S11Ep9 Client Spotlight Standard Aero: Transforming Company Culture

Episode's Show Notes:

Have you ever wondered how a company can create a positive safety culture that not only ensures the well-being of its employees but also brings significant changes in its recordable incidents rate? Hear about Standard Aero's impressive journey of cultural transformation, resulting in a drop of recordables from 30-40 a year to as low as 2 recordables year-to-date at the time of recording.

Host: Tim Page-Bottorff
Guest: Max Allen

https://safetalk.buzzsprout.com/1032442/11286195-s8ep8-happiness-the-secret-to-organizational-performance?t=0

Transcript

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Safe Start's Impact on Safety Culture

Tim Page-Bottorff 0:07

Hey , welcome back to Safe Talk with Safe Start . I'm Tim Page-Bottorff , and occasionally we like to spotlight our partners , those folks that are doing really really good job or exceptional jobs , and today we're going to turn that spotlight on Standard Aero , which is out of Dallas , and joining us today is the Vice President and General Manager of that organization , Mr Max Allen . Max , welcome to the podcast .

Max Allen 0:29

Good morning Tim . I really appreciate the opportunity to be here and to share our Safe Start story with this audience .

Tim Page-Bottorff 0:36

Yeah , I appreciate that . Now , before we begin , just a bit of background here on Max . Max is a graduate of the Naval Academy . He also served in the United States Air Force , so thank you for your service , sir .

Max Allen 0:46

Yeah , I understand that you might have been a couple years in uniform yourself there , Tim .

Tim Page-Bottorff 0:52

I did . I did . It was the US Marine Corps , but it doesn't have any standing with the United States Air Force . I joke , but thank you for that .

Max Allen 1:00

We like your conditioning Tim .

Tim Page-Bottorff 1:05

Well , Max has actually retired , also from the Air National Guard . As the Chief of Strategy in the 157th Air Operations Group , which supported the Air Force Global Strike Command , he's also responsible for the long-range planning of air and space operations to achieve air component objectives . While on active duty , Mr . Max , he also led senior operation flights in the 90th missile wing , responsible for 200 intercontinental ballistic missiles , or what we refer to as ICBMs . He also is responsible for 950 nuclear warheads , as well as his team members who supported operations , security and facilities management . Max holds a Masters of Science in Management and , if that doesn't impress you , he's a private pilot , a rescue diver thick Sigma , black belt , and that's a lot . But in his real job, he manages 450 people , which covers over three shifts . I think , Max , you probably should consider writing some books .

Max Allen 2:09

If I had any free time I might get to that Tim .

Tim Page-Bottorff 2:12

For sure . So I didn't review all of Max's actual accolades , but let's just get to why we're here today . Max recently and graciously presented internally to our team at Safe Start on the success at Standard Aero and , frankly , I was blown away by his results . So let's begin where most want to finish , and that's a positive safety culture , and I want to be clear on this . Max and his organizations pulled many levers to achieve a positive culture , which included Safe Start . So , Max , for our audience , can you talk about the impact Safe Start has had on your efforts to create a positive culture ?

Max Allen 2:51

Yeah , it's been immeasurable really , and I can't say enough good things about the impact that Safe Start has had on our business and , more importantly , on each of the people in our business , both professionally and personally . Let me explain our safety journey and how we ended up finding Safe Start . So in September 2011 , we had one of our colleagues . He was a machinist and a little bit about his background . He actually had two combat tours in Vietnam , came back from the war , became a machinist , worked in and was that for his whole career . And he was one of these guys . He just sort of , you know , left alone , left alone . He was going to get the job done . Well , one late afternoon he was machining a part and there was some chattering the part and he put his hand in the line of fire and the lathe came in contact with his hand and basically almost completely severed it at that time , and one of our other employees had to apply a tourniquet to save his life .

