Safety Leadership · The NudgeWhy “The Nudge”? It draws on nudge theory (Thaler & Sunstein, 2008): small, well-timed prompts often shape what we do more than instruction does. This short module is a nudge to help the session carry into your week.
Mind the gap
In the session, you shared your 10 points on what makes an effective safety leader.
This nudge asks a harder question: what do the people you lead actually get from you on a busy day?
- 1What it takesAllocate your 10 points again · about 1 min
- 2What they getAllocate 10 points for a busy day · about 1 min
- 3Your gapSee both side by side · about 1½ min
- 4Your curiosity challengeWhat’s a curiosity challenge? It builds on John Dewey’s idea of learning by doing: we learn most when we try something in real work and reflect on what happened. You take the idea into your own workplace, notice what you see, then reflect.Set up your week · about 1½ min
Nothing here is scored, and nothing you type is stored or sent anywhere. It stays on this page until you close it.
Moment 1 of 4
What it takes
What makes an effective safety leader? Use your session scores if you kept them, or score it again now.
Use all 10 points. Maximum 3 per area. Zero is allowed. Tap a dot to set a score; tap it again to lower it.
Moment 2 of 4
What they get
Now think about a busy day, with pressure on. Where do your 10 points actually go, as the people you lead would experience it?
Same rules: all 10 points, maximum 3 per area, zero is allowed. Be honest rather than generous.
Moment 3 of 4
Your gap
What you said it takes, next to what you think a busy day gives.
Your busy-day score is still your guess at how others experience you. A meta-analysis of 89 samples found that when leaders rated their own leadership, the link to team performance looked stronger than when other people rated it.
One likely reason: our own view tends to be the more generous one. So your real gap may be wider than it looks here.
Ceri-Booms, Curşeu & Oerlemans (2017), Human Resource Management Review.
Under pressure, the brain narrows its attention to what feels most urgent and controllable, which is usually the task in front of us. The relational side takes more time and attention, so it’s often the first thing to slip.
We also know our own intentions. So when we score ourselves, we tend to score what we meant to give, rather than what other people actually received.
A gap isn’t a failing. Pressure pulls every leader towards some areas and away from others, and some of that is the right call. The useful question is whether the trade is one you’d choose on purpose.
Moment 4 of 4
Your curiosity challenge
This is your curiosity challengeWhat’s a curiosity challenge? It builds on John Dewey’s idea of learning by doing: we learn most when we try something in real work and reflect on what happened. You take the idea into your own workplace, notice what you see, then reflect.. This week, try one small thing in your area on a busy day, and notice what happens.
- When the pressure came on, and what was being asked of you
- What the people around you said or did next
- One moment you felt the pull to lead the way you always do
There’s no right answer. The value is in seeing what’s shaping your leadership, not just where it goes.
Your week
Your challenge is set
Treat this as an experiment, not a test. Trying it once on a busy day, and noticing honestly, is enough.
If the people you lead scored your busy days, would their gap look like yours?
Send Adam what you noticed within the next two weeks, and you’ll go into the draw for a copy of his book.
The email opens in your own mail app with a blank To field — nothing leaves this page otherwise. To enter the draw, forward your reflection to adam@hc-partners.co.uk.