Overcoming the Reason People Don’t Listen to Safety

Ever feel as if you're speaking with the mute button on?

Here's how to get people to listen

Are a you a Leader in Safety

Leader as strength-giver:• Successful leaders help

others believe in themselves, higher purpose, and vision. Discouraged people can’t believe. Pressuring weak or defeated people to perform makes them resentful and resistant.

When you give Safety Talks is thisThe Tee Shirt you See

They learn the lessons we have learnt, by sharing with them.

Your Message is not about AttitudeIts about Real Events we need to Review

Think about it, people think a lot of things!

You want me to talk about WHAT!• Stand well. Stand to your full height, with feet a bit apart, and put your weight evenly on both

feet. Feel yourself grow taller and wider, so that you fill your space. Enjoy feeling how tall, broad and flexible you can be without effort.

• Relax. Without slumping, feel every part of your body relax and melt, from the top of your head down through your body to your feet, while your skeleton stands tall and flexible. This is confident relaxation – the perfect way to produce your best from your voice.

• Breathe. A strong voice depends on air, so you need to breathe well. The first step is to get rid of your old air. Blow all your air out and, without collapsing your body, just relax – as you relax, your body fills with fresh air naturally. Practice relaxation and good breathing frequently.

• Lower your tone firmly at the end of a sentence. Lowering your tone may seem a minor adjustment, but makes a surprisingly big difference to how you come across. As a general rule, a falling tone at the end of a sentence is used for statements and commands, and sounds final – as if you mean business. A rising tone indicates incompleteness or uncertainty, and is used in all types of questions. End low and you sound as if you’re confident of your own opinions.

• Keep up your energy to the end. If your voice tails off at the end of a sentence, you sound as if you lack confidence in what you’re saying. If you speak with clear emphasis and keep up the energy in your voice to the end of your statement, people believe what you’re saying – simple as that.

I believe I BELIEVE• Avoid weak additions to sentences. Try to avoid saying ‘okay’, ‘like’, ‘actually’,

‘kind of’, and of course ‘um’ and ‘er’. People put in the useless little extra words because they think it buys them thinking time. But you don’t need them. Take your time to think of the next thing you want to say and be happy with silence. You then sound confident.

• Speak long phrases well. If you want to sound confident, you need to be able to speak long phrases as well as short ones. Practice speaking long phrases in a loud, energetic way. Doing so builds up your ability to breathe well and you sound as if you really mean what you say.

• Believe in yourself. Self-belief isn’t so much about thinking you’re fantastic as about giving yourself permission to be you. When you’re uncertain about your speech, you tend to tightly control your delivery. But giving yourself permission to be you means allowing yourself to falter on occasion, say the wrong thing or show unexpected emotion. When you give yourself permission to be human, mistakes are much less likely to occur. You come across as someone who’s at ease.

People Need to Know and Show

Ways to Strengthen others:• Agree with frustrations; don’t explain why. If they feel frustrated

they are frustrated. It’s frustrating when you’re told why you’re frustrated.

• Defuse negative emotions by validation. Emotional people don’t listen. Emotions cloud judgment, especially discouragement, anger, or bitterness. Always deal with emotion before providing solutions.

• Strengthen others by seeing their strengths.• Acknowledge their contributions.• Shut off lights at the end of the day. Say, “Go home.”• Incorporate play at work.

Four Benefits of Strengthening others:

• Vulnerability enhances influence. You have greater influence with those who trust you; they’re vulnerable.

• Affirmations open ears. Convince someone you’re on their team and they’ll listen. Personal agendas create self-protection and defensiveness.

• Encouragement lifts focus beyond self. Discouraged people dwell on their own needs; someone has to. Strong people think about the needs of others.

• Strength moves people from can’t to can. Defeated people say, “I’m done or I can’t.” Strengthened people say, “I’ll try.”

So what are you sayingThink of the message not the messenger

Make it Interesting for both of youIt is not the same lecture over and over again

Listen. This may seem counter-intuitive, but by far the most effective way to get people’s attention is to give them yours. When you truly listen to someone – when you offer them your undivided focus, summarize their main points to make sure you’re tracking, ask curiosity-based questions to find out more – you’re demonstrating openness and respect in a powerful way. Most people automatically want to hear what someone who seems interested in them might have to say.

Read the room, entertain

Read the Room. If you’re talking to someone or to a group, and they’re not giving you their attention (surreptitiously looking at their phones, doodling, looking out the window, writing emails), they’re not listening to you. As above, you talking more is probably not going to help. Stop talking. Ask a question; find out what they’re interested in hearing. Even if you’re the most compelling speaker in the world, people won’t listen to you if they’re not interested in your topic.

Reading the Eyes for Personal InsightsThe Eyes tell no Lies

I have a dream I have a vision• Cut to the chase. I was facilitating a

meeting a few years ago for a senior operating group, most of whom were quite talkative, and at the same time quite good listeners. There was one guy, though – he would start talking, and within a minute or two, people’s attention would drift. I found I kept interrupting him (respectfully), trying to summarize for him, and he’d simply go off in another direction. It was really chewing up the group’s time, and breaking their focus.