Max Allen 4:06

We , up to this point , we thought we were safe , we were in an industrial environment , we had clean facilities , we were well organized . But that incident really triggered something and all of us in the leadership team and throughout the ranks that this should never happen . This is preventable , and we started trying to figure out ways to fix this problem . And we found some other more formal programs trying to almost scare safety into people , trying to regulate safety , trying to engineer out risks and there was some success , because I think people were more engaged around safety at that time but it really didn't move the dial . And then we found Safe Start and the lessons we learned .

Max Allen 4:59

The truth of Safe Start became very evident that it is about triggering on these factors of rushing frustration , fatigue and complacency . First and foremost , that's the foundation of how you stay safe and it just resonated with us and we went all in . We had people come down . Jack , one of our instructors , came down , inspired us with his teaching , we taught other instructors and literally it was almost overnight .

Max Allen 5:32

Our culture changed and up until 2011 , we would have anywhere from 30 to 40 recordables a year . When we adopted Safe Start , that went down to normally around eight . In some years we've had as few as five to six . As a matter of fact , year to date , as of July 27 , 2023 , we've only had two recordables . The other thing that we noticed was the severity of these recordables . In fact , today we'll mark 870 days without a lost work time incident . So , even though we had a person who slipped on the ice , that happened here in January this year in Dallas , even though that is preventable , that injury was one that was not life-altering not and again , we've already instituted ways to help prevent that next year . But again , the data says Safe Start made a huge impact on us and on the safety of our company and the safety of our people .

Tim Page-Bottorff 6:41

I appreciate that success story . That's amazing that you've been able to turn around like that , and thank you for the numbers . The metrics really do count when it comes to people listening to this Absolutely , and so I know data is sometimes something that we usually guide our key principles by . But speaking of data , you had mentioned that our company is meeting , that your organization include SafeStart in your onboarding process . Can you talk about that a little bit ?

Max Allen 7:10

Yeah . So when we ? You know we're going through a huge growth in our industry right now for variety of reasons . The opportunities are there and we're also seeing a lot of the more tenured people in our company are starting to retire . We've been in aviation for , you know , 30 , 40 , even up to 50 years , and so we are hiring people left and right now to handle some of this growth in our workforce and also to handle the attrition issue from retirements . So we've instituted a three-week , two-to-three-week training program . Depends on your specialty to come , and you know you join our company . This is what you do . Step one you go through two to three weeks of formal training and part of that is you will go through all of SafeStart prior to earning your badge to go to work . So you know it is instructed by employees . I come in and always do a session with all the new employees discussing the role of SafeStart in our company . Now , this is our number one initiative for your safety , and so before they do any type of work here , they all go through SafeStart .

Tim Page-Bottorff 8:27

Yeah , that's exceptional . Bringing people in , you are already setting them up for success as you bring them in , and the onboarding process , regardless of how long it takes , is important . And then you say they earn a badge . So there's a little bit of recognition there at the same time before they end up going to work , which I truly appreciate . So setting up the culture is important . You told us at the meeting that your organization was sold , but you said also that your culture survived through the transition . I'd be interested to hear about more of that .

Max Allen 8:59

Yeah , I was . I had left . The company that started SafeStart with us was Dallas Air Motive . I had left there in 2017 . I came back after Standard Aero purchased Dallas Air Motive in October 2021 . And basically, for over five , six years , their SafeStart was put on hold . No more classes were taught and so it was in coast mode . But what was amazing when you look at the data is the same recordable rate , the same amount of types of injuries sort of stabilized from the day we stopped SafeStart until we reinstituted it . And then I returned in October of 2021 .

Max Allen 9:49

And I really reflected on that because you would think something any program you stopped it's going to sort of pop back to where performance was before . But I think that really to me , when I reflected on it , it explained . What it told me was that when somebody learns , SafeStart and adopts these principles and takes them to heart , they stick with you , it changes you . It's like once you see truth , you can't unsee it and the leadership team here continue to teach it , inspire it , live by it . Now you know it has done cleaner and more professional , absolutely . But when you look at the data , it says they carry through , which I think is a huge testament to the power of the SafeStart philosophy and program . It does not require this daily maintenance to achieve all the results . It's simple , it's obvious , it's real , it's truth and people learn it and they adopt it and they take it with them for the rest of their lives .

