As we come to the end of the year, we normally reflect on the year gone past and start to look forward to the new year ahead.

Do we really ask the questions that matter, to help us grow from what has happened over the past 52 weeks and what do we want for the next 52 coming up.

This leads us to the working environment do we really ask the important questions to enhance a culture, it is not about changing cultures, but enhancement of the one we already have. Building on the good things that already exist. You cannot change it as the culture has been allowed to grow and mature over time.

We are getting there with improving cultures and with that health and safety, along with the environmental impact to the outside world.

There has to this point been 3 ages:

The first age was about replacements, if a tool broke we replaced it, just like the men, women and child maimed or killed in the workplace.

The second age was about engineering things out, especially the installing of guards to stop contact with moving parts. (reactive to issues)

The third age and we are still there is about telling and informing employees what they can or cannot do. (passive active to issues)

We need to move into the forth age of interaction asking the employee what is needed and being proactive about things getting out there and being amongst the action. Finding out the everyday issues and challenges faced to get the job done to the highest standards.

This is where we can learn a lot from sport, especially from team games, take any football team from the Premier League or Football League, they train every day to get the best out of themselves. Managers and coaches are amongst the players talking, coaching and being a mentor to them.

How many organisations are like what I just described? Not, many because there has been this invisible drawbridge pulled up to stop the interaction, as managers do the paperwork, supervisors crack the whip and the workers get things done and out the door.

So, I ask you where is your organisation?

1. One household, where everybody knows what is expected of them and everybody has a voice in deciding what is needed.
    
2. Next Door Neighbours, where you have a good relationship with each other, but once the front door is shut good get on with what you need to and let them get on with their own business.
    
3. Live on a Street, where you say hello and how is the weather, but other than that. You all get on with your own business.
    
4. Ghetto, no body communicates and everybody has their own agenda. Allies are built only for each other's benefits. Shifts and departments have high walls around them to keep others out and they are not interested in the goals.

With C and D the safety department is very much the envoy going around all the time trying to keep channels of communication open, to stop wars erupting all over the place.

So, how do you move from C and D take others with you to a department, talk about the issues firstly that they face and once the common bonds are established, move to what works well and the standards they expect in each department. It is not an overnight thing it takes months, if not years, but you got to keep plugging away.

Successful teams don't become champions straightaway, it takes years of hard work to become number one. So, to get the organisation to one household will take time, and the way to achieve this is one step at a time and be proactive and ask the why and how questions and get to learn the jobs that people do, and invite them to follow you around learning what to do.

The two questions that need to be asked to kick the whole process off is:

1. What legacy do you and the department want to leave? And why?
    
2. What standards do you and the department aim for? And why?

There is a third question that needs to be asked and it involves everybody in the organisation. How are we (the department/organisation) going to achieve better and higher?

I wish everybody a Merry Christmas and Successful 2016