How to keep your head when everyone else is losing theirs

For those who also work in high risk workplaces, there is an additional dimension to the potential chaos of your dynamic workplace – the critical safety risks that need to be actively managed.

We’ve all had those days, things seem to keep going wrong and emotions are heightened.  Deadlines loom, and the level of panic becomes palpable. The collective workplace mindset seems to change, and the temptation is to circumvent the normal decision-making process to get an outcome at any cost.

The people who shine in chaotic circumstances are the ones who don’t let the emotion or pure volume of “noise” adversely impact their clarity and composure in making critical decisions when they are most needed.

So, what is the secret of these apparently superhuman beings?  Well some people are just great under pressure – we’ve all seen them.  

Whether it is on the sporting field, the construction site, or the despatch office – they seem to have oodles of time to make a decision, and they make the right one in the vast majority of circumstances.

We all need one of these in times of chaos or crisis, don’t we?  Well, don’t we??

“Definitely, and more than one” you say.  

So, are they common, and where do we find them?  

The unfortunate answer to this question is NO, they are DEFINITELY NOT COMMON, and they are almost impossible to find “in the wild”.

How to Breed Your Own “Cool Heads”

In light of the scarcity of these superhuman beings, how can you develop this type of capability in your business.

There are three crucial components in breeding your own cool heads when it comes to safety:

1. Systemising your workplace so that critical risks are actively managed and the likelihood of crisis and need for a cool head is considerably reduced
2. Select supervisors and other workplace leaders with a focus on their emotional control, and train them in your systems and how to maintain composure in times of chaos
3. Reduce the scope of responsive decisions available to workplace leaders as reactions to times of crisis.  By this, we mean making sure Golden Rules of Safety or Fatal Risk Protocols (or whatever other jargon you use) are respected and never contravened