Tim Page-Bottorff 11:06

A huge statement . That is incredible that you made that statement , because I feel it , and sometimes in SafeStart , without data , it's a sense of feeling and you touch on heart and mind and if people remember something , it comes back to that old Maya Angelou quote . You know where people might remember what you did , but they most certainly will remember how you made them feel and that's important . Now , I know you probably track a lot of data in other areas and you also touched on quality and service and other processes . So what do you think ? Is there an impact that's been made on those areas ?

Max Allen 11:42

Absolutely , and we are , we proactively explain those . You know that , again , the states , you know , and again you just think about it If you go out , you're having a nice dinner with your wife and you're the person who's a you know , taking care of your service , that evening is rushing or is frustrated or is fatigued or is complacent not a world-class experience , you know , not something that you're going to be wanting to tip very well for . You know and you know , I just I reflect on that because those states are the cornerstone of anything that's successful .

Max Allen 12:28

If you know when you're rushing or you're going to break things . You're going to cause damage . It might not be somebody getting hurt . You're going to make mistakes on an invoice . You're going to not give the best customer service experience to somebody who in our business they're . They're having their jet engine repaired . A jet engine repair or overhaul can cost in the millions of dollars Not a fun way to for anyone to spend money using aviation and if they are not treated with respect and empathy and and their time is not valued , that is not a they're not going to enjoy doing business with us .

Max Allen 13:09

So we really take those , those , those states and the SafeS tart principles and apply them to our not just safety but quality in our business processes . Now , when we think about what our quality you know there's , what we've seen is we've basically in the last year and a half We've cut that percentage basically in half from where we were , where we're at , for what our , our costs are per revenue . So still a long way to go there . I think there's been some things on our quality side that could . You know . We're maybe the business a little bit more complacent around the time of training we did before and maybe you know some other initiatives we needed to do . But we're getting . We're applying those same principles to every aspect of our business , the core principles of SafeS tart .

Safety and Culture in the Workplace

Tim Page-Bottorff 14:03

Thank you for that . I'm gonna tell you just a quick story here . I was in Dallas and so you , being in Dallas , you can appreciate this . There's a Top Golf there and I was the regional vice president of American Society of Safety Professionals and they had asked me to review a contract and since it was above a certain amount , I had to approve it for a local chapter . Well , I thought I reviewed the date and the money and so I signed off on it , and come to find out I had signed off on a date that the chapter didn't pick . They wanted it the day after , and so I had made a huge quality mistake that cost us a ton of money . Now you do , you do stuff that doesn't cost any money , but it's also kind of a great way to keep SafeStart alive . What do you do in that regard ?

Max Allen 14:47

So you know , throughout the week we have a couple of significant meetings where we bring the sort of the , the frontline leaders , and the , the business leaders , together a couple times a week . The way we're structured , we really have five separate business units in this facility and we are very proactive to keep them aligned and connected to where everyone knows what else everyone else is up to , you know , and so we talk safety , quality delivery , you know . Go over some KPIs have good discussions , but we always start those meetings with a Safe Start story . Again , I again , the power of your program is its personal . All right , we hear things that have happened in at their homes , we hear things that are happening at work , and we've and we've extended it not just around safety but we'll talk a Safe Start story around a quality incident . We'll talk a Safe Start story around an experience like at a restaurant .

Max Allen 15:52

You know we , where we were , we're trying to use those same principles Safe Start to keep it , you know , at the forefront and we actually you know the I don't know if it's accurate or not , but you know that's what we do . But you know , if I see a problem with a , there's a Safe Start sort of around quality where those states are present . I still think it's a safety problem because the states are present . Even it wasn't a near miss to a safety thing like , oh , my hand got out of the way just in time or it could have been a lot worse . Well , because the states are present , I would say you're still in the . It's still a near miss in safety because your mind wasn't on task , your eyes were not on task and because of that you know you might not have had any type of safety results happen , but I would still say it was a safety near miss .

