Real leaders leave a legacy. They capture the hearts and minds of their teams. Their origin story puts the safety and well-being of their people first. Great companies ubiquitously have safe yet productive operations. For those companies, safety is an investment, not a cost. For the C suite, it’s a real topic of daily focus. This is the Safety Guru with your host, Eric Michrowski, a globally recognized ops and safety guru, public speaker and author. Are you ready to leave a safety legacy? Your legacy success story begins now.

Hi and welcome to the Safety Guru. Today I’m very excited to have with me Dr. Keita Franklin, who’s back with us on the show. She has spent decades supporting active duty and veterans. She’s now in the private sector as an author. We’ll talk about your book very soon; the Human How Small Acts Can Change the World. She’s also with Columbia University as part of the Columbia Lighthouse Project. Keita, welcome to the show. Very excited to have you with me. 

Thank you for having me. I appreciate it.

So, let’s get started in terms of maybe a little bit of your background and how you got into this space and then we’ll get into the meat of the topic about the small acts that can change the world.

Yes, I spent a full career working with the active-duty population and their families and veterans, mostly around topics related to trauma, child welfare, sexual assault prevention, domestic violence. And then in the last probably 10 plus years I was more narrowly focused on suicide prevention and working on hard issues around public health approaches to saving lives with active duty and veterans. And so, I’m now in private sector but I continue to work across a host of vulnerable populations on these types of issues.

So, so let’s get into this element around how small acts can change the world because I think it’s an incredibly powerful topic. One because we’re releasing this as it’s mental health awareness month. But also, your book is, is being released hopefully this month, hopefully at roughly the same time as the episode launches. So, tell me a little bit about how small acts can change the world.

Yes, you know, I, after I shared with you, you know, I had this full career and you know, really focused in many cases on to include like leading at the national level and doing a lot around evidence-based practices. And it occurred to me probably about two years ago that, you know, we’ve had this sort of chronic problem in the field of mental health where we’ll never have enough providers to meet the demand in our field. There’s a lot of people struggling with issues, depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress and we’ll just never meet the demand. And coupled with that, I started thinking about like, what do I know to be true? That is very much at the core of helping people feel better, helping people feel like they’re well. And I know some basic things that I think we just weren’t leveraging enough. And so, it occurred to me that I should pull these stories together and really write about it. And those concepts are really basic concepts that we’re not doing enough, like connecting with one another, making sure people feel like they belong, showing a sense of compassion, just sort of showing up, being present for people.

So, there are a couple of things that I see started sort of themes over the years and I pulled them all together. And I really sort of argue in the book that if we were doing all of these things and we were doing them well, we would likely release some of the burden on mental health because everybody might not need to go to this sort of high and right clinical intervention if they just sort of felt supported day to day. So that was some of the early thinking or early concepts behind the book.

Sure. And tell me a little bit about as well, the ripple effects of these small acts.

Yes. So, as I start digging into the research, this is like probably a no brainer to you, but I started digging into the research and I intuitively knew that when you help others, it feels good to you.

Right.

And you feel like you’re doing a good thing. And it’s, you know, over the years I knew that volunteerism is sort of something we can do to eliminate depression, getting people out, getting them feeling like they’re, you know, paying it forward in their communities. So, I knew this. But in, until I got into the research, did I really start to understand the power of the reciprocal nature between helping others and how it helps you, but also when you help others, they tend to then help others. And it just creates this ripple effect in families and workplaces and society where helping others creates a bit of a momentum where people then feel more empowered to, to pay it forward. And there’s just so much goodness that comes from that sort of ripple effect.

Fascinating. And it makes sense, right? Because. Absolutely. More when you’re doing something positive for someone else, you feel good, but also that another person feels good. And then you had a story about a coffee line as well and how that connects with the small acts.

