112 Introduction to Safety Supervision

Leadership and the Psychosocial Environment

Remember, everything we experience influences what we think, feel, and do in the workplace. Employees are much more likely to work safely when their supervisors demonstrate effective leadership. Without effective leadership, supervisors might be able to manage quite well, but the resulting work culture may be counterproductive.

Management vs. Leadership

It's important to understand that management and leadership are not the same concepts.

• Management is an "organizational" skill
• Leadership is a "relationship" skill

Look at it this way; who would you rather work for, a supervisor that is a good organizer, but has very weak leadership skills, or a supervisor that's a good leader but has poor organizational skills?

Most likely, you will choose the latter situation. In the first instance, a good organizer cannot delegate leadership skills to another person. It just doesn't work. However, a good leader can assign organizational duties to another person.

What Works: Tough-Caring Leadership

Tough-caring leaders are tough on employees because they really care about their employee's safety and success. This leadership approach is also called the "servant-leader" model in which leaders serve those they lead.

Tough-caring supervisors are also tough on safety. They have high expectations and insist their followers behave. Most of the time they care about the success of their employees first. Click on the button to learn about the characteristics of tough-caring leadership.

This is a self-less leadership approach that exhibits the following characteristics:

• Managers understand that complying with the law, controlling losses, and improving production can best be assured if employees are motivated, safe, and able.
• Management understands that they can best fulfill their commitment to external customers by fulfilling their obligations to internal customers: their employees.
• Communication is not one-way or top-down from management to employees: instead, communication occurs both ways with everyone communicating with each other to share information.
• Although positive reinforcement is the primary strategy used to influence behaviors, tough-caring leaders are not reluctant in administering discipline when it's justified because they understand doing so is a matter of leadership.

Knowledge Check Choose the best answer for the question.