“Safety and Strategic Thinking”
Strategic Thinking can be an essential tool to improving our safety performance. In order to raise the bar of
performance in safety from where we are now to where we want to be will require a level of strategic thinking that
is in perfect harmony with our vision. Strategic Thinking can create a structured and progressive path forward to
our vision of attaining an injury-free work environment.
Essential Element #1: We must have a vision and we must be great at thinking with a strategic purpose and
creating a visioning process. Great strategic thinkers are visionaries.
Essential Element #2: We must learn from experience and commit to being lifelong learners. We must use our
experiences to think better on strategic issues such as Risk Management. Great strategic thinkers strive for
continuous improvement in all they do.
Essential Element #3: We must learn to use our time efficiently and effectively. Great strategic thinkers place a
high value on time and are masters of strategic time management.
Essential Element #4: We must have an extremely high level of awareness of what is happening around us and be
open to absorbing all that we can. In any business, including safety, there are clues, often subtle, both internal and
external to help guide future direction and to identify opportunities. Great strategic thinkers take all of this in and
then they set aside time to think about all the experience and information to guide them in the planning and working
on the issues, challenges and opportunities that lie ahead.
Essential Element #5: We must be patient. It is so important to remember that strategic thinking in safety is about
slowly building tomorrow’s success starting today.
Essential Element #6: We must have clearly defined and focused milestones and goals and these must be subject
to frequent review to ensure our thinking is validated. Great strategic thinkers have an innate ability to identify the
potential twists and turns and “potholes or landmines” that could destroy the possibility of reaching the desired
milestones.
Essential Element #7: We must be open-minded. Great strategic thinkers do not bind themselves by constantly
judging their thinking as they think up ideas. They keep open minds and test the detail later.
Essential Element #8: We must remain grounded and focus in our ideas and recognize that our overall goal can
only be achieved by transformational and behavioral change.
Essential Element #9: We must take time to focus on ourselves and our own actions. Great strategic thinkers set
aside time to “think!
Essential Element #10: We must seek the advice and perspective of others. This may take the form of bouncing
ideas off teammates or participating in peer discussions.
“Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your mind off your goal.” Henry Ford