Yes. You know, so I was in the throes of writing this book and I’m in the research and I’m really looking at things like, you know, early research on like big Brothers and big sisters and how people get assigned a mentor and how that can be life changing. And I’m, you know, pulling the thread. And I, funny enough, I’m in a conversation with my own father about it. And you know, he’s a Vietnam air veteran and I’m sharing this with him and I’m talking about just the power of just like a single conversation. Like it doesn’t have to be a long relationship, but sometimes you can just have a conversation in a coffee line. So, I’m in this conversation with my father and he’s driving back from Virginia to Maine, and he says to me, you know, I stopped off at the exit and I, I tried your method that you told me. I got into a conversation with this woman in line in front of me in the coffee line. And initially I’m thinking, oh goodness, dad, what are you doing? Right. So, he tells me that he got into this conversation and it was awkward at first and you know, he doesn’t know the person, it’s a stranger, but it was a pleasant conversation.

And then he got up to pay for his coffee, and the person had decided to pay, pay for him. And you know, we’ve all heard stories like that. But the important part for me was that my father then got to the car and phoned me and said, you know, I, I tried your method and I felt really good about it. You know, I felt like I had this positive interaction and for her, like she was by herself. You know, she was in line, she was, you know, he told me she was buying a gallon of water. I don’t know why she would need a whole gallon. But you know, we had a great conversation, and he felt good doing it. And then she obvious felt good. You know, she ended up treating dad to a cup of coffee. And I thought, well, you see, that’s a tiny little micro action in action, sort of what I’ve been talking about in the book. So countless stories like that though, where you see, where people have a small moment of exchange when you don’t know, like, maybe they’re feeling very fragmented that day or they’re feeling isolated or lonely.

And then they see someone who smiled at them and said hello. And they’ll say later, like this small act just like change their whole day, which then changed the next day, which then helped somebody else. And I just could not be more excited about those sorts of examples.

It’s ironic when you mention this because I was actually listening to an episode of Tony Robbins and he’s telling over the weekend and he was Telling this story around a small act, a small moment that he made in a restaurant. And it was all about celebrating somebody who had given him the most amazing service, whatever the name of that particular restaurant was. And then he walks through how that small, small act of kindness essentially then asked to speak to his manager, insisted the manager give him a raise, said that he was the best survey he’d ever received. Then when he went back, they all clapped in terms of the level of service. And then he talks about the ripple effects and then the connections in terms of how it impacted his daughter. His. His daughter had. And a job opportunity in that particular restaurant later, even if she was below the age, you normally hired for that created a relationship. And so, he talks about all the ripple effects. And there were about 10 different ripple effects from that small act of kindness, including where he had a business lunch, I think it was, that he mentions and even gave it to him for free because of the impact that he had had as part of that restaurant’s family.

So just that small moment. Wow. And you choose to do something different and all of those effects. So that was just from reading over the weekend. 

This is exactly the type of thing that I’ve been writing about in the book. And, you know, I had a similar one. I. This was years ago, but I had taken my children out for ice cream. We’re in the ice cream shop, and there was somebody there that was visually upset. She was crying, maybe in her young 20s. And she had been. She was borrowing the phone of the ice cream shop. And I was a little bit nervous, sort of watching her, wondering, like, is she okay? But I ended up going over and talking to her. And lo and behold, she had been living in a group home. And there was some sort of a scuffle that resulted in them telling her she needed to leave. And you could tell that she had some developmental delays and that she was really struggling, and she didn’t know where to go. And I ended up, like, sort of helping her right then and there and like, stabilizing and making some calls and helping her figure it out. And of course, the intent was not for her to leave that group home. Like, there was obviously some issues going on there. 

Like she belonged there and she needed to get re plugged back in. But it was really. I was a complete stranger to her that day. And similar to your example, like, you can be a stranger, and it can be a simple thing, like, like a great service or even intervening on somebody who looks visually upset. Like, how many of us have walked by and seen somebody that looks maybe like they’re not okay. Right. And you know, you can slow down and take some, a few moments and do some small thing and then get them plugged back in where they’re looking for. And in a way they might not have been able to do it themselves. Like, we all as humans need each other, you know.

