Sheena's journey to becoming a trusted adviser

Being the trusted adviser can be incredibly intimidating, especially when starting out in the health and safety profession, or when promoted to a role that has more responsibility attached to it. There are so many stigmas attached to the profession as well, which can be daunting to someone who is excited, eager to learn and make a difference. Don't be disheartened by these challenges, though, because becoming a trusted adviser can be achieved.

Before I elaborate on my own experience, what does it mean to be the trusted adviser? Should we be the police officer that knows the rule book to the tee and brings out the stick when they don't follow them? Or do we want to be the person that people turn to when they need advice and may be in a dangerous situation that they don’t know how to resolve. At times, we are perceived as the former and as soon as our backs are turned it is back to doing things the way they were done before. Being the trusted adviser changes this, but it is no easy feat, and you may not always win.

Learning

My journey started 12 years ago, where I joined my company as an administrator in the risk department. Over a period of six years, I learned all I could about health and safety, obtained a qualification while working and supported a team that managed the health, safety and environmental programme. One could say I was nowhere near being a trusted adviser at that point, but I was recognised for the work I was doing and was promoted to group health and safety coordinator.

It was a huge jump from being an administrator to having to coordinate the health and safety programme for multiple operations. How do you become a trusted adviser when you are not only significantly younger than your peers, but also have to be seen as knowing what you are talking about at all times? It was very intimidating, and it took me five years to be fully trusted by the decision-makers in my company. It can be done.

What really helped me grow into my role was continuous learning on both a personal and professional level, and especially about business. The best advice I can give for anyone starting out in our profession is to get a good understanding of the business you work for. What are their goals? What are they striving to achieve? If you don’t understand what it all means, ask questions, and see if you can attend meetings where information about the business is shared. Your next task is to link health and safety to the business strategy and demonstrate how what you are doing helps them achieve their goals; you are now speaking their language. If you don't do this your chances of success are significantly lower.

If you don’t understand what it all means, ask questions, and see if you can attend meetings where information about the business is shared. Your next task is to link health and safety to the business strategy and demonstrate how what you are doing helps them achieve their goals; you are now speaking their language. If you don't do this your chances of success are significantly lower.

Secondly don't be the bad cop. We can easily be swayed into believing that our role is to punish bad behaviour. This perception is starting to change within our profession as we start to demonstrate our value in other ways, but it can still be easy to fall into that trap. Listen, show empathy, and understand why things happen, then use that to motivate for change.

Support

IOSH has some amazing tools available to help anyone struggling to become the trusted adviser. One of their most important tools is the newly-improved IOSH Blueprint. This helps you get a better understanding of your current competencies and guides you to devise a personal development plan aimed at improving your behavioural, core and technical skills. Blueprint can also be used for:

• reviewing, updating and saving imported continuing professional development (CPD) activities
• logging and recording new CPD activities
• exploring and using the CPD resource library
• completing your IOSH ethical practice in occupational safety and health e-learning and assessment.

There is also IOSH mentoring. You can be mentored and mentor others who may need some guidance. Finally, there is the future leaders community where you can connect and discuss your challenges as you start out in your career and get advice and guidance from peers who may be in a similar situation as you. You are not alone, and nothing is impossible!