29/09/2026
All my working life, I have been told my standards are too high, and that it would be easier to accept less, or face constant disappointment. Just accept that standards like that are in the past and no one works like that anymore.
I have never stopped believing that giving up or giving in is not the answer. Some call it tenacity, I think sheer bloody minded is more likely the case! 🤣🫣
I quit my first role as a H&S advisor because I cared about the genuine safety of the workforce and doing a proper job and not just documents to put in a folder and was made to feel a nuisance because of it. I was considered inflammatory as a junior because I said I felt the resources weren't available for us to execute our role.
In my second role I worked 55+ hours a week, because it mattered to me to get things done properly and make a difference, otherwise what do we go to work for? I realised again without the support I wasn't yet in a position to make a difference.
Both of the above were because of a very common, fundamental failure by most businesses.
Not providing adequate resources (time, money, equipment, people, expertise) to enable your people to do their job and uphold policies properly.
If we continue to set our workforce up for failure, why do we expect good output?
I always felt like I was trying to bring the standards of the company's UP, rather than being supported to grow. I was given no real training or mentorship and built my knowledge on learning how to be a really good researching, never assuming, and double checking everything was right.
My experiences did not make me feel defeated, they made me want to try harder. Not just for me, but for people who become part of our Company. I want people to feel they can strive for excellence with no limits and be PROUD, not told their standards are too high.
I thought I would never find my place to be heard and understood in a company who cared about standards as much as I did until I went into Consultancy with Safety Forward.
People see often see Consultancy as being a generic, hardly present, cookie cutter support with little presence and a big bill. Not for me.
As we look for our next team member I hope that someone out there gets the opportunity to do this and know their standards might be high but they are not wrong and they will be heard. You will be challenged, questioned and pushed more than ever before, to be the best version of yourself so that if you do leave at some point, you will know self worth and that you are highly employable and hopefully feel like you have been trained at a centre of excellence!
It's not OK to dampen down people's standards just because it's an industry average, 'no one really cares any more' thing of the past. It shouldn't be and I will change the narrative even if it is only in a small, Chameleon shaped way.
Have you ever felt like this?
