Category: Communication

It’s time to have The Talk.

The conversation about #safety.

Now is the perfect time because it’s National #SafeWorkMonth.

And because safety is everyone’s business, even if you don’t wear high-vis and a hard hat.

High stakes but it’s not a game

Imagine: a team member notices a potential safety hazard but hesitates to speak up. Or someone misinterprets instructions, leading to an unsafe work practice. Or a crucial safety update doesn’t reach everyone because the channels aren’t understood.

These moments of silence or miscommunication can have a ripple effect and serious consequences.

Back to basics

At the elementary level: does everyone on your team know how to identify and report safety risks, including cyber and psychological ones?

And what to do when hazards become hairy scary actualities?

I’m talking about the forms, the chain of texts and phone calls, the who to tell and what to say, when and where.

Clear and concise communication is crucial in emergency situations.

Timely and accurate information saves lives.

And work. And money. And reputational butt.

Taking a team approach

At the next level: do your people realise and respect the reasons for the safety communication protocols?

When you know what matters to each person you’re responsible for, and how they like or don’t like to process information, you can create and deliver safety messages in ways that make sense to them.

It’s useful to know who the risk takers are and what their take is on safety, then see how that fits with the company policy and procedure (orange personalities).

Maybe engage your problem-solvers to come up with better ways to keep everyone alert to what might happen and what to do next (greens).

Have you asked your best communicators to keep the message meaningful (blues)?

The sticklers for rules and regulations (golds) are often assigned WHS roles but they’re not always the best people to cajole compliance.

Bridging the safety communication gap

Research into why some industries still bear enormous human and financial costs from unsafe work practices, despite advances in legislation, compliance and technology, revealed safety communication and commitment to matter significantly.

Frontiers in Public Health published a systematic literature review of 4 communication dimensions for Safety Week last year. It found that communication mechanisms, climate and satisfaction are major contributors to safety outcomes in the oil and gas industry.

Another study revealed that “safety communication partially mediates the association between safety culture and safety performance. Further, safety culture was found to have a significant and positive effect on safety performance.”

Safety communication is more than the exchange of information; it’s also about influencing behaviour and attitudes about workplace safety.

A report from Monash University’s Accident Research Centre and the Institute for Safety, Compensation and Recovery Research drew attention to the critical need for value-based safety communication, whereby trust and respect support the translation of safety rules, requirements and regulations.

“Position descriptions outline the roles and responsibilities of supervisors in the safety management of workers as stipulated by OHS regulations, yet the process in which this information is translated to workers is often overlooked… effective translation of safety policies and procedures requires a high level of interpersonal skill.”

Cultivating a commitment to safety communication

So, how do we create an environment where clear communication and safety go hand-in-hand? Here are 7 strategies for making that dusty WHS policy do more than sit on the shelf:

1. Establish clear expectations: Share the importance of communication and the correct channels (e.g., email, team meetings, project management tools) for information sharing.

2. Foster psychological safety: Create a safe space where team members feel comfortable expressing concerns without fear of judgment.

3. Practise active listening: When they do speak up, give team members your full attention, ask clarifying questions, and offer feedback.

4. Encourage safety conversations: Promote a culture where team members feel comfortable sharing their thoughts and concerns, about any type of safety issue.

5. Lead by example: Express your own thoughts about safety issues, be approachable, and recognise and reward helpful safety communication.

6. Turn on the tech: Use tools like communication apps, project management software, and virtual meeting platforms to enhance interaction efficiency and engagement.

7. Continuously improve: Regularly assess and adjust your team’s safety communication messages and protocols to ensure everyone is up to date with best practice.

The Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care offers some clear organisational processes to support effective communication that could be adapted for any industry, like these:

“Provide information about the policies, processes, resources and tools for communicating at key high-risk situations to all members of the workforce.

Educate, train and support the workforce about the use of these tools and their responsibilities to effectively communicate in key high-risk situations.

Consider how teams work and communicate with each other within and outside the organisation (across disciplines).”

A breakdown of communication or culture can make a risky situation more likely to become a reality and 10 times worse to deal with.

It’s time to have that talk with your team. Ask them if they know what to do, how to do it and feel confident about speaking up.

