"Leadership VZOR" Project

Context: Why Leadership Determines Safety

The development of a safety culture is impossible without the active participation of top management. When a company implements new tools and procedures, it is the manager's role model that becomes the key success factor. In her presentation, Oksana Zalevskaya, Head of the Integrated HSE System at Severstal, examines how a lack of leadership energy can become a blocker of change and how a systematic approach to managerial behavior helps overcome this barrier.

Prerequisites for the "Leadership VZOR" Project

In 2022, the company launched a transformation project aimed at reducing potentially fatal incidents. During regular measurements of change perception, a phenomenon of "retreating leadership" was identified — managers lacked an active stance to support new procedures. In addition, there was a low level of employee engagement and an imbalance in the motivation system. These factors triggered the development of a unique role model for a safety leader.

Four Leadership Commitments: Engage, Declare, Provide, Develop

The speaker examines in detail the "VZOR" concept, which is built on four key actions of a manager:

• Engage: finding and supporting change agents among workers (safety volunteers), regular leadership walkarounds for direct communication at production sites. This allows seeing the real picture, not just reports.
• Declare: constantly informing employees about the priority of safety. Every meeting begins with a safety contact, emphasizing the absolute importance of this topic.
• Provide: balancing production and safety goals. Managers personally participate in steering committees, allocating necessary resources and resolving emerging dilemmas.
• Develop: creating a culture of continuous improvement. Personal participation of managers in training events and mentoring projects to improve working conditions.

Implementation Tools and Performance Monitoring

A number of practical tools were developed to implement the model. The speaker shows by example how leadership walkarounds, safety roundtables, and the volunteer movement work. An important element is continuous monitoring: assessing the leader's personal commitments, measuring through corporate pulse surveys, and using dashboards to analyze quantitative and qualitative metrics. This allows for timely adjustments to the individual development plans of managers.

Safety Volunteers: Drivers of Change on the Ground

Special attention in the presentation is given to the safety volunteer movement. These are proactive employees who allocate up to 15% of their working time to improve safety in their areas. Unlike occupational safety representatives, volunteers do not receive financial incentives, but actively participate in development events, reference visits, and direct dialogues with top management. This approach maximizes the use of their creative potential and dedication.

What you will learn from this webinar:

• How to diagnose "retreating leadership" and what tools help bring managers back into the safety management process?
• How to develop and implement a unified safety leader role model for all management levels?
• How to organize a safety volunteer movement without financial incentives and make it effective?
• What metrics to use to assess the effectiveness of leadership programs and staff engagement?
• How to overcome resistance and resource shortages during a large-scale safety culture transformation?