It might surprise you to learn that improving your communication skills will make you a better EHS professional (safety professional, safety manager, you know who you are). Often the relationship of the EHS professional with the other managers, leaders and even workers at the organization is adversarial. You are providing information and guidance, implementing program and policy changes, however those you are asking to make changes don't work directly for you.

The EHS professional can be seen as part traffic cop, part punitive parent and part “gotcha” manager in the shadows, looking for mistakes and then coming down hard on fellow workers.

To be effective in your job, you have to be skilled at communication, winning people over, and sometimes having difficult conversations. And those entail shifting your role from working AGAINST others to working WITH them.

Watch as we cover the following:

1. How to approach conversations from a seeking understanding perspective vs. one of delivering information and giving instructions.
2. Techniques to improve listening, curiosity, and finding common ground with others.
3. Strategies for having difficult conversations, especially when emotions are high (ex. after an incident or injury).
4. How to identify when an interaction is becoming adversarial and switch to a collaborative, team viewpoint where you and the other person are working towards a common goal.

Additionally, you can download this toolkit with questions to assess your own skills and resources to improve communication skills.