Correct. And so obviously a very powerful story from a mental health standpoint, very impactful. And I think as we’re walking out of a, of a pandemic where people felt even more isolated, there’s even less of those interactions, I would argue, these days than there was probably prior to 2020. Let’s talk about why these matters for safety, because for me it’s, it’s apparent, but there’s a very strong connection. You talked about before, the, the element of how you can change workplaces. This is an example of how you can do these small acts and how it can have a powerful impact in the workplace.

Yeah, I think there’s a small, a strong connection between these small acts of humanity in the workplace that result in, like, in increasing the safety that then tie back to organizations like ROI or their actual bottom line. And so, you know, bear with me. But like, when you, when you connect the dots between people feeling psychologically safe, like they’re able to be themselves at work, they can speak up, they can have healthy debate, they can still get their mission done and their voices heard and they feel like they belong. I know that I belong in this workplace and that if I’m not here, people are going to look for me and they’re going to sort of miss me not being here because my part of the mission is so critically important. For this reason. It actually buffers against a host of things like isolation, depression, loneliness, and makes the team work better in such a way that you’re less likely to have safety mishaps. You’re less likely to have presenteeism. People sort of physically present but not really present. You’re less likely to have people not fully engaged and at work. And so, I do think that there’s a close connection to making sure that the safety system is working as it should by ensuring people feel these small acts throughout the day and that people are checked in on and that they belong and that you’re not just asking someone, is everybody okay today?

Okay, let’s get started versus like, how are you really doing? Like, tell me how you’re really doing and not just accepting that first answer. And the research shows this, like when people feel, stay quiet and they maybe have their cameras off if they’re in remote or they feel like there are, like they don’t quite belong, they don’t perform their best and then you know, there is a likelihood that you could have incidents and things that you’re not looking for in the workplace.

And I think what you’re talking about one for my mental health well-being, at the end of the day safety is still human. That yes, you can put in a lot of controls, you can put a lot of elements to prevent error from having a consequence. But in most workplaces if you’re not well, your attention is not on the job. When you even talked about presenteeism, you’re not necessarily assessing risks in the way that you should be looking at risk because there’s a different element of risk tolerance as well that can come in which can be very dangerous from a safety standpoint. There’s clearly a link from a mental health well-being and ultimately a safety outcome. But there’s also the element I would say from all the research in the safety space is this element of active care. The leader who shows active care for their team members is you’re going to get in return somebody willing to do more, show up at a different level and do things better from a safety standpoint. So, I think it really connects to active care from a safety standpoint. But also, this element of well-being is key to safety outcomes.

Right. Like it’s the foundation. Right. I always used to think back in the day we would come up with these things for military commanders, and they were like call the commander’s checklist. We would have a checklist for everything. Right. And of course that’s the way the military is bred. Like the pilots have their checklist and for all the right reasons, like we’ve got to make sure that safe and that we’re following the checklist. But we would have policies and then we would train the troops and the, and our civilian personnel like to the policy, and we do all of these things to get the system working well. Sure. Critically important. I wouldn’t tell you to stop having policies and you know, eliminate training. But I would tell you equally important is like do they know one another? Like are they connected? Do they know one another by name? Do they know the names of one’s family members and how special that feels when people say how’s Susie? Or how’s Johnny? I know you just finished third grade and summer’s coming. The idea of human connection is equally as important as that policy document that we push through at work.

And I would say, particularly even with elite teams like Navy seals, et cetera, you would want to have that very tight bond because they’re, they need to rely on each other, trust each other. But the same applies in the workplace, I think so.

And, you know, we, we talk a lot as well with like, first responders and the likelihood of people asking for help when they need it, after they’ve been exposed. In some of these workplaces where they get exposed to trauma, when they feel connected and they feel like they belong and they’re in and they’re not going to be judged, they’re also more likely to raise their hand and say, I need help. I just saw this incredibly, you know, traumatic thing and, and it doesn’t mean I’m out of the fight or I no longer belong here. It just means I need a little help. I need some peer support. So, I do think it’s at that, like, as you described with Active Care, it’s at the foundation for all the other things that workplaces can do to make sure people feel safe and create environments that are safe too.

