Safety on Tap PRO Coaching
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11/02/2026
Good advice for any H&S professional....
Po***ck gave me this pen during one of her regular H&S management team workshops she held twice a year, and as the teams embedded performance coach I supported her and the team on these.
Now, please don't think she was giving ME that feedback!
There is a back story.
That pen wasn't actually *mine*.
Having spent so much time with Mel, I noticed that she has a way of combining wonderful things together.
In this case, it was:
>> fun + surprises + gift-giving + reflection + humour + collective insight.
The pack of two-dozen pens was an impulse purchase from Temu.
Each had a word or phrase. I can't remember if the marketing angle was inspirational, wise, or wise-cracks.
I think these pens were all three actually.
So we started the workshop
Mel gleefully dived into the packet of pens
And randomly handed out a pen to each of the team.
(See, that pen was *not meant* specifically for me...it was random!)
Then we went around the group, shared what was on our pen...
Had a laugh, a fair bit of ribbing, and then talked seriously about what insights we took from our pen or someone else's, and a few of us committed to some tangible actions based on this Temu-inspo.
It didn't take long. It wasn't complicated. And it was awesome!
Sometimes, insight+action is simpler than we think.
So whether you or your team need to literally take the 'stop talking' advice...
..or whether it's worth discussing with your team the simple things they have/can/should tweak about their day-to-day practice...
I hope you'll discover a simple insight and take some kind of real-world action today.
What's one tiny thing you need to do to level-up your performance?
I’m getting a few Health & Safety leaders together this week to brainstorm how they can get off the dancefloor and onto the balcony, want to join us?!
Why?
A lot people like us find ourselves so busy that you end up feeling like you are spinning your wheels, stuck in the day-to-day ‘doing’, and you can lose sight of the bigger picture.
That’s the crowded, metaphorical dancefloor - busy, noisy, distracting, difficult to see what’s going on and not easy to get from here to over there.
So why the balcony?
When we step off the dancefloor of daily busy work (think: site inspections, getting bogged down in admin tasks, doing a Supervisors job for them)...and we step up to the metaphorical balcony, we also step up to a different viewpoint, a different way of seeing the very same dancefloor we were just on.
And when we can see things better, it becomes a lot easier to make changes to what we're working on and the way we are working, for the better.
BUT it's also not as simple as tactical vs strategic work….(more on that tomorrow!)
The dancefloor-balcony metaphor has enabled some phenomenal change for our coaching clients. They've reduced clutter and improved relationships. They've become better managers and leaders. They've become more competent and confident in their role.
So this group brainstorm will be putting the dancefloor-balcony metaphor to work on the current real-life challenges people bring to the table.
Want to join us?
(Yes, it will be practical)
(No, I will not be giving you all the answers)
(Yes, come along even if you want to listen quietly)
(No, a group brainstorm won’t work if everyone does that)
(Yes, it’s free)
Link in the comments.
When Chelsea stepped into her role as Head of HSE for a national business, she expected it to be challenging - 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘦 𝘧𝘦𝘸 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘴.
Within the first few weeks, she discovered that a senior HSE leader at that business believed he should’ve landed the role.
He was resentful, and that slow simmering problem started heating up and boiling over in meetings, task performance, decision-making, and quite quickly affected the whole team's dynamic.
Then, a few months into the role, this Head of HSE got a big shock: the company had a fatal incident only a few years earlier.
The shock was probably from the combination of the seriousness of this incident, and even more shocking, the fact that no one had mentioned it until now, or that it came up in conversation so casually, like the weather or the football scores.
Peeling back the details layer by layer, she figured out some of the reasons why no one had mentioned it. Which did not make a scrap of difference to what needed to happen….only having lost months and months of time.
She did nothing wrong. She is super competent. This was not her first rodeo in a senior role.
💡 𝘈𝘴 𝘢 𝘏𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘵𝘩 & 𝘚𝘢𝘧𝘦𝘵𝘺 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘳, 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝙨𝙚𝙧𝙞𝙤𝙪𝙨𝙡𝙮 𝘩𝘶𝘳𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘤𝘵.
Through coaching hundreds of HSE leaders over the past decade, we’ve seen the same story play out again and again. The first 90 days are a minefield of unspoken dynamics, legacy issues, and unknown challenges (those 90 days are also a fleeting window of your greatest influence).
But I’m not talking about 90 days in a new role today.
I’m talking about Day 1.
Day 1 of a new Health & Safety role must focus on a handful of hyper-critical things that are unique to H&S leaders.
And a few of these Day 1 things are 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙧-𝙡𝙤𝙜𝙞𝙘𝙖𝙡 to the modern, curious, patient leader most people want to be seen as.
If you use the same philosophy for your whole first 90 days, you will come unstuck with a few things that will make your life harder down the track.
So let’s start with Day 1.
In tomorrow’s post, I’ll share our Day 1 Playbook for H&S leaders, to help you 𝙣𝙖𝙫𝙞𝙜𝙖𝙩𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙘𝙧𝙞𝙩𝙞𝙘𝙖𝙡 𝙗𝙚𝙜𝙞𝙣𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜 of you new role, or your new team member.
