E058_To a Successful Year 2023: A Heartfelt Thanks to our Safety Community

Today, we celebrate our year-end journey filled with gratitude, reflection, and exciting insights.

What an incredible year it's been, with 50 podcast episodes under our belt and a growing community of over 1000 followers on LinkedIn. We're ecstatic to have shared this with you, bridging conversations around safety and reshaping perceptions.

But before we take a short festive break, we express our heartfelt thanks to you, our safety community (listeners), for being an integral part of this journey.

From discussing topics that matter, like neuroscience and conversational intelligence, to celebrating achievements and launching our Knowledge Hub, there's been so much to learn and explore. 

Your suggestions and interactions have enriched our content, encouraging more open, meaningful dialogues, and as we eagerly await 2024, we're brimming with enthusiasm to continue these conversations. 

Thanks for listening!

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This episode was produced under Safety Collaborations Limited and now continues as part of Karin Ovari Limited. While we are not currently releasing new episodes, the entire library remains active, and the topics covered are just as relevant today as when they were first recorded.

To learn more about my current work in leadership and communication, visit karinovari.com and the leadership community, The Supervisors Hub.

Connect with us on LinkedIn: Karin Ovari, Nuala Gage,

If you enjoyed this episode, please help us spread the word and leave a review on your preferred podcast player.

Stay Safe, Stay Well
The Safety Collaborators

Chapters

• 0:12 Gratitude and Reflection in Safety Collaborations
• 12:53 Knowledge Hub, Newsletter, and Embracing Collaboration
• 17:06 Conversations That Matter in 2023

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:12

Today marks the move to the end of the year, a time to reflect and be grateful for all we have achieved and what is yet to come. We thank you for being part of our journey thus far. We thank you. Author. Me, I am Karen.

Speaker 2: 0:29

And I am Nula, and we are the Safety.

Speaker 1: 0:33

Collaborators. Our mission is to help people have better conversations than change the way they think about safety. Consider us your thinking partners, sharing expertise and wisdom in everything safety, safety culture, emotional intelligence and psychological safety.

Speaker 2: 0:51

Today is the last episode for the year and we want to thank you. We are also going to reflect on what we are grateful about from the year of 2023. Just so that you know, we are going to take a couple of weeks off over the festive season and we will be back in January with new exciting topics for you to enjoy. Episode 59 and 60 will be on the topic of Bridging Cultures for Safety, something we often speak about and that we have promised to share with you. So tune in on the 10th of January for part one.

Speaker 1: 1:28

We would love to hear what you might be celebrating or are grateful for this year, no matter how big or small, reach out to us. Via our show notes page. We have created a little space where you can email us your thoughts. Of course, you can always reach out to us on LinkedIn Karanavari or Nula Gage, or our company page under these episode notes, if you know what I mean Basically you can reach out to us in multiple ways, even if we get tongue tied about it Exactly.

Speaker 2: 1:56

And what are we grateful for this year as safety collaborations?

Speaker 1: 2:01

I think we've got quite a nice list of things to be grateful for this year and I think one of the most exciting for us was certainly celebrating reaching that 50th podcast episode milestone. I mean, we are now past that and, strangely enough, it seems quicker to get to the next one than it did to get to the 50. It does. It was brilliant, amazing, yeah, and it wasn't always an easy journey, and I think that's why that 50th episode was so important to us and has given us that little bit of oxytocin, booster endorphins, whatever you want to call it to continue on sharing these episodes with you and helping to build this following and what we want to achieve with it as well.

Speaker 2: 2:47

Very much so, and it's a big thank you to you for the feedback that we've had from the different episodes and the feedback about what you would like to hear more of, and we promise to continue to bring you that wisdom in 2024. For me, another one of them was our LinkedIn. Company page has more than a thousand followers, and I think I drove you and Katrina crazy with my mission.

Speaker 1: 3:17

I'm not surprised by that one.

Speaker 2: 3:21

But not just to be going out and owning all friends and family and saying, go and follow our page. It really is a brand, building a space for community and community within the safety world and industry and with people who want to learn more about communication, who want to learn more about leadership and have the conversations that matter that we talk about. And if you haven't joined our LinkedIn page but you are an amazing follower of our podcast, come and find us. We would love to have you as part of that community. On the safety collaborations page.

Speaker 1: 3:57

I think it's important to note. It's not about the numbers so much. I think it's more about what they mean. I guess it's a little bit of validation that what we're doing, what our dream is, is becoming a little bit more real every day, and the best way to measure that is through some of these milestone numbers. It's not about woohoo, we've got, because we're well past a thousand followers, by the way, but it's really about those numbers were important for that moment in time, so well done to you for really encouraging that.