And ultimately, to me, that’s one of the key pieces’ leaders have to make safety personal. And making a safety personal is talking about with vulnerability. Why safety matters to me as a leader, but also for frontline team members. If I don’t know who’s on my team, who they’re staying safe for, so it could be their kids, I don’t know what’s happening in that environment. You’re not going to get people showing up in that particular way. And yes, we can hope that one day we can eliminate all hazards. We can control every single hazard. But until that day, there’s still humans making choices and decision that can get in harm’s way.

This episode of the Safety Guru podcast is brought to you by Propulo Consulting, the leading safety and safety culture advisory firm. Whether you are looking to assess your safety culture, develop strategies to level up your safety performance, introduce human performance capabilities, re-energize your BBS program, enhanced supervisory safety capabilities, or introduce unique safety leadership training and talent solutions. Propulo, has you covered. Visit us at propolo.com

Yes, and I was, you know, thinking too about our conversations about safety issues in the workplace just around like, the basics of like, filing a report. And, you know, I’ve worked a lot in healthcare and of course we do this as well in healthcare systems. And just this notion of small acts around, like, really closing the loop. So, like, we might think that we’re closing the loop by, like, doing the necessary administrative actions and we might think that we’re closing the loop by, like, you know, giving a brief after the fact to tell people the lessons learned and, you know, bringing the teams together and, you know, this is what happened with this spill or this incident. But in fact, like, closing the loop with the people one on one.

Like, I noticed you saw this at work, you know, on a last Tuesday. You know, I know we’re doing the administrative part of it, but what was that like for you? Like, actually, like checking in and truly closing the loop with people. Because these incidents, they don’t just particularly the ones I’ve been exposed to. I know not all safety is traumatic in nature, but they don’t just disappear from their mind. Like, they’re not just gone. They stay with them and be a part of who they are. So, I think the more we really close the loop and make sure that folks are truly okay, the better we’ll do as organizations. Organizations, right.

So, what can leaders do? What. What are some of the things they can do to create this environment with people encouraged to do these small acts of kindness?

You know, it’s such a good question because I spent a lot of time, you know, thinking about specific actions that leaders can do. And on the one hand, you might think that I’m going to tell you these, like, grand big things, and I wish that were the case because. But it’s not. Most of what I will share with you, you will be surprised how simple, basic, and easy it is, and one we’ve already talked about. And it’s just. I call it like, asking the second question. So, it’s the question that you ask when you say, how are you? And then they say, fine, thanks. And then you have to come back with, like, no, really, how are you? I know you said you’re fine, but, like, I see this. Or, you know, like, really, like, ask the second question.

Sure.

And then I say also, like, notice when people are slightly different or when they go quiet. And this is hard. And I think you and I’ve talked about this in telework environments, like, when people are virtual. Like, you have to notice when they turn off their camera. You have to notice when they’re quiet when they’re normally not. And then you have to know that withdrawal is actually, you know, it’s a safety signal when. When people disengage or they withdraw. Like, put that in your little. In you. In your wrist dial as, like, a safety. A safety signal because they’re less engaged. Sure. And it’s a data point for you as A leader. The other one I would tell you is, you know, we have a tendency, and I’ve been guilty of this over the years, like you have. There’s such a push on, like getting the mission done. So, you’re like, let’s get our teams together. Let’s, let’s get on track. What’s our agenda? Let’s move out. I’m trying to be, and I challenge leaders today, more purposeful with hearing the junior people first on our teams.

Yep, very powerful. Yes.

