S13 Ep11: SafeLead, Mastering the Craft of Leadership Engagement

How do effective touchpoint management strategies impact SafeLead (and even SafeStart)? Delve into the art of intentional communication and the need to schedule these crucial interactions—learn the benefits of these touchpoints and the pitfalls of not having these touchpoints. You'll also get a list of resources that can help. 

Host: Tim Page-Bottorrff
Guest: Tyia Grant 

Chapters

• 0:15 Safe Lead Touchpoint Management Process
• 9:23 Effective Touchpoint Management Strategies

Transcript

Tim Page-Bottorff Host

00:15

Hey, welcome back to SafeTalk with SafeStart I'm Tim Page-Bottorff. Many of our listeners are using SafeLead to improve leadership characteristics and mainly at the supervisory level, and for that I've asked Tyia Grant, our SafeLead Project Manager, to join us today. She's the person I'm going to call if I've got a SafeLead question. Tyia, welcome to the podcast. 

Tyia Grant Guest

00:36

Thanks for the invitation, Tim. It's my pleasure to get to speak to the SafeTalk audience today. 

Tim Page-Bottorff Host

00:42

Well, it's kind of cool to have you because you know this is your first podcast and we're excited to basically take part into the SafeLead process and I know that you'd be the best person for this. So, if you're ready for that, let's get started. So back in the day, when we were kicking around the idea of doing a series of podcasts specifically on Safe Lead, you were the one that actually suggested that we begin with a podcast on managerial touchpoints, and so I know it seems like a simple concept between you and I and other SafeLead folks, but the devil for us is in the details. So, I guess if we could start, if you would do me a favor and just kind of share with us or at least define what we mean when we actually say the word touchpoint. 

Tyia Grant Guest

01:29

Sure, and some of this folks may have heard before, but it's important to think of this in the context of improving your investment in SafeLead. And, at its core, a touchpoint is really just the opportunity for a SafeLead manager to connect with their participant to talk about SafeLead and their action plan. So during each coaching session, participants will work with their consultant to build that action plan, determine what skills they're going to practice and how they're going to do that, and during their touch points they're going to talk about their action plan and their activities, share what they've committed to practicing progress, that they've had, successes they've had, maybe any challenges that they've overcome. 

Tim Page-Bottorff Host

02:20

Yeah, that's a really good explanation. We'll talk about the definition of a SafeLead manager in just a minute. But as far as action plans are concerned, for those of you that are probably concerned about what that might look like, we've got two SafeLead podcasts that you can refer back to that talk specifically about developing a great action plan and that'll be in the six climate success factors podcast that we recorded back with Pandora. But in this regard, it's important to point out that it's really not our expectation that everybody should be actually having these conversations. Rather, we would rather have them focus specifically just with SafeLead managers, primarily with their supervisors, their direct reports and how that interaction looks between the two of them. Can you briefly explain what that interaction looks like? 

Tyia Grant Guest

03:09

Yeah, our focus group for completing these is our SafeLead managers. So, anyone that has a direct report taking part in the coaching sessions, regardless of what their title is within the facility, is a SafeLead manager and therefore is responsible for completing touch points. And for some of our clients, this may mean there's a few layers of their team that should be conducting them. They could have supervisors to team leads, managers to supervisors and maybe directors to managers, all completing touch points within their SafeLead program. We do also encourage other members of leadership to check in as well. Right, they don't necessarily have to have a direct report in the coaching, but asking a Safe Lead manager how their touch points are going, what they're learning, what they're sharing with their participants. They can also ask participants directly how they're doing with their action plan if their SafeLead manager is following up with them. 

 

04:10

One of our SafeLead consultants, Larry Pearlman, shared a thought about this and it really stuck with me. He said what's important to my boss should fascinate me. So, if leadership is asking SafeLead managers how they're doing with their touch points, that tells me it's important. If my SafeLead manager is setting up our touch point and following up with me, it tells me it's important, and then, of course, participants can always check in with each other. It's a great opportunity to build relationships with the person they're in their coaching session with, or really any of the other participants that are practicing these skills too. 