Speaker 1: 4:35

I'm less of a social butterfly, so I'm like, yeah, whatever, but you know it feels good. And I think the other really important people in all of this is you, the clients, our followers, our listeners. The teams that we've worked with this year have been phenomenal and we thank you and every single person that we've had the pleasure to engage with. Whether that's just an early days conversation, whether it's setting up for the future, whether it was a program that we've been with for a long time that needs a little revamp, there's lots of different ways to engage and we really, really appreciate every single person that we work with and engage with.

Speaker 2: 5:19

And just on that one. I think what I've also loved about this year is moving from only having the ability to work in the virtual world per se to really being able to do both to both grow the virtual programs and interactions and engagements that we have, but also being able to work with people in person and have many workshops, to go on to sites, go offshore. It's been really great and we couldn't do it without you. So again, thank you.

Speaker 1: 5:50

I think that leads into what you're probably about to say. Yep, that includes having exhibited at our first in person events as a business. We went to the first one with no great expectations. We just thought let's go and see what it feels like to be in the flesh with others and setting up a stand and doing all that stuff. And, oh my goodness me, that was the safety explainer, aberdeen in September this year and it was a great fun and a big shout out to Jason from XIC Printing for really setting up a great event and we look forward to being there next year Very much so.

Speaker 2: 6:28

And then, of course, the IIDC Conference, hse and Sustainability Europe Conference in Amsterdam, which was also another great meeting of minds, conversations and some great presentations, but for me it was really around the conversations. The one on ones that we had outside of the actual conference itself Couldn't agree more.

Speaker 2: 6:50

Where we got to find out what are the struggles that people are having and have some of our assumptions tested and got to meet people where there is that kind of energy connection that we get to now continue to grow and work on and watch the space for next year, because we would love to know if you will be joining us in the Mibia, because we are speaking and exhibiting at the IIDC Drilling Africa Conference in February, which is the 21st and 22nd, I think, in Vindhuk 20th and 21st.

Speaker 1: 7:24

Yeah, so we'll be speaking on the topic of Bridging Cultures for Safety, which is also the topics that we'll be talking about in January on the podcast. So listen for that and we'll talk more about that as the time gets closer and as part of those events. It actually means that we as a team because we're a distributed team we live between South Africa and Aberdeen and getting together is very special for us. So we've managed to do that two or three times this year and about to do it again, because Nourla is horrified as she is. She's coming to Aberdeen next week to join me in my cold December, because currently where she is, it's 30 degrees plus, and apparently there's no such thing as bad weather, there's only bad clothing.

Speaker 2: 8:16

So hopefully I will get that right.

Speaker 1: 8:18

Yeah, we'll be fine, you'll love it. You'll love it, I will. It'll be good fun. It'll be good fun, so it means that Katrina Nourla and myself we will get to spend a bit more time together, spend some good time planning what we're doing next year. We spent a week together in Amsterdam talking about these things, so it's been really quite a blessing this year to be able to get together as often as we have it has, because that's not always the case.

Speaker 2: 8:46

One of the other things that I'm very excited about for 2024 is that we are looking at. We are not looking at.

Speaker 2: 8:53

We are in process of developing and launching a public safety leadership program to support your frontline leaders, and that really is a space where we have all these amazing people in leadership and supervisory positions and often it's been the case of you've gone from doing the job and being a part of the team to being promoted and now all of a sudden having to lead the team. But it's a very different skill, it's a very different way of doing things, and the more we can support in that area, the more safe places we can have in our working environments, the more psychologically safe our teams will be, and it will be including a lot of those skills of how do you go from being a team member to being a team leader.

Speaker 1: 9:44

And not such an easy thing to do. So the idea behind the pub. So we've got two things and they feed into each other. So why not be public safety leadership programs? And the reason behind that. And when we say public, they're open to individuals from different organizations and the idea behind that is that it doesn't suit everybody to have bespoke programs. Some other organizations would actually like to do some of that, but would like it to be a little bit more accessible. So that's the idea behind that. We'll be using a platform that is very community and conversationally driven. So watch that.

Speaker 1: 10:20

The safety leaders hub is what we're developing. Which is what Noura was alluding to was how do we help that frontline leader be supported as they move into those new roles and, in addition to that, support their leaders, like their managers or their boss support them. So it's kind of creating a bit of a closed loop, but we will facilitate that and that will help organizations across the board. There's lots of coaching and facilitation and that is done for generally more senior leadership, but that frontline leadership sometimes is left a little bit behind. Because there's more people it's harder to manage. We fully understand that.

Speaker 1: 10:59

So this has been a 10 year dream in the making and 2024 is going to see this come to life. So do reach out if this is something that sounds interesting to you. Part of it will be a bit of peer community, a bit of bite-sized learning, some group coaching, one-on-one coaching if needed, so there'll be some lovely ways to interact and to get some support. As I say, reach out and let me know if that's of interest to you and maybe we can talk about what they could look like, because I suspect each group will be an organization, will have their own hub, because it will need to be for sensitivity, of information, that type of thing. So we'll see. Maybe we'll make one a bigger, more open one We'll see in time have community forums along the process or as part of the community.

