The DEKRA Safety Leadership Diagnostic Instrument (LDI)
There is a statistically significant correlation between how the direct reports of a leadership team perceive their bosses as safety leaders and the company’s organizational culture and safety performance. Locations with leadership teams that are rated positively in safety leadership have greater safety performance. Not only do these locations do better in safety, they also do better in areas of quality, customer service, and employee engagement, to mention a few.
There is also another important finding: Style matters. Safety best practices are a reflection of what leaders do to demonstrate their personal commitment to safety. But style is about how they influence, such as how leaders give direction, motivate others, whether they treat people as individuals, and the ways they demonstrate concern for the success and well-being of others. The most effective leadership style is “Transformational.” Transformational leadership is consistently highly rated in safety leadership best practices.
Leaders create culture, and culture predicts performance. Therefore, if you want to move your culture forward, it is critical to understand the strengths found within the leadership team and what leadership gaps might be stifling a change initiative or preventing even higher levels of performance.
The DEKRA Safety Leadership Diagnostic Instrument (LDI) gives individual leaders a clear picture of how they are perceived. Armed with this knowledge, the leader can then create a customized path of personal development. When combined with a focus on how the entire leadership can grow, the LDI gives senior leadership a path for creating change that is both holistic and powerful.
When a leader starts on an individual journey of development, they don’t have to go alone. As part of its leadership development process, DEKRA offers mentors who listen, provide advice, and who are not afraid to help a leader see how a particular action or decision could set them back.
Your Benefits of LDI:
- A leadership team operating at its full potential.
- Lower Injury rates.
- Deeper understanding of the connection between leadership, culture, and safety.
- Higher levels of compliance.
- Increased demonstration of organizational citizenship behavior by employees.
- Improved organizational performance.
The DEKRA Approach
The LDI is typically used within the context of DEKRA safety leadership coaching. This approach leverages both one-on-one and group interactions. The individual leader will work with a mentor in a confidential environment. There are additional opportunities for development in a group setting. Both are important for sustained improvement.
The LDI Process:
Administration. The LDI uses a sampling methodology to assess a leader against DEKRA’s seven safety best practices for leadership (what leadership must do) and four leadership style elements (how leadership must do it). This assessment typically includes a self-evaluation, feedback from both their manager and from all their immediate direct reports. Other groups like peers and skip level may also be recommended. Assessment findings and recommendations are then compiled in an individual leadership profile.
Results. The results give individual leaders the opportunity to understand their own performance. For each leadership style element and safety best practice, the leader receives a percentile score that compares their performance to their own team and to others in the norms database containing thousands of leaders from more than 50 countries. For each individual question, the leader receives the average score for each respondent group (direct report, peer, manager, and self) as well as the distribution of responses, or response frequency, for each group. This gives leaders valuable insight into how consistently their style and practices are received by those with whom he or she works.
Application. The LDI’s individual leadership profile is the ideal starting point for a leadership coaching and development plan. It identifies specific practices and other actionable items that a leader can address to enhance his or her influence on organizational safety and reliability. The LDI can also be re-administered after the completion of a performance plan to help measure progress.
Why DEKRA?
- We have a proven track record of enabling you to get the outcomes you desire.
- We have helped thousands of leaders improve how they demonstrate their care and compassion for employees.
- We are experienced mentors with comprehensive know-how and years of real leadership expertise.
- We specialize in improving safety leadership performance with our transformational approach.