Odie’s Vision

High-risk activity has many common elements whether the field is aviation, manufacturing, construction, power generation, oil and gas, steel, or any other occupation with heavy equipment and fast spinning parts. Odie believes the lessons of a career aviator (military and commercial) can be applied … [Read More...]

New Titles on the Horizon

May 3, 2012 By

I have been seriously heads-down with three concurrent projects which are now (mostly) ready. As of this writing, I am still building the sales pages, etc, but the titles are:

1. Leading Indicators: I Knew It! (the Bud Holland story)
2. Leading Indicators: Deadly Distractions (based on the Eastern 401 crash
3. Safety Lessons for Superior Leadership (a seven part DVD)

These titles can be the foundation for a safety library for any company operating in a high-risk environment, and have been purchased already by some of our top clients who heard of them via word of mouth. Stay tuned, and thanks for looking.

Filed Under: business, safety

President John F. Kennedy

February 25, 2012 By

set soaring expectations when he proposed the impossible, “To send a man to the moon and safely return him to the earth before the decade is out.” He empowered a people to make the impossible happen by clearly communicating his vision to them.
When empowering employees to take you to the moon in operational excellence and safety, it is important that you stay actively engaged in the process. Provide feedback. Give updates. Be open and ready for change.
Change might be what is needed. Peter Drucker, well known business author, management consultant, and professor who made famous the term knowledge worker, said leaders “need to be ready to change everything about how they are doing business.”

“Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things.”
                                                                                                        Peter Drucker

To do the right things, Target Leaders must keep the index finger of one hand pressed firmly on the pulse of the company’s values and beliefs. At the same time, they must also keep the index finger of the other hand firmly pressed on the pulse of the people. In so doing, you are best able to recognize, address, and correct issues and behaviors that fall outside of the safety norms, expectations, and vision you and your organization sets.
Feeling both sets of pulses allows your people to understand the vision of where you are and where you need to go. They see what goes on everyday when you are not around. They hear about the near misses and non-injury events. They are closest to the problem; they often have the best solutions to fix those problems. By you actively soliciting their thoughts and ideas on how to accomplish the vision creates their buy-in. Give them ownership of the process, and I promise they will take pride in producing lofty results. As a balanced Target Leader, this is how you get your people to the moon with safety and operational excellence!

Filed Under: Airliners, business, excellence, Fighter Pilots, safety

Maintaining a culture

February 23, 2012 By

of accountable and responsible employees in your work force is not easy! As a Target Leader, keep your brain ten steps ahead of your people’s bodies. Be proactive. Think ahead. Recognize the pressure points and address those areas before someone does something dumb, dangerous, or different.  Start with communicating a vision of where you are and where you want to go. Once that vision is clearly defined, empower your employee group to help get you there. The task may seem impossible at first, but set your expectations high.

Filed Under: business, excellence, safety

A culture of accountability & responsibility

February 21, 2012 By

When a mishap or near miss occurs, this culture seeks answers to:

“How do we prevent this from happening again?”

Creating this type of culture among your workforce is probably one of the biggest challenges you will face as a Target Leader. If mastered, you will truly rise to the top in overall operational excellence and safety. Responsible employees reflect inward for continuous personal and process improvement. They consider themselves as part of an overall system. They intermingle, react, respond, and behave within that system. Target Leaders embed the notion to be accountable, not held accountable. There is a difference. Each employee understands that they are a critical variable of the entire operational system, and each part within the system elicits and brings out certain human behaviors. A responsible work culture means each person is accountable unto themselves with the company’s equipment, training, rules, and policies.

Filed Under: business, excellence, safety

A Culture of Blame is toxic to company culture

February 19, 2012 By

Creating a culture of blame within an organization is certainly unintentional by leaders, but is none the less very harmful. This toxic culture is often created when after something happens, leadership seeks answers to:

“Who is at fault?”

This culture looks for a culprit instead of a cure. Employees are unwilling to reflect inward for solutions for fear of being made a scapegoat. They will not come forward and admit mistakes or close calls. If questioned about an incident /accident, they look to blame the equipment, someone else, lack of training, poor management, you name it. Getting employees to open up and discuss near misses, non-injury events, or close calls is vital as theses events usually serve as a precursor to future problems. Investigations often reveal that a few close calls happened before the actual mishap occurred. When the investigator asks the worker, “Why didn’t you speak up?” Answers generally range from:  “I thought they knew about it” (cop out) to “they would fault me for making a mistake” (culture of blame). As a Target Leader, you are the “they” the employees are referring to.

Filed Under: business, excellence, safety

Create a Culture of Open Communication

February 17, 2012 By

“Tell me what I need to hear, not what I want to hear!”
As a Target Leader, you must work at being an excellent communicator. This builds trust. Trust gets your people to honestly open up with you and share work issues, problems, or near misses. Keep it a conversation, not a confrontation. Accept what you need to hear.
“Tell me what I need to hear, not what I want to hear” were words often spoken by one of my favorite airline fleet chief pilots. As a Target Leader, he was perceived by the entire team of airline pilots as having a culture of open communication. He wanted to hear it all – the good, the bad, the ugly. We felt at ease discussing anything, including our own mistakes. We openly discussed problem areas, near misses, and procedural missteps in order to improve the overall system. He skillfully crafted a culture of accountability and responsibility among the rank and file pilots. We knew the difference between being blamed and being accountable and responsible.

Filed Under: business, excellence, safety

Character is to the Leader as …

February 15, 2012 By

Culture is to the Work Group

Integrity as a person and the operational systems you endorse are the fundamental foundations of your relationship with your people. These qualities make up your character. As a rule, workers will emulate the character of their leader. When character is in question, the overall job performance and safety record is also in question.

As Target Leaders, we must be mindful of our thoughts. Thoughts frequently turn into words; words naturally turn into deeds, and deeds serve as an outward disclosure of who we are and what we are about. What you believe is what you exude. What you exude is what people see. What people see is what they believe. This manifestation openly shows our character not only as an individual, but also to an entire group. Ultimately, we are judged by what is observed, not heard.

Filed Under: Airliners, business, excellence, Fighter Pilots, safety
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