Working with others

After 13 years as a plumber, Scott Middleton switched career paths and became a legionella team leader for a local authority before taking on his current role as health and safety specialist in NHS Grampian’s corporate health and safety team. He also represented the IOSH North East of Scotland branch at last year’s IOSH Future Leaders Conference.

The transport engineering company’s OSH head is testing the transformative potential of two-way communication.

Today we use the word “machiavellian” to describe someone who gets what they want by lying and cheating, but Machiavelli himself had a profound understanding of human nature

Now in his 90th year, Schein is still at the cutting edge of human psychology.This is the fifth book in his “humble” series – co-authored with his son, Peter – and extends the belief Schein has preached tirelessly: that we all need to be more human – whether at work, in consulting others, when asking questions, or when seeking to support. It’s an essential companion for OSH practitioners.

An executive can be any knowledge worker whose contribution affects the organisation’s performance. To become effective, workers must learn five habits: to manage time, focus on their contribution, build on their strengths, set priorities and make good decisions.Everything requires time, so it is the key resource to be managed. In largely self-directed roles, the key is knowing what work to do and using time efficiently.

The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development defines leadership as “the ability to lead others toward a common goal”. In achieving health and safety goals, it is not always clear who the leaders are. On the HSE website, one area focuses on supervisors as leaders; elsewhere leaders are “directors, governors, trustees, officers and their equivalents”.