The Standard You Walk Past

Why Effective Leadership Might Be One of the Most Important Safety Controls We Have

There is a phrase I have encountered countless times during my career in construction and health and safety: the standard you walk past is the standard you accept. It has likely been printed on more safety posters than anyone could count; however, this overuse can sometimes diminish its significance.

Nonetheless, this phrase has always resonated with me. Not because I believe that good leadership involves walking around a site pointing out every flaw, as that approach is often one of the quickest paths to becoming an ineffective leader. Rather, it matters because every time someone in a position of authority observes a situation and decides how to respond, they are teaching those around them what truly matters. People pay considerably more attention to these actions than they do to whatever is written in the company values.

People Watch What You Do

Most organisations have some variation of the same core values: Safety, Integrity, Respect, Excellence, People. These values are typically articulated beautifully, displayed prominently, and discussed enthusiastically at corporate events.

The challenge arises at 4 p.m. on a Thursday when a job is behind schedule. That is when the true values of the organisation become apparent.

If a manager spends Monday morning emphasising that safety comes first, only to ask on Thursday afternoon if there is any way to "just get it done," the workforce comprehends the real message clearly. No explanation is necessary regarding the contradiction.

People are exceptionally adept at identifying what an organisation genuinely rewards. They observe which behaviours are challenged and which are ignored. They notice whether someone who raises a problem is thanked or treated as an inconvenience. They pay attention to whether managers adhere to the same rules expected of everyone else.

Leadership occurs in these moments, often when no one believes they are delivering a leadership lesson.

Leadership Isn't a Job Title

One of the more perplexing practices in organisations is promoting someone and assuming that leadership has automatically occurred. It has not; we have merely changed their email signature.

Leadership is a skill that, like any other, requires development, practice, and sometimes the uncomfortable realisation that one is not as proficient as initially believed. Some technically brilliant individuals become poor managers because the skills that made them successful in one role do not necessarily transfer to another.

Knowing how to construct something does not automatically imply that one knows how to lead the people building it. Similarly, being well-versed in regulations does not guarantee that people will listen to you. Authority allows you to instruct someone to perform a task, but leadership determines what they do when you are no longer present.

This distinction is critical in health and safety. You cannot supervise every individual every minute of every day; eventually, your systems rely on someone making the right decision when no one is watching. Culture fills that gap, and leaders create culture, whether they intend to or not.

The Danger of Being the Person with All the Answers

Leadership can become particularly challenging when someone has spent years becoming technically competent. Being knowledgeable feels useful, solving problems feels productive, and being the go-to person for answers can even become part of one’s identity.

However, there comes a point when constantly being the smartest person in the room diminishes the capabilities of others. If every problem ultimately escalates to one manager, it does not indicate a high-performing team; it may simply indicate a dependency.

Good leaders do not merely solve today's problems; they enhance the organisation's ability to address tomorrow's challenges independently. This often requires resisting the urge to provide immediate answers.

Asking, "What do you think we should do?" is an incredibly powerful question. Sometimes the individual may suggest the wrong course of action, which is perfectly acceptable; it opens the door for discussion. Occasionally, they may propose exactly what you intended to suggest, and at times, they may even present a better idea. This exemplifies good leadership—being secure enough to acknowledge that the best idea need not belong to you.

People Need to Be Able to Tell You Bad News

One of the clearest indicators of leadership quality is how swiftly bad news travels upwards. If you are consistently the last person to hear about issues, it is worth questioning why this is the case. People do not typically conceal problems without reason.

Sometimes, individuals learn that bringing a problem to a manager results in anger, blame, or an interrogation regarding responsibility. Consequently, they become adept at resolving the issue independently, often at the expense of communication with management. This can be catastrophic in a safety-critical environment.

Near misses may become private conversations rather than learning opportunities, small defects may go unreported, and individuals may improvise solutions because asking for help feels more challenging than finding a workaround. Eventually, a significant incident occurs, and everyone wonders why the warning signs were not raised. Often, someone did notice them; they simply did not feel safe communicating their concerns.

