The Impotency of Attitudes

If we can just get our workers to have the right attitude, well, they will then choose to behave in ways that keep them safe. Right?

What a misconception! This assumes that attitudes create behavior. Our attitudes don’t always translate into behaviors. That’s the bottom line. Similarly, attitudes of workers, supervisors and leaders don’t always translate to the critical safety behaviors needed at work. Similarly, values and intentions also don’t always translate to actions either.

Let’s get this straight: We only infer or attribute attitudes from watching someone’s behavior. You can’t see or hear beliefs, values, and other internal covert states of mind. You and I only think these states of mind exist because we experience them ourselves.

Let’s consider a critical piece of data from Dr. Steve Roberts’ Safety Culture Survey administered to over 150,000 people worldwide. The following question was asked: “Should employees caution coworkers when observing them perform at-risk behaviors?” Over 90% of respondents agreed with this statement, reflecting their strong values around their need to look out for one another in an active way. Later in the survey a similar but different question was asked: “Are you willing to caution coworkers when observing them perform at-risk behaviors?” Again 90% of respondents agreed that they have intentions to say something when they see something. Another similar question appeared even later in the survey, but it asked about behavior: “In the past month, have you cautioned coworkers when observing them perform at-risk behaviors?” The percentage of respondents who said they actually acted on their values and intentions with the critical safety behavior dropped below 50%.

This is an important point: a gap definitely exists between our attitudes and behaviors. We worry about folks with bad attitudes taking risks on the job, but even those with good intentions may fail to engage in behaviors that may keep themselves or others safe. To solve this riddle, let’s force ourselves to confront our assumption that attitudes change behavior. Could the opposite be true? Could it be that behaviors change attitudes?

Behaviors change Attitudes, not the other way around!

Consider this fundamental question: “Do you think your way into a new way of acting?” In other words, do your attitudes, beliefs, values, or intentions drive your behavior? Or is it the other way around: “Do you act your way into a new way of thinking?” Do you observe your behaviors and adapt your attitudes to be consistent with the way you act?

Psychologists say we are most functional in our lives when our attitudes align with our behavior. We are most happy at these times in our lives and more valuable to others. When our behaviors are incongruent with our attitudes we are less happy and we experience what psychologists call “dissonance,” that uncomfortable feeling when your internal voice seems to pester you for the inconsistency: “Why did I do that?"

Humans are motivated to get rid of this type of dissonance when their attitudes and behaviors don’t jive. So something has to change. What changes then? Does our attitude force a behavior change? Or do we attempt to justify our behavior by changing our attitude?

Consider the young oil field worker who had gone through his HR and safety orientation when hired. Certainly, now that he learned the job is dangerous and he sees the hazards waiting for him, his attitude will be to follow the rules because the rules are there to protect him from risk and harm. Then he finds himself working where his supervisor and peers are taking short cuts in safety procedures to get the job done faster. In the heat of the moment, with their encouragement, he joins in and takes the short cuts with a knot in his belly, knowing his risky behavior is not what his attitude would direct him to do (dissonance). When his crew finishes work meeting the production quota, but he now has dissonance because his short cut behavior doesn’t jive with his ‘follow the rules’ attitude.

So, what changes? Does the young roustabout’s behavior change to be more consistent with his safety-focused attitude? Or perhaps to combat the dissonance between his original safety attitude and risky behavior, he fashions a different attitude: “I must value production.” His behavior changed his attitude. It does nearly every time.

So that’s what we do; we observe our own behaviors and try to rationalize to ourselves why we did it. This changes our attitude.

Folks, this is a game changer! Blaming ‘attitudes’ take us down a dysfunctional rabbit hole. We try again and again to change attitudes through all sorts of coaching, training and motivational speeches. Nothing changes and we remain frustrated.

This gives us hope! You can change the attitude by changing behavior. Find a way to get your people to practice the behaviors that match the attitudes you want to build. And as they engage in these behaviors they will see their performance and conclude it must be indicative of their attitude. Poof – double whammy! Behavior and attitude change.

This is the heart of behavioral safety. The challenge is to get your people to practice behaviors like talking with peers about safety. Get this happening and you’ve got attitude change. I had an amazing email from a client that supports this scientific point. Here’s what he wrote: I was speaking with a co-worker this morning about getting to a level of safety culture where workers are being safe because they know it’s the right thing to do. Several years ago, he transitioned from a lineman position to a safety professional. He returned to the field as a lineman after 2 years. He said that when he returned to the field his approach to safety was completely different than in the past. The 2 years he spent in safety changed his perspective completely. He approached tasks with a deliberate focus on safety and attention to detail.  I think the time he spent in safety had taught him that being safe was the right thing to do. Do you think that if a lineman worked in the safety department for a period, they would be influenced in the same way?

My Answer: Brilliant idea! Have your linemen spend time doing pro-safety behaviors as a temporary member of your safety team and they will experience a change in attitude. More importantly, this experience will impact their behaviors, both on task and with their peers, when they return to their front line position.

You change attitudes by changing behavior. You act your way into a new way of thinking, not the other way around. —Ludwig, Dysfunctional Practices

This is why employee engagement in safety is such a powerful thing!

The feeling or state of mind seems to be a necessary link in a causal chain, but the fact is that we change behavior by changing the environment, and, in doing so, change what is felt. Feelings and states of mind are not causes, they are by-products. —B.F. Skinner