Four Components of Safety Excellence

Mike Tyson famously said, “Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face.” Similarly, the U.S. Military warns, “All strategies are successful until contact with the enemy, because the enemy hasn’t voted yet.” While strategies are undeniably important, the process of creating them holds even greater value. However, even the most thorough planning is secondary to the ability to effectively execute those plans.

Developing and executing a strategy is challenging, even for the most prepared organizations. Drawing from experience with top strategy consultants and corporate leaders, this article concludes that executing excellence strategies hinges on mastering four key elements:

1. Unrestricted Flow of Information

Effective communication is the foundation upon which all organizational success is built. Yet, several barriers, politics, fear of delivering bad news, hierarchical protectionism, or assumptions of superior knowledge - can obstruct the free flow of critical information. These obstacles often mean that communication bypasses individuals rather than involving them.

To succeed, organizations must identify and eliminate real or perceived barriers to communication. Silos and censorship stifle alignment and prevent proactive adjustments. Leaders should regularly evaluate how much information is unnecessarily withheld and how many team members act as gatekeepers, hindering progress instead of fostering transparency.

2. Clear Decision Rights

Unclear roles and responsibilities can lead to confusion, exemplified by questions like, “What’s my role in this?” or “Isn’t that her job?” Author Peter Jacobs aptly observes, “How a company decides who is authorized to make what types of decisions can profoundly impact its effectiveness and bottom line.”

Establishing decision rights ensures clarity about who owns specific decisions, the thought processes involved, and where input is required. It’s essential to delegate or share these rights since most strategies need collaboration to succeed. For initiatives impacting culture. like safety, operational teams must be involved, but their responsibilities and decision-making authority must be explicitly defined.

3. Proactive Accountability

Clarifying decision rights is futile without robust accountability. Unfortunately, many organizations treat accountability reactively, asking, “Who’s responsible for this failure?” after results fall short.

True excellence requires proactive accountability, defined as ensuring individuals take

necessary actions to achieve outcomes, coupled with recognition or consequences for performance, before results are evaluated. Organizations must strive to shift accountability practices from reactive to proactive, creating a culture that supports continuous improvement rather than crisis management.

4. Visible Progress Toward Goals

No journey is motivating without a clear sense of progress. Waiting until the end to evaluate success can lead to disengagement. Reflect on days when visible progress gave you a sense of accomplishment compared to those when your efforts felt fruitless despite hard work.

Visible progress is a powerful motivator, especially when it highlights forward momentum instead of just mitigating failures. Goals framed around “doing better” (e.g., reducing injuries, defects, or complaints) can be demotivating. Instead, organizations should focus on success-oriented goals that inspire ongoing improvement.

To make progress tangible, identify key performance indicators (KPIs) and communicate them effectively. This reinforces transparency, empowers decision-making, and supports proactive accountability.

Remember....

Excellence lies in the ability to sustain and replicate success. Strategies alone are insufficient without the proper facilitators: free-flowing information, clearly defined decision rights, proactive accountability, and visible progress. Without these elements, execution becomes unpredictable, relying more on luck than intention.