 

 

Tim Page-Bottorff Host

04:52

That's an awesome explanation and I will suggest that that last point, and first of all, nice shout out to Larry Pearlman and then all of the other SafeLead consultants that are out there too I will suggest that when participants check in with each other, those interactions I've learned on the SafeLead process for myself is that some of the best interactions you get actually become from they actually come from SafeLead participants when they check in with each other, because they're not particularly familiar with the location of this supervisor versus the location of that supervisor and there are obvious benefits across the board. The ones that actually come to mind when thinking about these concepts of touch points specifically are the ones that you just laid out, and that was a really good idea, a brain map specifically about how and when these touch points should occur. So, thank you for that. I'd be interested in getting your thoughts on how they apply to both SafeStart and SafeLead. What do you think? 

Tyia Grant Guest

05:52

They're absolutely key to success and sustainability. I mean you can simply check the box on completing Safely coaching sessions right, and maybe some of your folks will take hold of some of those skills, use them, and have some success. But most clients are looking for organizational climate and culture change, not just a handful of folks, and to do that you have to get together and discuss what you're learning, both individually and organizationally. Right, building those learning loops that are at the core of the human factors framework. We need to practice these skills to get better, right? If we think about, you know, our music teacher or your batting coach or your driving instructor, taking one class or doing one coaching session with them does not make you proficient at this new thing. You need to practice it often and you need to have support and mentoring to keep practicing. That is what the touch point is designed to do. 

 

06:56

Another great adage from one of our SafeLead consultants, Deric I get a lot of great things from all of the team, but he uses you need to inspect what you expect. If you expect your participants to do the work, you need to check in or inspect their work. And actually, these touch points can be really contributive to the organization right. As a SafeLead manager, you never know what you're going to learn during these touch points. They can create some really helpful action items. You're going to learn during these touch points. They can create some really helpful action items. We often hear this from module two, which is human factors in hazard and risk, where the activity is completing a hazard and risk assessment. So, what if your team identifies a risk and develops a solution to make their work safer or to improve the workflow? You want to hear about that, and the touch point is your opportunity. 

Tim Page-Bottorff Host

07:51

Well, you're absolutely right about that. Conversationally, I would say too that if you've got a culture that doesn't expect that, innovation in other words, being able to speak up and talk about it safely can actually help you get there to develop that culture so that way people are comfortable to go to their supervisor and have that conversation. But it's not that we're asking the individual employees to go to their supervisor. We're actually asking the supervisor to make that change and so the inspect what you expect. That's a fantastic way of looking at it. 

 

08:24

I'm not asking that people go out and grab their clipboard and inspect that entire job or that person or do a behavioral check. It's literally going out and say, hey, we had a touchpoint. Here we are, let's have a discussion. Is there any assistance you need from me? And that gives them an opportunity to speak up when it's most important. Now, clearly, the concept of touchpoints is new to you, our listeners, or it could be a long-trusted tool for some of you that have used it, and clearly, there are some challenges. So, Tyia, could you just do me a favor? Just put on our listeners radar some of the most common challenges that are out there. 

Tyia Grant Guest

09:01

Absolutely. This will not be a surprise to anyone. The biggest challenge we hear is time. How do we fit more into our already busy days? So, it's important to keep in mind that we're not expecting these to be one-hour weekly or bi-weekly meetings with your participants. 

 

09:23

You know some organizations do have regularly scheduled meetings with their team that this can become a part of. But you must be deliberate. You must be specific when talking about SafeLead activities and skill development. Right, we can't just bury it within or gloss over it within the rest of the discussion. There are organizations that maybe don't have that structure of regularly scheduled meetings. So, we often recommend that they schedule these touch points into their calendars in the beginning, especially if they've got some newer leaders that may not have a lot of experience in having this type of discussion. Right, and we avoid what we aren't comfortable with. So having them clearly marked in their day and their calendar can be really helpful for them. Perhaps we have more experienced or some more tenured leaders where they can have a five-minute discussion on the shop floor or passing in the hallway, right? 

