Continuing on from our last blog post on how to bridge the gap between yourself and your leadership to gain H&S traction, today we’re covering how to take data and make it consumable for stakeholders and decision-makers. When data is presented by itself, it can be hard to gain trust, authority or support, without other factors playing a part.
Data by itself is just like a pile of words. Each piece by itself may mean something, but without organisation, it doesn’t tell the story you need your Board to hear. When dealing with data on a daily basis, it can be easy to understand and assume others will see what you see. However, this is unlikely to be the case because you haven't provided context.
As a health and safety professional, when providing information to decision-makers, it's important the data transforms from a set to a story. It doesn’t need to be an epic action thriller or a murder mystery, but it does need to be easy to follow.
When deciding how to put your story together, keep in mind technical knowledge is not necessarily an expertise Board members will have. Keeping it simple and explanatory will work to your advantage when breaking everything down.
This ability to tell a story is key to gaining support, a concept that applies across all areas of business, not just health and safety. A story allows for points to be brought together in a cohesive way, instead of having those trying to anticipate or construct their own understanding of where and how everything fits together.
One of the most important stories a health and safety professional can tell is the importance of a reinforced fence at the top of a cliff, instead of an ambulance at the bottom. The hardest hurdle to jump can be explaining that a proactive response is needed, however, this is key to improving health and safety maturity.
With the right data and insights, you can build a strong story that presents both the context, the actions required and the desired results, ultimately leading to decisions that will keep people safe, instead of dealing with the aftermath of something going wrong.
As a health and safety leader, the concept of influence, not authority, should ring true to how you approach Boards. This is achieved when rationale can be understood, allowing Boards to come back to you for more information and re-enforces an ability to make great decisions based on their own understanding.
This is where having platforms such as Safe365 by your side can change and transform the understanding of modern health and safety for Boards and Directors. With visual data, benchmarking, and reports available in a consumable medium, you can make digesting the data easier to understand while creating space for you to bring your expertise to the table.
Taking this data digital also allows for manual error to be taken away, as well as scalability and repeatability, allowing data and insights to become richer and even more informative. With Safe365, the health and safety maturity can be shown through a visual breakdown, instead of being just a pass or fail.
With all of this in mind, in the current context, it’s all about providing a real and pragmatic view that involves setting goals and engaging with stakeholders.
Providing consumable data and insights is key to this, and with time, will allow organisations to grow their health and safety maturity.
To learn more about this, head to Safe365’s most recent IIRSM webinar with co-founder, Nathan Hight, or our last blog post, by clicking the links below:
Using the power of data to strengthen risk leadership, demonstrate due diligence and improve work he
how to bridge the gap between yourself and your leadership to gain H&S traction
Self-assess, diagnose and develop a health and safety compliance action plan with Safe365.