Effective safety communication is not just about avoiding accidents—it’s about building trust, fostering a positive work environment, and ultimately, saving lives, limbs and livelihoods.

This month particularly, and every other day, mind the communication gap.

Need interpersonal skills training for your team leaders? Tap the button to book a complimentary and unconditional Tell Me More Call.

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Go on, admit it.

Like me, this is what your mind’s eye conjures when you see or hear the word ‘hippocampus’.

This made-up mental image is actually the hippocampus doing its job: connecting memories of previous learning (just not quite the right ones in this case!)

And now we have an eye-worm. You can’t unsee it.

Because now you have a new memory of reading this post.

Did you know that a 1957 study showed that humans lost the ability to form new memories when the hippocampus was removed from the brain?

The hippocampus is the seahorse-shaped part that sits above the ear. We’ve actually got 2 hippocampi.*

I’ve been checking that the training I provide in workshops and coaching sessions engages the hippocampus to optimise learning ‘stickiness’.

The NeuroLeadership Institute’s AGES model makes a nifty neuroscience checklist:

✅ Attention – introducing the unexpected and sensory stimulation
✅ Generation – active, creative, participative experiences
✅ Emotion – connecting feeling to learning
✅ Spacing – a steady rate of info transfer with regular breaks

I’ve also checked if my brain-friendly training and coaching engage the 3 biological stages that are key to learning success:

✅ Readiness – evoking curiosity and anticipation to trigger dopamine
✅ Construction – semantic shaping (metaphors and stories), chunking, multisensory instruction and filter-switching (through the lens of…) to spark new neural connections
✅ Consolidation – practice and reflection to smooth and strengthen retrieval

Phew! All ticks, but I know I have to work more on spacing, especially when there’s so much I want to share.

When you’re ready for ‘sticky’, brain-friendly communication training for your team, let’s make new memories together.

If your team is struggling to meet expectations, manage information overload, and express themselves effectively, let’s talk about bringing the True Colors program to your workplace so we can identify who likes to communicate how.

* when I hear the word ‘hippocampi’ I think of hippos in kimonos toasting with cups of sake – kanpi!

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When you investigate why project milestones are not being met, you might discover that what you think is a performance problem is actually a communication problem.

Here are 4 common issues that might be easily rectified by looking at the communication aspects.

#1 – Unclear Expectations

Are you communicating them in a one-size-fits-all way?

Or are you ensuring you get the message across in ways that make sense to each team member?

Your Golds, for example, like them in writing and your Greens want to know the why behind them.

#2 – Micromanagement

Do you know who on your team needs a longer leash to bring back the superior goods?

It’s likely the Orange personalities.

Your Blues will enjoy regular interaction with you but that doesn’t mean checking in on them every hour is productive for either of you.

#3 – Information Overload

Check out what this article from the True Colors International blog says about “rogue IT”.

Greens love finding new ways to solve problems and Oranges are usually early adopters of shiny new things but being chained to tech is not for everyone.

#4 – Quality of Written Communication

When you understand what matters to Golds you’ll see why they make such a fuss over grammar.

Meanwhile, your Blues sometimes need to break the rules to express a creative idea.

That’s where group business writing training can help.

If your team is struggling to meet expectations, manage information overload, and express themselves effectively, let’s talk about bringing the True Colors program to your workplace so we can identify who likes to communicate how.

Personality profiling, the research confirms, is valuable for understanding what high performance can look like for your team.

Tap the button to book a complimentary and unconditional Tell Me More Call.

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And remember to check out the True Colors article for more ways to deal with performance problems that are actually communication problems.

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When I played netball, I always assumed the coach didn’t ask me to play Centre because I didn’t have that crazy fitness to run the whole court and my long limbs were put to better use obstructing the other team’s goal attempts.

But…

Maybe my best coaches knew my strengths better than I did.

Being in the thick of the action is not always the best place to play

When I played Keeper or Shooter I hated being confined by that solid white line of the goal third. Yet, when given another third to play in I often struggled to get back in the goal circle when the direction of play changed unexpectedly.

It probably wasn’t about fitness, I realise now.

