Extreme Ownership and Safety Leadership

Extreme Ownership and Safety,

my thoughts on this…

Yesterday, I (along with around 50 other leaders) participated in the extreme ownership workshop presented by Echelon Front. As a group, we learned and discussed the methodologies behind extreme ownership, the 4-hour workshop provided me with many valuable insights and learnings! Here are 3 of my key takeaways.

#1 Everyone is a leader, no matter the position or title, we are all leaders in that we have stake in how we respond to the environments we exist in. At work, at home, in daily life it is all the same, you are capable of leading those around you and have the ability to influence outcomes.

Now think safety…  We all have the authority and obligation to ensure safety is first and foremost in our minds, regardless of position or title and whether you are at work or at home, we all have the ability to influence outcomes and ensure that we, and those around us are safe.

So, Encourage your employees to speak up and say something when they see unsafe work happening!

#2 Teamwork is vital to our survival; Lack of teamwork leads to breakdowns that negatively impact everyone involved. In other words, if the team fails, then everyone fails! One of the bigger takeaways with this one is that relationships make or break teamwork, therefore we must strive to build strong relationships with everyone. Building trust, rapport, respect, and sense of care for those we work with enables us to rely on each other and accomplish the mission together.

Now think safety… We must care for the safety of those around us, consider how many times you have reminded your kids to stay on the sidewalk... That one’s easy, obviously we care for those around us at home… Now transition that thinking to the workplace, how easy is it to remind someone at work about safety? Why can it be so challenging and how does this idea change when we have strong relationships and apply the same sense of care for our co-workers?

So, Build a culture of Safety through relationships with your employees, focus on building GREAT relationships and establishing a real sense of care within the team!

#3 Extreme ownership means there are no excuses, when we cast blame, point the finger or shirk responsibility we take no action to improve the situation. Too often we are predisposed to focus on blame instead of focusing on the actual problem. It is far better to take ownership of the things we could have done better, learn from our mistakes and implement real solutions to prevent those mistakes from happening again and accomplish our mission the next time!

When we have incidents, the focus for safety must be on the root cause, not for the sake of casting blame, but identifying the problem and finding a solution.

So, when something BAD happens, leave blame at the door and focus on how YOU can do better, communicate more clearly, build stronger relationships and better support the team.

As leaders, this should be the first thing on our minds when faced with any problem. Remember leadership and ownership exist at all levels, regardless of position or title, so taking extreme ownership means looking inward and focusing on how YOU personally impacted the success or failure of the mission and how YOU can change your behaviors, perform better and make the difference for the success of the team.

Extreme ownership is all about YOU!

Ian A. Aguirre, Owner A & H Risk Management LLC

(520) 240-8778