1. Leaderships Influence on Safety Culture
FEPA Conference – Orlando, 2012
Mark Wiese / NASA KSC

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Speaker Background

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Critical, High Risk, Hazardous
NASA Energy Pipeline
• Processing & Launch • Maintenance & Sustainment
• Fueling • Gas & Liquid Transfer
• Cryogenic Fuel Storage • Fuel Storage
• Complex Lifting Operations • Regulation of Pressure/Temp
• Integration of Workforce • Integration of Workforce
• Multiple Skill Sets • Multiple Skill Sets
• Various Companies • Various Companies
• Government Insight/Oversight • Government Insight/Oversight

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Primary Goal – Mission Success

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Safety before Mission Success
Why? - People & Family

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How to best achieve Safety?
• Process Driven is one way…
▫ OSHA
▫ VPP
▫ ISO-9000
▫ CMMI
▫ Standards
▫ Regulations
▫ Etc. etc. etc.
Processes do nothing without

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Why Culture?
• Project Management is required to achieve our goals?
▫ Cost
▫ Schedule
▫ Technical
• People & Teams are the true key to a successful project
▫ You can effectively manage your cost, schedule, and
technical requirements through your people and the
diversity of your team
• Assure Safety remains a primary value of your People
▫ As a Leader you must

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Leadership Drives Culture
• Share the vision, no matter how big or small
• Explain the connection of the job to society
• Foster communication
• Influence a workforce that openly communicates
concerns and discusses solutions
▫ Remove fear of “speaking up”
▫ Establish a process for handling dissent & risk
▫ Empower Checks & Balances
▫ Do not limit the Decision Makers

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Branding Influences Behaviors
• Drive home the “Brand”, the “Mission”
• Explain the “Way we operate” & “Why”
• Don’t forget your history… revisit often

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The Power of Brand Recognition
• Why does “Branding” your organization work?
▫ Inspires
▫ Connects the Mind & Heart
▫ Lasting
• How do well known organizations differentiate
their brand to you?
 “Just Do It”
 “Be all you can be”
 “Breakfast of champions”
 “Think Different”

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Culture as it applies to teams
Culture: the set of shared attitudes, values, goals, and
practices that characterizes an institution or organization
(www.merriam-webster.com)
• Strong cultures immediately invoke emotions
• What culture exists in your team today (+/-/neutral)?
• As a leader you can take steps to re-shape a team culture
• As a team member, you can influence a culture
• Safety is a Prime Value
▫ Only when it is a part of your Culture
▫ Being a force fed process alone will not establish the value
▫ Leadership must encourage the behavior by example

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So What?
• Cultures will form anyway
• Cultures can be negative and counterproductive
The right culture can cultivate your team to have…

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Empower your team – take Pride
… leave a Legacy for others to follow