One of your employees that works in the warehouse has an excellent safety record on everything from wearing his hard hat to the safe operation of the forklift.

As their supervisor you are interested in finding ways to use his experience to promote better safety practices among all employees.

Step #1. Purpose for the Dialogue
Thanks for coming in today. First of all, I'd like to acknowledge your ability to maintain safe work practices while efficiently getting your work completed.

With your excellent record, I see you as someone who models the kind of safety practices that everyone should follow. I'll give you more specifics about this in a moment. I would also like your input about how we could come up with a plan to improve the safety record of all employees in the warehouse.

By the way, this is a Job Performance Coaching session. I will be recording the acknowledgement of your positive performance and place a summary of our conversation in your Working File.

Step #2. Provide Feedback and Discuss Impact
I've reviewed our safety records over the past few years and I see that you have never had a safety violation. My own observations are that you always wear your hard hat in the designated areas, and even remind others to wear theirs.

When you are finished operating the forklift you always put on the brake, lower the fork, and park in the designated areas. You drive at safe speeds and always wear your seat belt. I have never observed your forklift being left on when it is unattended, even for a short while.

IMPACT
As a result, you create a model that others can follow. Your senior status in the company is an encouragement for other employees to follow your example.

Given the pressure we have been under lately to meet customer needs, it would be easy to short cut safety practices to save time. You never do this. We have not had any serious accidents in the last couple of years. That bolsters our excellent reputation within the Company. In some ways we are lucky, because not everyone is doing the kind of job you do.

Step #3. Inquire and Demonstrate Understanding
I'd like your input into how we can improve everyone's safety practices. And please consider what kind of leadership role you might be interested in taking.

• From your point of view, why don't some workers follow safety guidelines?
• What are the reasons you have had such a good record?
• Is safety a conscious effort for you, or does it just come naturally?
• What kind of training did you have and did that make a difference?
• What role could you see yourself playing in improving the safety performance of others?
• What other kinds of leadership responsibilities are you interested in pursuing?

Employee Perspective
You appreciate the acknowledgment and are very interested in taking on more responsibility. At some time in the future you would like to become a crew leader.

Step #4. Construct a Plan of Action
From what we've talked about, what are some specific actions we could take?

1. Employee will meet with Safety Rover tomorrow morning to plan a safety meeting to encourage more safe practices.
2. One idea was to make the meeting interactive, hands-on, and applicable to specific jobs. It could take the form of "What's wrong with this picture?" Employees would be asked to identify unsafe practices (modeled by the Safety Rover in the field) and assess the potential dangers for that practice. Employees would then create ideas to remind themselves of safe practices.
3. Safety Rover will follow-up by doing spot checks. He could give individuals and groups ideas on how to improve safety practices.
4. Get employee on track for crew leader position. The Supervisor will research opportunities for the employee to attend appropriate training classes on leadership and communication skills. The supervisor will share his findings with the employee by next Wednesday.
5. A meeting was scheduled for February 18th at 1:30, approximately one month from today, to assess progress on improved safety practices and to identify additional leadership opportunities.

Step #5. Record the Outcome
A copy of the acknowledgement and the action plan will be placed in the employee's Working File, with a copy sent to the employee.

Step #6. Check for Understanding
To make sure we're both on the same page, please review the key aspects of the plan we've agreed to.