Recruiting and Building Effective Safety Teams

In this episode, Mary Conquest speaks with former Marine Michael Flynn, Corporate Safety Director of Barnard Construction, who’s held safety roles in construction since 1995.

Hiring in the safety profession is a crucial process for any leader looking to build an effective safety team. At the same time, new safety professionals need to know what skills are required to attract potential employers. Mike can help safety professionals at either end of the spectrum. He’s been recruiting and developing safety teams for decades.

Mike explains why soft skills are particularly important for safety managers. He believes that teaching the technical elements of safety is relatively straightforward. Therefore, he encourages recruiters and candidates to focus on areas such as relationship-building and communication.

He gives top tips on where to look for candidates, how to spot potential and what questions to ask during the interview process.

In the second part of this engaging interview, Mike focuses on building effective safety teams. He recommends concentrating on team members’ strengths and explains why role fit is so important in safety management.

Ultimately, he reveals that the secret to success in workplace safety is caring about your people. And Mike has cared for a lot of co-workers over the last 30 years.

Mike recommends the author Malcolm Gladwell, author of five New York Times bestsellers - The Tipping Point, Blink, Outliers, What the Dog Saw, and David and Goliath.

Malcolm Gladwell – Home | Malcolm Gladwell (gladwellbooks.com)

Another book Mike suggests is Dr Spencer Johnson’s Who Moved My Cheese: 

Who Moved My Cheese: An Amazing Way to Deal with Change in Your Work and in Your Life: Amazon.co.uk: Johnson, Dr Spencer: 8601404197116: Books

Finally, Mike also recommended Leaders Eat Last by Simon Sinek:

Leaders Eat Last: Why Some Teams Pull Together and Others Don't: Amazon.co.uk: Sinek, Simon: 9780670923175: Books

Michael Flynn on LinkedIn

Michael Flynn, RSP® | LinkedIn

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