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This is a short but powerful column...

I thought I had seen it all, but a manager showed me a new twist on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving Day, a Thursday here in the United States.

He was wrapping up his daily meeting with his direct reports. Things were going on about as normal when he made the following comments.

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"I am going to be posting my personal and company cell phone numbers on the bulletin board. I want people to take them down.

"Tell your people, if they cannot drive (due to being inebriated) they are to call me any time, day or night, and I will come get them. I will take them anywhere except to a bar. I will take them to a girlfriend's house. I will take them to their parents. Anywhere they want to go, anytime day, night or weekends. This is my pledge to you as long as I am your leader."

I did not have time to ask this manager if somewhere earlier in life he had had an experience with a drunken driving catastrophe. The longer I thought about it, the less I decided that even mattered. What was important was his dedication to protecting his employees from a misjudgment while not at work. Seldom have I seen such a commitment and never have I seen such a specific commitment.

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Now, this manager is not soft on safety. In the same meeting he announced that the termination process had been completed for one employee under his supervision who had violated the mill's safety practices (and had been properly warned) one too many times. Again, on this day before Thanksgiving, so he is no softy and has high standards.

So how do you demonstrate and execute high standards, along with a sense of caring, to your direct reports? Please take our quiz this week, here.

For safety this week, this column demonstrates both sides of administering an effective safety policy--compassion when appropriate and high standards when necessary. We should all strive to reach these goals.

Be safe and we will talk next week.

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