A leader's reaction to bad news is therefore crucial. The initial moments can determine whether that individual will bring you the next problem. You can investigate the details later, but first, ensure that people continue to tell you the truth.

Challenge Matters — But So Does How You Challenge

Effective leadership is not about being perpetually agreeable. There are standards that should remain non-negotiable, behaviours that require challenging, and moments when someone must hear something they would prefer not to hear. Avoiding these conversations is not kindness; it is poor leadership.

However, there is a distinction between challenging someone's behaviour and humiliating them. If someone makes a mistake, shouting at them in front of their colleagues may give the illusion of authority, but it likely conveys that mistakes should be concealed from you. You may win the immediate conversation but lose the cultural battle.

The best leaders I have encountered can be exceptionally clear without making everything personal. They can articulate, "This is unacceptable, and here’s why," without resorting to, "You are useless." This may seem obvious, yet it is not always practised.

Consistency Beats Intensity

Some managers exhibit remarkable passion for standards, albeit intermittently. There may be a significant push for housekeeping, behavioural safety, permits, or PPE, resulting in briefings, poster displays, and increased inspections. However, attention often shifts elsewhere shortly thereafter.

People quickly learn to wait. Effective leadership is typically much less dramatic. It involves asking the same sensible questions next month as you did this month, following up on actions, and noticing when standards begin to drift, addressing issues before they become the norm.

Culture is not cultivated through sporadic bursts of enthusiasm; it is built through repetition. What leaders consistently notice becomes important, what they repeatedly inquire about holds significance, what they challenge regularly matters, and what they ignore eventually becomes acceptable.

Your Behaviour Becomes Somebody Else's Permission

This aspect of leadership is often underestimated. When in a senior position, your behaviour carries more weight than you might realise. If you walk through a site without the required PPE because you're "only going over there," someone notices. If you take a phone call while driving, someone notices. If you speak dismissively about a contractor, someone notices. If you admit to making a mistake, that is noticed too.

People take cues from the behaviour of those above them. This is why the phrase "do as I say, not as I do" has never been a particularly sophisticated leadership strategy. If you want people to halt work when something feels amiss, they need to see you support someone who did just that. If you want people to report mistakes, they must witness you acknowledging your own. If you want people to challenge unsafe behaviour, they need to know that such challenges are genuinely welcome when communicated upwards as well as downwards.

You cannot advocate for openness and then become defensive when someone shares something you dislike.

Sometimes Leadership Is Just Being Present

There is a tendency to complicate the concept of leadership. Frameworks, models, competencies, development programmes, and books can all be beneficial; I have learned much from them. However, some of the most effective leadership I have observed has been remarkably simple: Know your people, be visible, ask questions, listen to the answers, do what you said you would do, explain decisions when possible, admit when you do not know something, challenge poor standards consistently, give credit when things go well, and stand beside your team when things do not go as planned.

None of this is particularly revolutionary, but executing it consistently is considerably more challenging.

The Standard You Create

The longer I have worked in construction and health and safety, the less convinced I have become that culture is something organisations can simply design in a meeting room. Culture is what transpires after the presentation concludes. It is the myriad of small interactions that convey how things genuinely operate within the organisation.

What occurs when someone halts a job? What happens when someone admits to a mistake? What happens when the programme is under pressure? What happens when the manager is not observing?

Policies matter. Procedures matter. Competence matters. Engineering controls matter. However, every system eventually encounters a moment that was not perfectly anticipated, requiring someone to make a decision. In that decision lies everything their leaders have taught them about what the organisation truly values.

This is why leadership is integral to the health and safety conversation. Not because leaders need to deliver more speeches about safety, but because every day, through what they challenge, what they ignore, what they reward, and how they behave, they are quietly answering a far more significant question for everyone around them: What really matters here? Make sure the answer is the one you intended.