Module 1: Leadership and Leadership Development

All leaders must be aware of their potential impact as leaders. Consequently, it is crucial that roles and responsibilities in supporting workplace safety and health are known and understood. A key overarching need is a commitment from the corporate level of each company. A corporate letter or mission statement should be drafted, confirming with signature support to the CORESafety Pledge. This letter should be posted conspicuously at company facilities for all employees to witness and should be included on page one of the master CORESafety document.

In addition, leadership development that prepares current and future leaders to perform effectively in their roles helps drive continuous improvement. This module element includes identifying and developing employees in leadership positions or with leadership potential who can:

• Influence safety, health, and well-being performance improvement.
• Positively and intentionally affect and reinforce the organization’s culture.
• Lead the organization to achieve excellence in safety, health, and well-being.
• Ensure all employees understand their safety and health management roles and responsibilities.
• Provide sufficient resources and tools to measure and review for continuous improvement.
• Ensure alignment and engagement within company hiring practices and values.

Identifying leaders to achieve excellence in safety, health, and well-being will affect organizational approaches to leadership development. Think about leaders in your organization. Is it top-line managers? What about staff positions? Is it anyone who can control their own behavior and influence others? If the latter is true, several strong leaders exist among the entire workforce, including non-salaried positions. All leaders – whether salaried or not – can benefit from leadership development activities, including training and participation in succession planning. To effectively influence safety and health performance improvements, leaders must:

• Hold themselves and their employees or coworkers accountable.
• Be action-oriented and collaborative.
• Provide effective performance feedback and other communication as needed.
  • Have a personal vision that is aligned with and includes employees in achieving excellence in safety, health, and well-being.
  • Establish SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and timebound) goals at all levels of the organization.

Leadership includes managing and aligning human resource activities to achieve safety, health, and well-being excellence. Close alignment and mutual support between line management, human resources, safety, and health professionals is vital to success. Examples of alignment activities include:

• Hiring standards
• Conditions of employment
• Employee assimilation
• Collective bargaining agreements
• Succession planning
• Corrective discipline policy
• Documentation management

Recruiting workers with a strong personal safety value, ensuring they are fit for duty, which includes being free from the influence of drugs and alcohol (D&A), mentally and physically prepared to work, and ready and willing to work in compliance with company policies and procedures will greatly increase the potential to achieve excellence in safety, health, and well-being. These human resource-related activities should be actively and consistently managed. This includes ensuring alignment between collective bargaining agreements (if applicable) and safety and health policies, as appropriate, e.g., safe work as a condition of employment, D&A testing, health monitoring, etc.

• 2024 – CORESafety CEO Pledge

• Harvard Business Review – Top 5 Leadership Competencies
• Supporting Mental Health in the Workplace: Checklist for Supervisors

• Foundations for Safety Leadership
• Let’s Grow Leaders – Defining Leadership Expectations

• Foundations for Safety Leadership
• Harvard Business Review – Succession Planning
• AARP – Age-Inclusive Learning & Development Approaches

• Reed – Personal Development Planning
• BetterUp – Personal Development Plan: How to Develop One

• Module 1 – Leadership and Development (2025)
• Module 1 – Leadership Development (2013)
• Introduction to Module 1 – Leadership Development (2016)
• CORESafety Modules 1-20 (2017)