Tim Page-Bottorff 16:50

Yeah , that's a great explanation . I was just thinking of Maslow's hierarchy of needs and having a conversation with the student the other day Self Actualization that's at the very top , and as you share those types of stories , as huge as they are , that not only helps the individual , but when you provide review , it also helps the organization later on , and so when you capture those stories the organization hears those stories you might be able to avoid a potential disaster because you've had an experience , or , as it relates to safety , that's awesome . Now I understand you have a great recognition program , so what is it that your team does that other folks can learn in terms of best practices ?

Max Allen 17:32

So you know again , one of the things we've done is , you know , we have a lot of prior military and aviation obviously . So we created a coin for exceptional service , a typical , you know , like a military style coin that you would hand somebody for your unit or for an achievement . So we have those . And then we also have , you know , minor financial record . You know , rewards like $100 for , you know , somebody who got recognized for doing the right thing at the right time in the right way , and we will at an all hands present those at times to those employees . Sometimes we'll do a little , stand down in an area and have everyone around and make this formal presentation . We'll take pictures that will go on our digital billboards that we have around the facility . So we try to make it very obvious , very , very public , that when people have the courage to do what's right before safety , you know they're going to be acknowledged for doing the right thing .

Tim Page-Bottorff 18:44

Yeah , I know recognition goes a long way . It develops a couple of things , and one you mentioned way earlier , but trust . But happiness in this occasion is kind of often overlooked as what we refer to as a leading indicator . But I just wanted to point out to everybody that we've got an ongoing happiness campaign . I'm going to stick a link in the show notes from our great friend Rodd Wagner , who is one of our trusted executive advisors . Of course, he's been on Safe Talk and so , mentioning and talking about trust , did you see any improvement in communication with Safe Start came on board ?

Max Allen 19:26

Absolutely . Again , what I think it did is it leveled the playing field for the organization . It really flattened us out away from more maybe a hierarchical even though if we didn't want to have this hierarchy within the business , when it came to safety we were all equal . It was everyone's responsibility to look out after themselves and those around them , and it really , I think , resonated . So when you see that there's not different who can get away with different levels of safety or the rules are applied differently , it really did build trust and transparency and we really are very keen on having very open , honest communications around the health of our business , where we're doing well , where we're not doing so well , areas to improve .

Max Allen 20:20

And that is part of who we are as a culture and , again , as I firmly believe it , as a human being , you know , when people are being honest with you , when people are trusting you , and Safe Start really helped empower us to do that to a higher level . And when I go out through my facility now or actually when I go through any facility sort of my initial impressions I'm looking for two things . I'm looking for people to be busy you know , seeing that , you know because I'll tell you they see value in their work and they're applying themselves to be successful that day . And I'm looking for smiles that they enjoy being there . And if they're busy and smiling , chances are they got a pretty good culture and I work very hard to keep that . A lot of busy , smiling people here at this facility here in DFW .

Tim Page-Bottorff 21:19

Busy smiling . That leads to my next question , because then you have a tendency to not lose so many people , so why don't you talk about your attrition rate real quick ?

Max Allen 21:30

Yeah . So we did a lot of things , you know , to help curb attrition . When we , when Standard Aero acquired Dallas Air Motive , you know inherited a pretty high the attrition rate . It was , you know , north of 25% . Now some of that was due to retirements but some of it was due to people finding other opportunities here in the Metroplex , which you know , let's face it , DFW areas . What a very , you know , a lot , of a lot of employment opportunities here in the , here in the Metroplex .

Max Allen 22:00

So we did some things around , you know , adjusted pay that needed to happen and . But we also did some a lot of other softer things , you know , got our employee events committee together , started doing some more fun stuff . As a work family we started doing some , you know , had some more flexible schedules created to where we could , you know , maybe , you know , have a little bit of work- life balance and you know , and then we , we just go out of our way to create a real positive culture . One of the one of the things we're most proud of is some of the tenure of our employees and you know , when we're onboarding somebody , you know , let's face it , most people are going to go through a different , few different careers , few different jobs , and that's sort of the norm . Now this business right now we have over 25% of our workforce has been here for over 25 years . I mean to me that's remarkable .

