The Importance of Interpersonal Skills in Safety Management
Jul 3, 2023
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Entrepreneur Stephan Wiedner explores the teachability of interpersonal skills for safety professionals. He emphasizes breaking down empathy into practical skills, debunking the belief that these skills are inherent. The podcast highlights the importance of trust, persuasion, and approachability in safety management, focusing on improving psychological safety and dispelling misconceptions about developing interpersonal skills.
Interpersonal skills are crucial for safety professionals to build trust and effective communication.
Psychological safety fosters a culture where individuals feel valued and can voice concerns.
Reflective listening aids leaders in understanding underlying issues and improving problem-solving abilities.
Deep dives
Teaching Interpersonal Skills in Safety Leadership
Safety management relies on trust, persuasion, and approachability, essential core skills often lacking in safety programs. Entrepreneur Stephen Wiedner emphasizes that interpersonal skills are teachable, supported by his work facilitating coaching and his development of a platform for practicing such skills.
The Importance of Interpersonal Skills in Safety
Interpersonal skills play a vital role in safety professions, focusing on trust, persuasion, and communication. The ability to speak up and be heard is crucial, fostering a culture of psychological safety where individuals feel valued and can voice concerns.
The Value of Reflecting Process in Communication
Reflecting process involves stepping back to understand the dynamics and underlying issues in a conversation, fostering deeper comprehension and problem-solving. This skill enables leaders, including safety professionals, to identify and address unspoken tensions effectively.
Psychological Safety and Team Success
Psychological safety, a core factor in effective teams according to Google's Project Aristotle, underpins dependability, clarity, impact, and meaning. Enhancing psychological safety leads to improved team dynamics, decision-making, and engagement.
Improving Decision-Making and Confidence in Leadership
Enhancing decisiveness in decision-making while balancing data collection can significantly impact leadership effectiveness. Developing the skill to make informed decisions efficiently can build confidence and facilitate smoother outcomes in various professional settings.
In this episode, Mary Conquest speaks with Stephan Wiedner, an entrepreneur on a mission to abolish apathy in the workplace. He’s the cofounder of Noomii.com, the web’s largest network of independent life coaches and Skillsetter.com, a platform similar to a flight simulator for practicing interpersonal skills.
Safety management relies on trust, persuasion, and approachability, yet EHS professionals may not have been taught these skills during their training. In fact, there’s a common conception these qualities are inherent and can’t be taught.
Stephan presents an upbeat and convincing case for why Safety professionals can - and should - develop their interpersonal skills.
He explains that the key to improving nebulous concepts, such as empathy, is to break them down into specific learnable practical skills.
Stephan teaches HSE professionals how this is done - with a strong emphasis on the importance of psychological safety - while dispelling ongoing misconceptions about interpersonal skills.
Find out more about the foundational academic research undertaken by Tim Anderson investigating the impact of interpersonal skills: