VPP guru wows Tinker management

Published June 24, 2011
By Brandice J. O'Brien
Tinker Public Affairs

TINKER AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. -- The message was simple, "Great leaders change the culture."

Using Forrest Gump impersonations, personal experience and stories about real people, Voluntary Protection Program guru Paul Savage spread the message to Oklahoma City Air Logistics Center and Defense Logistics Agency management June 13-16.

"Leaders who were not able to attend missed a great opportunity to get fired up and passionate about the safety of the most precious resource we have -- our people," said Col. Herb Wesselman, 72nd Mission Support Group commander, said after the June 16 presentation.

Using a slideshow, Mr. Savage, a motivational speaker who incorporates the principles of management commitment and employee involvement in safety is from the VPP Center of Excellence. He regularly visits Department of Defense sites within the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's Region VI that have or are implementing VPP.

His presentation was introduced using five categories -- leaders at the top, leaders in the middle, leaders on the front line, leaders that were visible and some great reading.

Prior to his presentation, Mr. Savage introduced two caveats, one of them being he would not tell anyone how to do VPP. It was their responsibility to listen to his briefing and take what they could to apply to their role within their workplace. Mr. Savage admitted he didn't know what his class did outside of their time with him, nor did he know what kind of leaders they were. At best, he could show examples of great leaders and hope his students learned from that.

"The culture in the workplace is totally dependent on the management team," Mr. Savage said. "Whether employees value safety or not is highly dependent on the attitudes of the supervision."

Leaders at the top have to be accountable for their employees' actions, Mr. Savage said. If they don't buy into an idea or concept, employees' interest will quickly wane. In Mr. Savage's opinion, Randy Parker, vice director at the 88th Air Base Wing at Wright Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, is a leader at the top. To get his personnel excited and engaged in VPP, he introduced a coffee mug incentive. Purchased in bulk with the Air Force and VPP logos, Mr. Parker distributed the coffee mugs and personally poured juice for whoever met their VPP goal. He created a culture.

Kenny Ott, a manager at the first Star site Mr. Savage visited, changed his attitude. Initially, management and employees were divided; the relationship damaged. Neither side trusted the other. When the first VPP committee formed, it was made up of only employees. Eventually, Mr. Ott, a member of management, was invited in. Yet, when a safety issue fell in his lap, instead of discussing it with his VPP committee, he'd say, "We'd don't need to ask the employees." He'd rather fix it himself.

Mr. Savage told him he "didn't have a VPP attitude." Mr. Ott, hurt by those words, changed his approach and the next time there was "Let's see what the committee says." Those six words strengthened his relationship with the employees and eventually erased the division of cliques between the employees and management.

Following a handful of examples, attendees said they got it.

"Mr. Savage's presentation was very entertaining and informative. What Mr. Savage presented was all about leadership; leadership at all levels of an organization, and what makes a great leader," said Lt. Col. Dan Furleigh, 72nd Operations Support Squadron commander. "When you think about VPP and Safety, these programs are all about leadership: leadership to display involvement and commitment, leadership to demand accountability, and leadership at all levels to establish a culture of safety-first operations."

Senior Master Sgt. Melissa Garrett, 72nd Security Forces Squadron first sergeant, agreed.

"I thought it was very motivating and it was really about leadership," she said. "I took the opportunity to write down a few of his recommended books. It was one of the most useful leadership briefs that I have received in a long time."