Max Allen 23:06

And our most tenured employee in the entire company , for Standard Aero he's been with us for he's about to hit 59 years with us , wow . And his name is . His name is Curtis Ray . The man is 80 years old . He is still an active you know what . You know scratch golfer operates to truck on the weekends . He's one of our trainers and he'll literally work a lot of these young guys and , you know , show them up in his work ethic . And but you know , we see somebody who joined us in the 60s as a janitor and he had the attitude and aptitude to learn and to grow . The company kept investing to him and he's now been a mechanic that's worked about on every product line in this business and now he's one of our instructors . And you know he's committed to get 60-year the mark Because , believe it or not , we had another individual who did .

Max Allen 24:09

He was here for a little over 60 years . Unfortunately he passed away due to cancer . So so Curtis is very committed to wanting to hold the record for longevity here in this business , but we're very proud of that . And when you meet these people have been here for so long it really is a work family . They feel they're invested in the , invest in others . And once they , you know , you know , feel a part of that work family , you know they really don't want to , they don't really want to find another opportunity .

Tim Page-Bottorff 24:43

I'll tell you what . This podcast recording has taken a life of its own , and it's actually showing some gates , and what I mean by that is as we started , you talked about what it takes to onboard and bring people in , and having a safe and reliable company is actually one of those things that people look towards to join . And then here you've got folks from an attrition perspective , not ready to leave yet , and you want to talk about an 80 year old man working with so many years of experience . He's busy , but he's also doing it while he's smiling . So let's just give you , Max congratulations for that to try to create , create that culture . And so the last thing I want to ask is , first of all , thank you for all of the information , but do you have any final thoughts as we close out the podcast ?

Max Allen 25:28

Yeah , I think another key thing that I always look for that is so critical . And again , you know , there's something the military taught me , and sure you're very familiar with it too with your time in the Marine Corps . But I think a lot of times , you know , corporate jobs sometimes lose focus on the appropriate span of control of a leader . Right , I've seen instances where the frontline leader is responsible for 30 to 40 people and , let's face it , that's not leadership . That's , on its best day , firefighting , babysitting , it's an administrative function . It's not , you're not going to inspire and people to do their best when you're trying to , you know , manage 40 or so people .

Max Allen 26:15

And so I'm a firm believer in the appropriate span of control given on the the very , the task , the complication that could be anywhere from just , you know , three or four people , you know , but you know probably topping out at around 12 or so people for any leader to have a real impact . So that's something else that we , you know , do here , with having frontline leaders who are part of our direct workforce , you know , work an hourly wage , they're experts in their area , but they're also expected to be the frontline leaders on those teams . And then you know , after so many of those roll up into a manager and then that next rolls up to a director . But we always make sure people have the are not stretched to thin , to actually have full , real relationships , real awareness of what's going on in their , in their teams , both professionally and personally , and where they can partner to , you know , make each other better .

Tim Page-Bottorff 27:19

You know it was been a . It's been a great time getting together with you , Mr . Max , and I will say this we would love to take credit for all of your success , but it does take a great , great team , it takes your employees to be involved . It takes , you know , great commitment to do something like this , and so kudos to you , your leadership and your team , and it's been a pleasure to be with you today , Mr . Max .

Reflections on State Start Success

Max Allen 27:42

Well , Tim , it's been a definitely been a pleasure to be here today and to share , you know , our story around the Safe Start . It's been a real honor .

Tim Page-Bottorff 27:53

Yeah , we appreciate you and I'll tell you what . There's some success stories out there , but sitting down and listening to this and get to my experience is a great opportunity , not necessarily just for this company , but for me as an individual , because I'm always curious and I learned through these things . And I have to say , on behalf of Max and Mr . Drew McDonald , who is your current client success manager , thank you so much for sharing your time with us and be sure to share this episode out there if you're listening , and for Safe Talk with Safe Start . I'm Tim Page-Bottorff . I'll see you down the road .