It was more likely my propensity to try to help my team then and there, where I was in the moment, instead of focusing on getting to where I could be the most valuable quickly and letting the other players do their job.

And maybe, too, the critical seconds my head would (unintentionally) waste admiring the skills at play when my body should have been hurtling towards the goal circle.

Being where your true talents can shine is a better way to play

There, at the top of the court, I could actually see the state of play better. I could shout moves and encouragement – another reason for positioning me with the advantage of distance.

I was never the most adept, agile or aggressive netball player but I was often the chosen captain.

Do you know the strengths of each person on your team, and what jobs to give them to bring out their individual best for the team’s benefit?

Do they recognise these strengths themselves and the value they contribute?

Sometimes we need a little help with the discovery as the coach, the captain, and the player.

Imagine how the game might change and the talent you could keep!

Let’s examine how True Colors personality profiling might help you bring out the best in your team. Tap the button to book a complimentary and unconditional Tell Me More Call.

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Personality “tests” deliver no right or wrong answers for whether or not someone should be on your team.

But they do offer, as Dr Jeromy Anglim, a Deakin University Psychology lecturer says, “a language for talking about individual differences and personal styles which many people find useful.”

Like a shorthand, cheat sheet or quick code for recognising a response and its likely motivation.

And then you can decide how you will handle it.

How does personality or temperament typing help?

Personality profiling is about understanding your own strengths and preferences and those of the people you work with for self and social awareness – key attributes of emotionally intelligent leaders.

How else will you recognise before it’s too late when a team member is struggling because your organisational structure doesn’t align with how they work best?

Hierarchical reporting, for example, can offer the clear boundaries some people need, while flatter structures suit those who do amazing work when weaving in and out of project teams.

When you don’t understand the individual personalities in your team, you could be frustrated when pre-set KPIs are not met, not respected and sometimes not even attempted.

But when you do, you can develop KPIs that draw on their strengths and preferred ways of working, communicating and learning.

Do different personality types work differently, even on the same tasks?

Yes. It’s not just about getting the job done. It’s also about the way it’s done – ideally not causing more problems than it fixes for others.

This can be tricky for project success and team cohesion when one person feels hindered or held back by another’s insistence on adhering to pre-determined schedules. 

Or when a team member keeps tweaking until they feel the ‘whatsit’ is ready while everyone else is satisfied with the current version.

I’m yet to meet a manager or team leader who’s thrilled about the time they spend on refereeing personality rumbles.

What happens when everyone on the team is too similar?

There’s plenty of research that confirms personality profiling can help you identify who is suited to particular kinds of work and who will do them well.

This is particularly valuable for project teams – if everyone excels at planning but no one’s good at actually getting the job going or garnering the support it needs, then great ideas just stay stuck to the drawing board.

Diversity of personality (and therefore thinking, communicating and behaving styles) within a team can reduce the hazards of Groupthink , like poor decision-making and innovative ideas left unvoiced.

Are personality “tests” reliable indicators of a person’s aptitude for a job or a team?

Professor Nick Haslam at The University of Melbourne says they can be.

“Success at work is not simply a matter of being able to perform particular tasks. It also depends on motivation and the capacity to handle stress, complexity and the social context within an organisation. Personality traits are especially relevant to this broader context of work. They tell us how people are likely to behave rather than merely what narrow skills they possess…personality matters and tests that assess it can improve selection decisions.”

An effective profiling model will have a scientific basis that’s built upon years of evidence collection, analysis and validation.

The Assessment Standards Institute, which facilitates the development and application of the American Psychological Association (APA) standards for educational and psychological testing, has certified True Colors as exceeding generally accepted standards of Data Reliability, Construct Validity and Disparate Impact. 

Yes, there are also studies debunking the power of personality profiling. And of course personality is a more complex concept than a ‘test’ score.

But as a recognisable sketch of what we are like more often than not, personality profiling models (like True Colors) can save you from hours of time and angst otherwise lost to wondering why the team can’t function effectively.

Let’s examine how True Colors personality profiling might help you bring out the best in your team. Tap the button to book a complimentary and unconditional Tell Me More Call.

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