Speak not with a forked tongue:In most cases, people just won’t open up to those they don’t trust. When people have a sense a leader is worthy of their trust they will invest time and take risks in ways they never would if their leader had a reputation built upon poor character or lack of integrity.

Me, you and the Task

Get personal: Stop issuing corporate communications and begin having organizational conversations – think dialog not monologue. Here’s the thing – the more personal and engaging the conversation is the more effective it will be. There is great truth in the following axiom: “people don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” Classic business theory tells leaders to stay at arms length.

Drill down don’t waste time

Get specific: Specificity is better than Ambiguity 11 times out of 10: Learn to communicate with clarity. Simple and concise is always better than complicated and confusing. Time has never been a more precious commodity than it is today. It is critical leaders learn how to cut to the chase and hit the high points – it’s also important to expect the same from others.

It is not a safety talk it’s a way of life

Focus on the leave-behinds not -the take-a-ways: The best communicators are not only skilled at learning and gathering information while communicating, they are also adept at transferring ideas, aligning expectations, inspiring action, and spreading their vision.

Cowboy Logic

You are not always right

Have an open mind: I’ve often said that the rigidity of a closed mind is the single greatest limiting factor of new opportunities. A leader takes their game to a whole new level the minute they willingly seek out those who hold dissenting opinions and opposing positions with the goal not of convincing them to change their minds, but with the goal of understanding what’s on their mind. I’m always amazed at how many people are truly fearful of opposing views, when what they should be is genuinely curious and interested.

Ok I understand NOW!

Replace ego with empathy: I have long advised leaders not to let their ego write checks that their talent can’t cash. When candor is communicated with empathy & caring and not the prideful arrogance of an over inflated ego good things begin to happen.

See a bigger page not just one sheet

Read between the lines: Take a moment and reflect back on any great leader that comes to mind… you’ll find they are very adept at reading between the lines. They have the uncanny ability to understand what is not said, witnessed, or heard. Being a leader should not be viewed as a license to increase the volume of rhetoric.

Your Safety Message is about Real Life, Real People, Real Events, Real Injuries,

Shut up and listen firstKeep your mouth shut--for a couple of moments.• Don't say anything substantive until you have an

audience connection. Note that their first impression is visual, not verbal. You, the speaker, whether you are in front of a large group or a single employee, prospective investor, or prospect, have to be in complete command. You can gain that command by the way you carry yourself, before you even open your mouth.

Two times the Value

Grab their attention to make it memorable.• People remember the very first substantive that you say. Once

you have their attention, jump right in to the most important thing you have to say. This powerful beginning will stick with your audience, creating the impact you're looking for.

Use verbal cues.• Use attention-provoking signals when you move from one

part of the speech to the next. For instance, you might verbally number your key points or use other verbal signals like "Let's move on" or "My next topic is..." Always give the audience verbal cues to look up at you.

Make them want the messageNot Just tell them the message

Trick of the Trade in Safety• Loosen up. Ease out your body – listening to someone who’s tense and

buttoned-up is hard. Shake your arms and legs, run on the spot, wriggle your shoulders and spine, and see how different you feel – and sound – when you’re more relaxed.

• Speak clearly. Make sure that people can hear and understand you by articulating your words clearly. Imitate newsreaders – they always pronounce consonants and vowels really clearly so that you understand every word.

• Project. Speak loudly enough to be heard – not just by yourself in your head, but by other people. Take a good breath before you speak and visualize the sound streaming out from you in an arc.

• Speak lower. After you take a breath, settle into your body and sense the sound coming from your chest. Relax to do this and don’t push down physically. When your voice resonates against the breastbone it sounds strong and convinced, and people trust it.

Getting People to Listen to You • Emphasize. People who speak with impact emphasize strongly, much more than

you might be aware of. Emphasizing the words that matter most helps other people make sense of what you say. As an example, if you say, ‘the cat sat on the mat’, make ‘cat’ and ‘mat’ stronger than ‘on’ or ‘the’.

• Slow down. Take your time. Getting your words out as fast as you can might feel more comfortable, but it’s entirely self-defeating if people can’t catch what you say. Take a nice deep breath, enjoy emphasizing certain words, and give yourself enough space to be heard.

• Be quiet. Pause to take breath. Allow silence sometimes. A voice that rattles on without a break is very hard to keep listening to. Silence allows your listeners to catch up, and process what you’re saying.

• Get out of your own way. Self-consciousness creates a rift between you and your listeners, and gets in the way of real communication. Concentrate on what you want to say and on the people you’re speaking to.

• Enjoy yourself. Don’t take yourself too seriously. If you enjoy speaking and communicating, others listen and enjoy it too.

Summary there is a reason for this word in Safety

Does everyone understand? Good!Recap what matters

• Take all of the substantive points from your talk and group them all together at the very end of the presentation. Remember your provoking signal and say something like, "In summary," then recap everything from your presentation that matters the most.

Gee Maybe Safety was Right!