At the NAEM Forum, in a session called “The EHS Manager as a Change Agent,” Don Ritz and Bruce Huber of Barrick Gold argued that EHS professionals can and must view themselves as change agents in organizations, and presented a process similar to the Seven Steps of EHS Integration developed by Redinger EHS.
This process shifts the EHS mindset toward one that is generative and based in vision and alignment, as opposed to a mindset that is reactive and based in compliance. Some of the change agent characteristics that Ritz and Huber identified were: persistence, courage, passion, commitment, ability to leverage, and integrity.
Possibility Thinking
Ritz and Huber used a term called “possibility thinking.” While not a new concept in organizational transformation circles, they paired it with courage, and stated that the two are the core characteristics of a successful change agent. Through the use of possibility thinking, new realities emerge. According to Ritz and Huber, as EHS professionals, we typically fail to connect EHS vision and aspirations with practices and actions.
Vision
Ritz and Huber posed three simple questions as a starting point to assess the robustness of a vision: (1) Do you have a vision? Is it 10 words or less? (2) Is your vision large enough? (3) Can everyone identify with it?
7S Framework
The 7S Framework, developed in the early 1980s by Tom Peters and Robert Waterman, contains seven interdependent factors that are categorized as either hard or soft elements. The hard elements include strategy, structure, and systems, while the soft elements include shared values, skills, style, and staff. Ritz and Huber discussed the ways in which EHS professionals can use 7S to become change agents. To promote possibility thinking, they presented four steps: (1) To distinguish the current reality, be clear about what is going on, (2) Make the business case for the possibility, (3) Be innovative in communication, (4) Reinforce the vision and possibility with senior leaders in the organization, and stress the importance of the integration of EHS principles at all levels.
© Redinger EHS, Inc. (2010)