Safety Culture Workshop for Senior and Middle
Managers at CNEA and ARN
Sonja B. Haber, Ph.D.
President and Executive Consultant
Human Performance Analysis, Corp.
New York, NY USA
Leadership for Safety
What is Leadership?
• It is a process by which one person, or a group of
persons, influence the thoughts, attitudes, and
behaviors of others.
• The position or function of a person who guides or
directs a group.
3
Leadership for Safety
• Managers at all levels in the organization shall
actively seek information on safety related
performance within their area of responsibility, shall
share this information within the organization and
shall demonstrate commitment to improving safety
related performance.
What does good Leadership look like?
The Leader
Defines reality: Where are we today?
Defines the vision: Where do we want to be?
Defines how we will get there.
Leadership is the ability to develop a vision that motivates
others to move with a passion toward a common goal
What good leaders should do……
6
And not to do..
7
Desirable Leadership Attributes
• Trustworthy • Motivational
• Positive • Decisive
• Confidence builder • Communicative
• Foresight • Coordinator
• Intelligent • Honest
• Win-win problem solver • Encouraging
• Administrative skilled • Motive arouser
• Excellence oriented • Dependable
• Just • Effective bargainer
• Plans ahead • Informed
• Dynamic • Team builder
8
Undesirable Leadership Attributes
• Loner
• Irritable
• Ruthless
• Asocial
• Non-explicit
• Dictatorial
• Non-cooperative
• Egocentric
Source GLOBE research program
9
Difference between management and leadership
• The difference between management and leadership can
be stated simply whereby ‘management’ is a function
and ‘leadership’ is a relation.
• Management ensures that work is completed in
accordance with requirements, plan and resources.
• Leadership can influence and motivate others, and could
realize organizations to change.
• Managers can also act as leaders.
Source: IAEA Safety Standards: GS-G-3.5
Nuclear Leader Competencies
• Thinking critically
• Decisive/Assertive (Strategic Thinking)
• Listens/Communicates
• Experienced
• Open-minded
• Responsible (Professional, Integrity,
Honesty)
• Stress Management
• Situational Awareness
• Team Management
• Modeling Behavior
• Accountability/Responsibility
Leadership During Emergency Conditions
• Some Characteristics of Emergency Situations Significant
for Human Behavior
- Strengths and weaknesses inherent in any organization will
likely be exaggerated.
- Behavior during normal situation will influence how others
respond during off-normal situation.
- Effective horizontal and vertical coordination and
communication is key to successful emergency response.
- Unfamiliar roles, responsibilities and relationships will impact
how the emergency is managed.
Summary
• Leadership and management for safety is one of the most
important safety principles.
• There is a difference between leadership and management for
safety. Both are equally important.
• Safety culture is closely related to the leadership and
management for safety.
• Managers and leaders have opportunities to influence individuals
and sometimes the culture in every action.
Safety Culture Assessment Tools
Strengths of Focus Group Sessions
• Group interaction can prompt/sustain discussions
without high level of interviewer input.
• Wide divergence of opinion on a topic can be easily
assessed.
• Can speak with more people in a shorter period of time
than would be required with interviews.
Weaknesses of Focus Group Sessions
• Difficult to get in depth information on any one
topic.
• Not particularly useful when the topic is sensitive or
personal (i.e., confidentiality cannot be assured).
• Great skill is required for facilitator to ensure
control over the session.
• The interview session may be dominated by the
opinions of a minority of the participants.
Moderating Techniques
• Use neutral verbal and nonverbal expressions in
responding to participants.
• Moderator’s voice should be heard less than the
voices of others in the room.
• Do not allow disagreements to turn into heated
arguments and NEVER take sides.
• Role of moderator is not to build consensus but
rather to gather all opinions.
• Pay attention to both verbal and non-verbal cues.
• Be a good LISTENER!
Effective Listening Strategies
• Stop talking
• Put group at ease
• Show that you want to listen
• Remove distractions
• Show empathy
• Be patient
• Hold your temper
• Avoid argument or criticism
• Ask questions
• Stop talking!
Things to observe
Advantages of Observations
• Do not require an underlying hypothesis that can
introduce bias
• Visible manifestations of culture
• What you see is factual – whether it should have
happened or not!
• A self-assessment should involve a large number of
observations in different areas and with different people
across the organization to ensure the validity of the
findings
Advantages of observations (cont’d)
• The process of observing provides opportunities to
interact with the observed and provides insight on
intentions, motifs and contextual information
• Can gain important information for the interpretation of
data
Risks
• Presence can affect what is happening - need to
minimise distractions from observer presence
• Focus on individual rather than cultural issues
• Potential to over-generalize from too few observations
• Untrained/unskilled observers may miss things or
misunderstand
