{"id":6193,"date":"2020-06-21T18:03:51","date_gmt":"2020-06-21T16:03:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/advancedfleetmanagementconsulting.com\/eng\/?p=6193"},"modified":"2020-06-21T18:03:51","modified_gmt":"2020-06-21T16:03:51","slug":"safety-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/advancedfleetmanagementconsulting.com\/eng\/2020\/06\/21\/safety-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Leading Culture Change Around Safety"},"content":{"rendered":"

Just like any other company program, a fleet safety program requires buy-in and cultural support in order to be effective. Many companies have policies on the books, but\u00a0often\u00a0there is a disconnect between what is on paper and\u00a0how people act day-to-day.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Ultimately, a safety program is just as much about culture\u00a0reinforcement\u00a0as it is about driver performance data and accident rates.\u00a0The question becomes how does a company create\u00a0culture\u00a0where a safety policy doesn\u2019t just sit on a shelf, but is lived and breathed every day at each level of the organization?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Lead by Example<\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h5>\n

Whoever is the champion of\u00a0a fleet safety\u00a0program\u00a0at an organization,\u00a0whether it is the head of HR, the COO, the safety manager, or a combination of\u00a0stakeholders, they\u00a0must\u00a0be on board with it themselves.\u00a0When leading any kind of\u00a0cultural\u00a0change, it\u2019s important for\u00a0executives\u00a0to, as the old saying goes, \u201ceat their own dog food\u201d \u2013 in other words,\u00a0they\u00a0have to lead by example. If they have company cars, they also should be enrolled in the\u00a0safety\u00a0program and\u00a0be held to\u00a0the same standards as required of the drivers. We have all had the experience where a leader rolls out a new policy or a change and says,\u00a0\u201cThis is great for the company,\u201d but then they do not follow the policy or\u00a0embrace\u00a0those changes themselves.\u00a0In that situation, a program tends not to be as successful\u00a0and lasting change does not take hold.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Get the Right Buy-In<\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h5>\n

Any safety program will have multiple key stakeholders that will need to be involved.\u00a0Involving the head of human resources is vital because their department\u00a0must\u00a0support any incentives or consequences that are in the design of the program.\u00a0Leaders of a company\u2019s various business segments will also\u00a0need to be on board, because if they are not aligned with making safety a priority, it makes a fleet manager\u2019s job extremely difficult. Drivers will sense what is important to their division\u2019s boss and will respond to that.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

To gain buy in from business leaders, you can discuss what dollars you\u2019re putting into the program and what you expect to get back. Remember, you\u2019re doing these programs because there is a financial reward\u00a0\u2013 ultimately\u00a0safer drivers can result in reduced liability\u00a0and a\u00a0reduction in maintenance issues\u00a0associated with aggressive driving behaviors, and\u00a0your total cost of ownership will be reduced.\u00a0However, you may also present it as a brand issue to gain buy-in. If drivers are getting into accidents in branded trucks\u00a0or speeding through local neighborhoods, that is detracting from your brand equity.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It is also key to clearly discuss measuring the program \u2013 how you\u00a0will\u00a0measure\u00a0results, frequency of measurement, the accuracy of that measurement,\u00a0and the incentive and consequences you set for performance.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Build A Driver Community<\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h5>\n

There is a fine line between\u00a0having a program that has executive support and one that is executive driven.\u00a0It is important to make sure a\u00a0safety\u00a0program is not\u00a0executive driven\u00a0to the point\u00a0where drivers\u2019 main reaction is,\u00a0\u201cWe have to do it because she said we have to.\u201d\u00a0You want the groups impacted the most by the safety changes to have a role in the change.\u00a0Think about how you can build a driver community.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

For example, at Merchants we have an employee-driven committee focused on innovation, and I purposefully do not attend\u00a0all the\u00a0meetings\u00a0nor make all the decisons. This is so the committee\u00a0becomes a space that is truly for\u00a0employee\u00a0ideas and so the message of innovation can come directly from them.\u00a0Similarly, as you develop a safety program you may discover\u00a0there are ways you can\u00a0involve\u00a0a driver committee\u00a0or\u00a0representatives\u00a0so\u00a0they are invested in the program as well.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Intrinsic Motivation is Powerful<\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h5>\n

