Before I started as SCA's risk management director, I called everyone I could find who had the role before me.
I got some of the best advice I've ever received. As many readers are in the middle of summer's busy season, I'd like to pass it on to you.
Mark Vermeal (a subscriber here) had the job in the late 2000s. He told me they were going to come at me ten million different ways. Every department, every program, every executive, and every board member would need something, and every one of them would frame their thing as the most urgent thing.
His advice was to take some time to figure out my one thing. This should be the one thing I'd like to get done by the time I left, whether it be in one year, 3, 5....or decades later. “Find the one thing that keeps you grounded and motivated, and you can measure your own progress and success in.” I'd still have to address everything and everyone else, but my one thing would be my guiding light.
It was good advice, and it took me a while to figure out what it should be. Every time I thought I'd figured it out, I'd find a new one thing. At first, I thought it was a more robust incident reporting system. That was a tangible goal and we did that, but after a few months I figured out a single-purpose issue wasn't it. Your one thing shouldn't be something you can name with your boss and put in an annual performance review.
Don't be afraid to dream bigger.
I now give the same advice to my coaching clients in safety leadership roles. Most of them push back at first. Their list of responsibilities is too long, everything seems urgent, and choosing one thing feels like dereliction of the others.
I used to have a Chinese character stickered on my climbing helmet…the journey is the destination. This is one of those things.
What's your one thing? Leave a comment and let me know; I'm genuinely curious. BTW, I wanted people to speak up and see their words change something.
Stu
P.S. If you would benefit from more structure and a formal accountability buddy to help you figure out and work toward your one thing, let me know. This is prime coaching territory.