How do we know where the rubber meets the road if we don’t slow down and listen? And it’s so quick to like, turn to the senior people in the room who of course have the most experience. And probably, you know, you want your input from your best people. But there is something to be said in terms of a culture of belonging when you just turn to the youngest, newest person on the team and you sort of ask them, how is it going out there? You know, you’re, you’re on the front lines share and like, really model that everybody needs to listen to the most junior person. So, I think that’s like a tactical, easy thing. And the other, I, you know, the other thing I can, that I wrote about in the book is like using feedback as a place for connection. And so, like when leaders are giving feedback, they’re giving it in such a way that, where you’re building a relationship that that stays intact and that it’s not like a quick system of accountability, you know, I gave Mr. Smith feedback today and now I can check that box. I developed a relationship with Mr. Smith today and based on that relationship, we’re working on this together and I’m, I’m part of helping him work on that.

So, I just think there’s a number of things. The last thing I would tell you is about transitions and this, I learned this in healthcare. But I’d be curious what you think as well. On non healthcare organizations, periods of transition are high risk. So, like when someone first gets a job, it’s a high risk. Time they’re new, when they’re off boarding into retirement, that’s a high risk in healthcare. When they’re moving between parts of the healthcare system, there’s a propensity that they could fall through the cracks.

Makes sense.

So, I just say we should think about these periods of transition within organizations, like when we’re going through large change management, when we’re moving people from one team to the next. And I would say reach out before they end up having an issue. So how do we study or dig in during periods of transition in a better way within our organizations.

And if I may, I would think that transition also could be. If you’re aware of who’s on your team, those transitions could also be personal.

Having a baby, having a divorce.

Correct. Yeah.

Things that, that could impact.

You’re right.

Distractions that could maybe introduce new risk or maybe introduce a better cause to stay safe. And I think it’s part of that element of the more I know you, the more I know what’s going on with you, then I can check in and say what, what, maybe you look tired today.

Yes.

And, and using that as a, as a component, I would agree when somebody isn’t typically and I’ve seen some variability on these stats, but new enroll typically has higher injury risk. As you’re still trying to understand the tasks, you’re still trying to understand how to fit into the, into the culture and you may not necessarily know the hazards you haven’t been trained for then. The other part is what I’ve seen, and this varies is it’s either late in career or what I’ve seen in some instances was actually late in career in the years prior to your ability to retire. And those who could retire and who stayed on very different driver because many of them wanted to be there, there was a different motivation versus I can now check out and leave, right?

Yeah. I can’t say enough about these periods of transition. I appreciate you bringing up the ones that go on personal because it’s like at the micro and the ma periods of transition for us as an organization, but periods of transition for all the people that are in that organization as well. And how do we pay more attention to those as periods of vulnerability for us as safety leaders and really zone in on them? An interesting stat that I, that I wrote about in the book has to do with caregiving that I think many, many leaders may not know. One third of the nation is right now engaged in caregiving either for parents that are aging or I don’t just mean parenting, like regular parenting is not in the caregiving stats. But I mean special needs sort of caregiving for, you know, chronically ill children, special needs children or catastrophically wounded veterans, traumatic brain injury and the like. When you put all of those together, that’s a lot. Yes. Chances are if you’re running a team of 100 people, 33 or so of them are probably involved in caregiving. And that’s also a period of transition.

Like, okay, now I’m responsible for making sure that grandma Gets her medicine and that she’s supervised and not, you know, walking the neighborhood with, you know, early onset dementia or the like. And so that will play itself out in our work environments if. And the more that we can tend to that in a proactive way, the better.

And it goes back to knowing, understanding your team, understanding what’s going on, acts of kindness in terms of connecting with them. But also, there’s an impact when I think of safety, there’s a direct impact on these things around fatigue, which we know is a precursor to many injuries. Distractions, which we know is a precursor to many injuries. Are all of these items can increase your propensity to have an injury or do something that you shouldn’t have done. And so even just that awareness, I think I shared last time with you, this story of I thought was really powerful. It was a supervisor who noticed that one of the operators that was going to use a very heavy piece of machinery on the shift looked a little bit different because he knew what she normally looks like and had a general sense that something was a little bit off. She was a little bit distracted that day. So, he just went and checked in, how are you doing? And she opened up and said, well, actually I lost my home last night. I was evicted and we slept on the street.