In safety programs we often see extrinsic motivators \u2013 these are rewards like additional pay for a safe driving record or gift cards, and the use of gamification. But it is important to\u00a0consider\u00a0intrinsic motivation, or\u00a0what\u00a0can motivate drivers to get something out of the program\u00a0for themselves.\u00a0It can be hard to find intrinsic motivation triggers, because it involves digging deep. It becomes more than the company just telling drivers what to do and what not to do.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

At a previous company where I was CEO, we had a significant distracted driving problem and our accident rate was very high.\u00a0This was ten years ago, when\u00a0cell phones were newer. We were less aware of the dangers of distracted driving,\u00a0and Bluetooth in cars was not widely available. Drivers were still distracted and\u00a0using\u00a0their phones, even though we had policies about not being on your phone and pulling over when you had to take a call. We had also done\u00a0many\u00a0trainings around these policies.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I came up with the\u00a0idea to give drivers a copy of the Will Smith movie\u00a0Seven Pounds<\/i>.\u00a0A main plot point\u00a0of the movie is that Will Smith\u2019s character gets into a car accident that kills his wife because he\u00a0texted while driving. I\u00a0asked every driver to watch the movie, and each DVD\u00a0had a note on it that said,\u00a0\u201cDon\u2019t do it for us \u2013 do it for yourselves and your families.\u201d\u00a0It was a unique and untraditional idea, but the response was\u00a0powerful.\u00a0Many said they would never text and drive again, and we saw a significant drop in accidents.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

A more traditional route to intrinsic motivation could be something like personal scorecards. When a driver sees\u00a0their score of the month, then they may be driven to maintain that score or improve\u00a0it the next month. You might also have a tally of \u201csafe miles driven\u201d that resets after an incident, so it inspires people to keep their streak going as it gets larger.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Change Comes with Consistency<\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h5>\n

Any culture change takes time, and safety is no exception.\u00a0The key is consistency and commitment to your vision.\u00a0With culture reinforcement,\u00a0safety won\u2019t just be a policy \u2013 it will become\u00a0part of\u00a0your drivers\u2019\u00a0core\u00a0professional\u00a0values\u00a0\u2013 and this will be the\u00a0true\u00a0indication\u00a0of success.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"Brendan P. Keegan<\/strong> serves as Chief Executive Officer [CEO] at Merchants Fleet. He joined the company in January 2018. Brendan has been involved with Merchants Fleet since 2009\u2014as a client, board member, and strategic advisor. He is focused on transforming the company\u2019s business model into a proprietary approach known as the FleetTech model. He is a six-time, transformational President & CEO of companies ranging from 500 to over 10,000 employees located in nearly 150 countries in the technology and financial services sectors. Brendan also served as the Fortune 100\u2019s youngest Chief Sales Officer for EDS, a $22-billion technology industry leader. Brendan has raised nearly $2.0 billion in capital and returned over $4.0 billion to investors. He has trained over 250,000 leaders, led nearly 50,000 employees, and driven sales of over $100 billion.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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Source: https:\/\/www.merchantsfleet.com<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

CUT COTS OF THE FLEET WITH OUR AUDIT PROGRAM<\/strong><\/a><\/h3>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The audit is a key tool to know the overall status and provide the analysis, the assessment, the advice, the suggestions and the actions to take in order to cut costs and increase the efficiency and efficacy of the fleet. We propose the following fleet management audit.<\/p>\n

FLEET MANAGEMENT AUDIT<\/strong><\/a><\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Just like any other company program, a fleet safety program requires buy-in and cultural support in order to be effective. Many companies have policies on the books, but\u00a0often\u00a0there is a disconnect between what is on paper and\u00a0how people act day-to-day.\u00a0\u00a0 Ultimately, a safety program is just as much about culture\u00a0reinforcement\u00a0as it is about driver performance…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":6194,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18],"tags":[6],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/advancedfleetmanagementconsulting.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6193"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/advancedfleetmanagementconsulting.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/advancedfleetmanagementconsulting.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/advancedfleetmanagementconsulting.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/advancedfleetmanagementconsulting.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6193"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/advancedfleetmanagementconsulting.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6193\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6195,"href":"https:\/\/advancedfleetmanagementconsulting.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6193\/revisions\/6195"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/advancedfleetmanagementconsulting.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6194"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/advancedfleetmanagementconsulting.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6193"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/advancedfleetmanagementconsulting.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6193"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/advancedfleetmanagementconsulting.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6193"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}