Speaker 2: 11:45

Absolutely, and there has been a lot of interest from industry players.

Speaker 1: 11:48

There has.

Speaker 2: 11:49

And we'll continue those conversations. Here's the safety collaborations team. One thing I am super grateful for and also ever proud of is that we have not only survived, but we have thrived to the three year mark in our business and we will continue to invest in growing the business and making a difference in 2024. And that includes growing ourselves. We have a very, very strong learning culture and, you know, always looking out for what's the new research, what's happening, how can we?

Speaker 2: 12:23

learn and turn that learning into a sharing of wisdom, into a reality and challenging ourselves and going well, just because we've done it like that before, is that still the best way before we dive into something? And through doing that, we believe that we are adding a huge amount of value to you, to our clients, to our audience, and that is something that I am so looking forward to continuing that learning journey and that thriving as we grow and as we move into the new year. On that note, in our Knowledge Hub, we have huge resources available to you. That's in our podcast episodes, it's our blog posts, we have case studies. It's also where you'll find our random acts of safety and we are loving how that is growing.

Speaker 2: 13:08

So please keep adding those, and part of the content development is very much around wanting to know what would you like to learn more about in this learning environment and this learning community, so reach out to us in our podcast page or our Knowledge Hub. There's a form there that you can say. Karen Neuler, this is what I would love to learn more about, whether it's more about neuroscience, conversational intelligence, bridging cultures. Once you have a listen to that in January, and we will continue to develop some lovely content for you.

Speaker 1: 13:42

We're also going to I think the word would be properly launch newsletter, which we've been kind of dabbling with for the last two years. One goes out ever so often, but in 2024, we will make a concerted effort to be sending out a regular newsletter. I'm not going to say what that looks like just yet. That's something we're planning over the next two, three weeks, what that will look like. But in that newsletter it's about keeping you up to date with what we're up to, but also supporting the content that we are creating and sharing with you. The best way you can support that newsletter and us is to actually sign up. We'd be delighted if you joined us. You can sign up via our website page, safetycollaborationscom, and at the bottom of each page on the website there is an opportunity to sign up, and it is the best place to sign up rather than just emailing us and say adding because of GDPR and all that stuff.

Speaker 2: 14:40

All the the T's and C's.

Speaker 1: 14:42

Exactly so. As we come to a close of this episode, I think one of the things that I'd really like to put out there is our three words. We don't talk about these three words very often. We have talked recently about our core values but I think our three words really do define who we are, and they are embrace, fruitful collaboration. And what do we mean by that? Embrace is about people and groups bringing those together to create the culture that you're looking for. Fruitful is about taking what was in the past and what's in the present, and together that equals your future story. And then collaboration, of course, is you and us together to create the story we want to see our future to be.

Speaker 2: 15:28

And I wish that everybody could actually see you on video as you do the hand animations to each one of those. I think we might have to do a video when we're together just to see the animations, because it was just lovely watching that on camera. Because we do love to embrace fruitful collaboration, we do we do.

Speaker 1: 15:51

It's a big virtual hug going out to everyone yeah.

Speaker 2: 15:53

Yeah, exactly. And, most importantly, the safety collaborations team are still loving each other after three years of working together. We are continuing to grow and we are continuing to learn together, which makes us very glad, and I found a little glad acronym by Emily Roberts, because we love an acronym. We'll try not to suffocate you with acronyms in 2024. However, let's end the year with a little bit of practicing positivity daily, the glad technique yeah. So G is for grateful. What is one thing that you are thankful for that is relevant to what you experienced today, no matter how small? L is for learned. What is one fact, skill or something you discovered about yourself or a friend? A is accomplishment. What is one accomplishment? Anything from something incredibly small to something wonderfully grand. And D is delight. What is one thing that touched your heart today? Anything that brought you joy or was pleasing to your senses. Let's all be glad together.

Speaker 1: 17:06

So thank you for being on this wonderful adventure with us today, helping people have conversations that matter and change the way they think about safety physically, emotionally and psychologically In a world full of connections. We are glad to be one of yours.

Speaker 2: 17:22

Thank you for joining us today. It is always lovely to have conversations at MATTER. May you have a wonderful festive season, in whichever way you celebrate bringing 2023 to a close and welcoming in 2024. Connect with us on our website, safetycollaborationscom, where you'll find the show notes for this episode. Send us a message on the shared space, as we've mentioned earlier, and we would really appreciate your help in growing this podcast, and the way that you can do that, if you haven't already, is press the subscribe button. That will help us know who's listening and also leaving us a review so that other people know how to find us and be able to know what content that you are finding interesting and then also share it with people that you believe would benefit from having better conversations.

Speaker 1: 18:13

Till next year, stay safe and stay well.