 

10:19

Hey Joe, I wanted to check in with you. You mentioned that you wanted to practice giving positive feedback. How's it been going on your last couple of shifts? It's a simple question like that. The other one we hear is well, I already talk to my manager all the time, but if it's not about SafeLead, it's not a touch point. You know, again, it must be deliberate, it must be specific to SafeLead activities. 

Tim Page-Bottorff Host

10:46

That's. You talked about a couple of things that are important. Just to recap, first of all, these touch points into the calendar sending a calendar invite you and I both know in the last four or five years since the pandemic with that, if it's not in our calendar probably didn't happen. Unfortunately, sometimes somebody comes up to you and says let's have a meeting today and you're like oh, but then I don't know, we kind of expect to put it into our calendars and so that that's a good one. 

 

11:15

I really like that one, and if that red dot on your phone distracts you, then if you don't get the calendar and fight, you're going to take care of other things. How important that that is. And those hallways, we kind of take them for granted. And then just passing your supervisor or passing a direct report and just asking that question just shows that you're still interested. And we often refer to as KPIs being a key performance indicator. But as a manager and trying to touch up or touch point with a supervisor, KPI to me means keeping people interested and if you just pass them in the hallway and ask them a conversation, that shows that you're still interested, and it might keep them interested too. So great points. I appreciate that. Now you mentioned, and then a little bit we talked about the why. Now let's get down to the specifics. How do you do this in regards to SafeLead?

Tyia Grant Guest

12:08

How do you do this in regard to SafeLead? Well, there's no one-size-fits-all approach on how to do one, but there are a few key pieces to make them successful. So most important is asking open-ended questions, be curious, be open to learning from your participant. The other side of that coin, of course, is listening. As a SafeLead manager, you should be doing a lot of listening to your folks. Limit distractions, put the phone away, close the laptop, be there for your participants. So, if it's a regularly scheduled meeting, if it's a quick conversation in the hallway, the how isn't that big of a piece, but make sure you're following those key pieces open-ended questions, listening, and limit distractions. 

 

13:02

One method that one of our clients introduced at their site that has been really successful for them. It was a larger site, several layers of leaders taking part in SafeLead and, like many organizations, as we just talked about, lots of meetings on their calendars. So, they instituted what they called no meeting Wednesdays. So, every member of leadership was expected to be out on the shop floor interacting with their teams. And at first, this was tough, right? Frontline supervisors and frontline employees were not accustomed to seeing leaders out there, so they were actually apprehensive about talking to them, right? Usually, that meant someone was going to be in trouble. They were actually apprehensive about talking to them, right? Usually, that meant someone was going to be in trouble, so it took time to break down those walls, but they stuck with it and they started to build relationships with their folks and eventually, over time, they built trust and now these conversations happen easily, right, they know their people and they are learning a lot about their organization from the perspective of their frontline supervisors. 

Tim Page-Bottorff Host

14:10

That no meeting Wednesdays, no meeting Fridays, no meeting Mondays. I see this more and more frequently when we go onto client sites, and so that was a great example. Also, you mentioned in there a little bit more listening than talking, and that's kind of tough sometimes because you've got something that you believe in, something that you want to be done. You want to be done, but you probably should open the door to listening, and it's ironic that my one of my most requested conference topics is stop, collaborate and listen, and so I know that's kind of a play on words on an old rap from 1989, but still mean do more listening and you might hear what you, what you need to hear to fix a problem or to have a discussion about a problem. So that was a huge one for me and I  really appreciate you bringing that up. But then also the no meeting Wednesdays. I mean, if you make it a point to do that, that'll actually force you out of the office and go out and be on the floor. 

15:05

Back to what Deric said inspect what you expect. That gives you an opportunity to be in. You're now using your eyes out on the field and that's important. How cool is that? Great, great, great recommendations on the how. So, we talked a lot about the benefits of these touch points, and let's kind of turn it around a little bit, so let's discuss the potential pitfalls if we don't have these touch points. What do you think about that? 

