limit isn’t viewed as beneficial to one’s and the public’s safety, it is viewed as a hindrance to getting to the destination faster. Someone who believes that following the speed limit is in their own best interest, and the public’s best interest, will follow the speed limit regardless of police and radar presence.
A culture of discipline also results in a fear-based culture.
Employees will be afraid to bring up safety concerns or near misses, because they believe they might be punished. If employees don’t report those minor incidents or concerns, there is no way to prevent them from becoming larger issues in the future.
In order to drive safety ownership, positive reinforcement and recognition signals to the employee that their safe working behavior is value-added, and they are likely to repeat the same actions in the future. For example, if an employee reports a near miss, a simple “good looking out and reporting, we took care of the issue and you helped us avoid a potential injury” is a surefire way to ensure that the employee will do the same thing when they see another incident.
Steps to improve recognition and discipline:
• Providing positive reinforcement and recognition skills development for leadership.
• Identifying opportunities and methodologies for providing recognition.
• Reinforcing leadership coaching over punishment.
• Reserving punishment for willful, negligent, and serious violations.
• Taking steps to recognize and appreciate employees for reporting close calls, minor injuries, and safety suggestions.
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.
