Planning the Motivational Approach

Just like any other endeavor in life, if we do not plan for it we are seldom successful in accomplishing what we want Motivating individuals toward a safe and healthy 

All employees within the workplace need to know what the safety and health performance expectations are. Everyone likes to have a clear explanation of what is expected of them. Employees have a basic need to be involved in decisions, affecting themselves and in solving safety and health problems within their workplace. Research has shown the employee involvement is critical to the success of any motivation approach. 

When goals are set, or safety and health performance monitored, it is imperative that workers receive feedback on the progress which they are making toward the goals or the quality of their safely and health performance. It is always best if the feedback can be of a positive nature. It is wise to provide positive feedback on small gains than no feedback at all and negative feedback is better than no feedback at all. The use of n atives should be the route of last resort and not standard practice whenever possible. All of us need to know where we are in relation to what is expected of us. 

A kind of feedback that is instantaneous is the development of a self- monitoring system that allows workers to track their own progress toward goals and outcomes. Most of us feel more involved and in control when we are able to keep score ourselves. A feeling of control over one s destiny is always more comforting and selfmonitoring systems provide the mechanism to do this to some extent. 

The components of a motivational program must be planned, evaluated, implemented, reviewed, and revised in order to suecessfiilly motivate safe work performance. How you use these principles and design them to meet your needs will determine your success in elieiting safe performanee fiom your workforce. 

Just like any other endeavor in life, if we do not plan for it, we are seldom successful in accomplishing what we want. Employers trying to motivate individuals to behave in a manner that facilitates a safe and healthy work environment require planning and an organized approach. The very same approaches that have been used for decades to motivate individuals to perform can be applied to achieving safe work performance. 

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