 

 

 

Tyia Grant Guest

15:31

Unfortunately, there can be some pitfalls if our managers don't follow through on their touchpoints, which is kind of the piece of the process that they need to own, the piece of the process that they need to own the ability to achieve your desired outcome. So, your goals for bringing SafeLead to your team is reduced right kind of back to what I mentioned earlier. You may still have some pockets of success, but that organizational change that you're looking for could be limited. It's like any other initiative it takes time; it takes resources, takes financial commitment and if you don't follow the process and integrate the skills and concepts, it doesn't become how you do things. You risk losing that investment Managers if they aren't connected to their frontline leaders. When we haven't built that trust, the information that needs to flow through the learning loops individual and organizational can be limited. Right, neither side is maybe getting all of the information that they need to be successful, and frontline leaders can follow suit If they aren't as connected with their teams as they should be. Effective communication can be limited there as well. 

Tim Page-Bottorff Host

16:47

You are a plethora of incredible information today and we're going to get to these resources that we provide. 

 

16:52

But, wrapping this part up, you said trust, and ironically that sounds like one of our modules trust and engagement. And developing trust in regard to this process for me is, I think, one of the most key elements for supervisors. And that last point that you made following suit. If they don't get to know their teams, I mean you should know their names and you should know if you've got employees that have children at home. But even more so, you should understand and hear and know your team so well that you should be able to say, oh, I know that this person has a child at home, but I also know that they're sick and they need some help, and that way you could probably provide a bit of empathy on the floor, which, believe it or not, is a full circle development for developing more trust. And so, what you said there made such an impact, and I hope it does for our listeners too. All right, so let's get to the last bit of advice, Tayia. What do you think? What resources do we have to offer that can help our folks out? 

Tyia Grant Guest

17:55

Absolutely. We have a great touchpoint demo video that your consultant will share just after you've completed your first visit. So, when the touchpoints really need to kind of get started and ramp up, we have the SafeLead Manager Toolkit which every SafeLead Manager receives at the beginning of the implementation. It's a great resource. It has progress checklists to help our SafeLead Managers and our participants have those touchpoint discussions. There's a section for each module. There's a sign-off that can be completed, another document called Using SafeLead in the Workflow, which is a bit of a cheat sheet for our managers. It lists the activities from each module, so what the participants are working on, so it can help you ask questions about that specific activity. There are other print resources as well available in the SafeLead Participant Resources section of the client portal. The demo video is there as well. 

 

18:59

If you happen to lose that email from the consultant, you can always track it down us here as well. 

19:04

If you happen to lose that email from the consultant, you can always track it down. In their sustainment resources section of the portal, you will find our SafeLead Says videos. We've created 10 videos featuring all of our Safe Lead consultants with tips and ideas on how to build positive relationships, how to use the power of storytelling, asking open-ended questions, giving positive feedback, and any of these can be used as conversation starters for the touch points. If you're struggling with those, or maybe as a monthly focus for your participants, you can send the video out and have everyone focus on that skill for the month. Next month send out a new video the action plans that participants created during their sessions. They can always go back to their field guide to remind them of what they wanted to work on or refresh the concepts. Your success manager, your consultant, your whole SafeLead team is always here to help as well, so you can always reach out to any of us to help you find any of these resources or help us create some more. 

Tim Page-Bottorff Host

20:10

Well, Tyia, we've covered a lot today and you were an incredible guest. I would definitely recommend having you come on again, so thank you for your time. We definitely appreciate it. I also want to thank our listeners for theirs. If you have any questions on the SafeLead process, please reach out to either one of us. You can reach me at Tim at safestart.com that's T as in Tango, I as in India, and M as in Mike. Or you can reach out to Tyia dot G as in Golf at safestart.com. That's Tyia, T as in Tango, Y as in Yankee, I as in India, and A as in Alpha Y as in Yankee, I as in India, and A as in Alpha dot G as in Golf, at safestart.com. And on behalf of Tyia and the entire SafeTalk family, thanks for spending some time with us and thank you for sharing your time, I would say for SafeTalk with SafeStart. I'm Tim Page-Bottorff. I'll see you down the road.