Wow.

And because of that, obviously he was able to remove her from the high-risk equipment machinery. Realizing this is not the right thing. But that requires you to know your team.

Yes.

That requires the culture to encourage this. Right. So, leaders above that, to create those acts of kindness so that it becomes an expectation across the organization.

So true. Small little things and paying attention to your gut when you see those small little things. This leader, in this example that you described, say nothing had happened to that employee the night before. And that leader sent something a little bit and went over and checked. And if they were okay, that would have been okay.

Yeah, absolutely.

In fact, it would have felt really good. As the person that’s about to do this, like, heavy equipment role, that somebody on my team was really checking on me before I did it like that, that would have felt so good to me if I were that employee. And if they were okay, that’s. That, that, that’s terrific. But in the slight chance that they’re not and you as the leader is able to make that intervention, pull them off the line, put somebody else in, that’s in a good spot. Not in a punitive way, of course, but in a caring way. And, you know, and, and like, let’s talk like, come let’s go sit down or and if you as the leader, because I always hear this from leaders, they just don’t have time there. In many cases, leading large, huge teams and like, you don’t have time to sit and have coffee with every single employee. But we can sometimes find a peer who can. And as a leader, you can talk to them for as much time as you have, but then you can also set them up with somebody else and continue to stay involved as a touch point, like I just say, like, use other people as force multipliers in such a way that you’re like building peer support as part of the culture and really having people help people.

So, my key takeaways are one, you want the frontline leaders to have that sense of active care to check in doing these little acts. You want peers to do the same with each other, which creates, if you created that environment where it’s now the norm that we’re checking out, checking in with each other and doing these small acts for each other creates a better sense of connection to the organization. For senior leaders, it’s the element of, as you do these small acts, it will have ripple effects, it will cascade, it can help influence the broader culture. So, making the time for those little things, and then the last one is really to your coffee line example is we can all do it in our personal lives. We can all choose to make somebody’s day. This Tony Robbins story I shared, in terms of recognizing something above and beyond, but finding ways to connect with others and having those ripple effects.

Yes, absolutely. And I would say that like some of these things that we’ve talked about today that are small acts are likely some of the easily accessible and most important acts. And I know I’m a little bit biased, but these are the things that will create the foundation for all of the other things to go well.

Right. So, your book, the Human Cure, How Small Acts Can Change the World. Tell me a little bit about that book. And I’m assuming people can pick it up on Amazon or in any bookstore.

Yes, on Amazon or Barnes and Noble and the like. Yes. So, the book, like I said, is very much focused on small, basic things that people can do every day. And what I was able to do was pull together a career worth of lessons in the field of mental health, but also interview a number of people, researchers, very senior leaders, and get some of their takeaways and their lessons for things around empathy, compassion, peer support, even using storytelling as a way to, you know, bring healing within families and organizations. And then I pulled the thread on the latest research on this. So really looking at the science around this and how it connects to improved health outcomes, improved team outcomes, sort of larger. The book goes from micro to macro and sort of everything in between. So, it’s been two years in the making. I’ve, you know, it’s been a fun journey and at the same time grueling. And I’m just super excited to get it out there, get some feedback from people on it and really make sure people know that it’s everyday small things in our power that can make the biggest difference.

Excellent. Well, Keita, thank you so much for joining the show again. Really appreciate your story and definitely will be picking up a copy of your book.

Oh, thank you so much. I appreciate it as well. And all the work that you’re doing to raise awareness on safety issues. I love watching your work unfold as well.

Excellent. Thank you.

Thank you for listening to The Safety Guru on C-suite Radio. Leave a legacy. Distinguish yourself from the past. Grow your success. Capture the hearts and minds of your teams. Elevate your safety. Like every successful athlete, top leaders continuously invest in their safety leadership with an expert coach to boost safety performance. Begin your journey at execsafetycoach.com. Come back in two weeks for the next episode with your host, Eric Michrowski. This podcast is powered by Propulo Consulting.