How accurate is your perception of your own safety?
…perfect?
…mostly accurate?
…fifty-fifty?
…zilch?!?
As leaders, we know that there are times when peer observations are great. Having somebody watch your back and let you know when things are risky is super important in many settings.
But we know that sometimes getting feedback from others, or peer observations are not always practical.
…Sometimes we have people working alone, or having someone leave their task to watch somebody else is too inefficient.
Self-monitoring is a way for workers to evaluate their own safety behaviors, and can prevent unnecessary injury.
There’s a ton of research on this, too. Read it here, here, here, or here.
How does self-monitoring work?
First, you need to know what you should be self-monitoring for before you start. It’s no good for you to monitor yourself when you have no idea what you’re looking for. People need to be trained on what target safety behavior vs. risky behavior looks like, especially when they’re looking at themselves.
Second, since self-monitoring is a behavior, it makes sense that it needs to be prompted and maintained. Having reminders or rules for when self-monitoring should happen is important. Having positive consequences for self-monitoring (praise, recognition, etc.) can also help. Feedback is also a great tool to incorporate here, especially about the accuracy of the self-monitoring itself.
It may not always be natural to detect unsafe behavior in yourself – that’s why it’s so important to use the tools of behavioral science to help us stay safe.
