Hugo’s Frog & Fish House on Rush: What’s That Got to Do with Safety Culture?

If you know Chicago, you’ve come to realize that it’s no ordinary place.  Chicago is a very special world-class city, with great people and wonderful hospitality.  And whenever I’m in Chicago for business, I often try to visit one of my favorite places, Hugo’s Frog Bar & Fish House.  It’s a fun place with great food. 

Just recently, I walked from my hotel, The Drake on Michigan Avenue, and headed over to Hugo’s.  I was excited about eating there, but the place was packed – standing room only!  After I surveyed the place, I looked for the manager to ask about the wait time.  He said, “oh, at least an hour.”  I couldn’t wait that long –   I was already too hungry, so I asked for a recommendation.  The manager didn’t simply give me one recommendation but provided several.  But first, he stopped what he was doing on a very busy night, introduced himself, and shook my hand.  He then took the time to walk me outside to the end of the street corner, pointed out the restaurants he recommended, handed me his card, and let me know that if there were problems, simply call him and he’d be glad to respond!  Finally, he shook my hand again and thanked me for stopping by.  I thought – “wow – that’s special” and I’ll certainly go back to Hugo’s even though I didn’t get to eat there, this time!

This story about Hugo’s is a great example of outstanding customer service but it also highlights various aspects of engaged leadership and exceptional cultures for safety.

Leaders in outstanding cultures for safety realize that they have to set a great example, even in small ways, like being involved in housekeeping, helping to orientate a new worker, or stopping and showing
a worker a few necessary details in order to avoid injury.
 

Exceptional leaders realize that when they take the time to go out of their way to help others, their example can motivate those around them to do the same.  And when leaders show personal care for someone, they understand that those individuals are more willing to open up and communicate important aspects of safety that are not always openly addressed.

Showing care and concern for an individual’s safety helps to establish a foundation for everyone to go out of their way to help everyone else work even more safely.  It’s a natural part of reciprocity and a key dimension of cultures where safety is truly special.
 

It’s Really Kind of Easy

In order to get your leaders to go the extra mile; you have to let them know what you’re asking of them.  What specific actions are you looking for?  How often should these actions or activities be performed?  And how will you follow up to hold them accountable?

Many organizations struggle with safety leadership but it’s really pretty easy. To start, acquire the appropriate support and get your leaders to buy-into the necessary activities that will improve safety performance – even the small ways that detail how to show care and concern for workers. Create an outline of your plan and provide details of the kinds of actions you want to see.  Develop a few tools and appropriate metrics to measure individual performance and help your leaders meet their safety-related goals.  Some organizations use upward feedback from the workers that let’s their leaders know how well their doing with respect to the plan.  Well, I know, I know, it’s not always that easy but those are the general steps that you have to sell, set, and deliver.  
 

Don’t Stop with Your Formal Leaders

With the general workforce the idea is similar.  Let your workers know what you want to see from them when it comes to safety related actions, activities, and ongoing performance.  Spell it out – give them some details regarding the actions you are seeking.  Support their actions through praise and recognition as a means to reinforce particular actions.  Finally, make it a deeply engrained part of your culture – make it a ritual to show, recognize, and reinforce safety related actions that make your culture for safety a special one.  

And the next time your in Chicago, check out Hugo’s Frog – it’s a special place and a special culture that you’ll want to experience all on your own!

As a speaker, consultant, and coach, I’m very fortunate to be able to provide motivational safety talks and consultative support that highlights what great leadership activities look like and what safety culture excellence looks like though stories, the spoken word, and with various models and work tools.  If you need help in giving your leaders a nudge or the tools to create and sustain a world-class culture for safety, give me a call or shoot me an email – I want to help you!

About the Author.  David Sarkus, MS, CSP is an author, consultant, coach, and motivational speaker.  He has written five books and more than 50 empirically-based articles.  David is Chief Motivational Officer and President and Founder of David Sarkus International Inc.  His talks focus on teamwork, coaching, safety leadership, and safety culture change.  His firm also conducts safety culture assessments and interventions for some of the biggest and best run corporations in the world.  Please visit us at: www.davidsarkus.com.