June 24 2018
By: Terry L. Mathis
The first thing you must know in order to navigate somewhere is your starting location. The next thing you must identify is your desired destination. Once you know these two points, you can draw a line between them and determine your path. Most organizations don't really know where they are in their safety journey. They cannot articulate their successes or the current status of the key processes that make safety happen. They lack key process indicators and become reactively reliant on lagging indicators. Lagging indicators lack sufficient detail to prescribe how to be more successful, so they rely on opinions rather than data to direct efforts. Often, even their view of success is cloudy and inexact and, in reality, is really more a goal to fail less.
Ask yourself if you really know what you have already accomplished and if you have a clear picture of what is still needed to achieve excellence in safety performance and culture. If not, devise a plan to find out.
Terry Mathis, Founder and retired CEO of ProAct Safety, has served as a consultant and advisor for top organizations the world over. A respected strategist and thought leader, Terry has authored five books, numerous articles, videos and blogs, and is known for his dynamic and engaging presentations. EHS Today has named him one of the '50 People Who Most Influenced EHS' four consecutive times. Business leaders and safety professionals seek Terry's practical insight and unique ability to introduce new perspectives that lead to real change.
