Watch them in Action
Michelle Ray
Speaker Expertise
Accountability, Change Management, Inspiration/Motivation, Leadership, Safety Culture, Safety Leadership
Born in Australia and now residing in Vancouver, Michelle Ray is a health and safety speaker renowned for her expertise on leadership, accountability, influence and building outstanding safety cultures. Michelle demonstrates a deep understanding of team dynamics, interpersonal communication and personal responsibility. She has worked with hundreds of leaders and their teams in diverse industries including occupational health and safety sectors within private and public enterprise, construction mining as well as oil and gas. Her style has been described as dynamic, fun refreshing, uplifting with a common- sense message.
Presentation Description & Topics
Safety Leadership: It Starts And Ends With Me ©
We’ve often heard the adage “everyone can be a leader”, but what does this mean? More importantly, how is this relevant to your organization and your people? The most practical answer is to think of leadership in terms of character, not position or title. A leader is someone at any level who has grasped the ability to take charge of their thoughts, and consequently their actions, in any situation.
We are often tested to be the best version of ourselves, regardless of our job function. Myopic attitudes directly impact the workplace atmosphere and the quality of our business relationships. When we take the initiative as safety professionals, we open our minds and lead ourselves with greater confidence. We are better equipped to strengthen relationships with leaders, co-workers, clients and all safety stakeholders.
Delivering her message with insight, wit and humour, Michelle’s energizing, informative and popular keynote presentation will remind your audience of safety leaders of the power of personal leadership. They will learn accountability strategies to use long after the event ends to take the lead, embrace challenges and break down barriers to success.
Expected Outcomes for Attendees:
- Build a safety leadership blueprint to use in business and in life
- Realize the incredible leverage of modeling a “do-what it takes” attitude
- Realign your core personal values to those of your workplace
- Hone your capacity for responding rather than reacting to people and situations
Tap into your innovative potential to bring out the best in yourself
Innovate. Collaborate. Connect: Harness Your Influence As a Safety Pro ©
How can you leverage your position of strength and captivate attention and imagination of individuals with whom you have key relationships? The solution lies in demonstrating that you understand their positions, their perspectives and their interests, prior to introducing your own suggestions. By acknowledging others first, you are ideally positioned to make the difference; for yourself and your organization.
When others connect with your ideas, you have achieved “buy-in”. It is much easier to put your own safety agenda forward by listening to others first. Synchronicity is achieved by acknowledging others, even when we may not agree.
During this informative, interactive and dynamic keynote session, you will learn how to communicate your vision in a way that gets noticed. You will be emboldened to continue sharing the message of safety awareness internally and externally. As business necessitates human interaction, articulating your goals purposely and powerfully begins with you. By increasing your visibility and impact, your career flourishes and your critical role as a safety professional expands. You will leave with new ideas and strategies to energize workplace relationships at all levels, with tangible and long-term results.
Expected Outcomes for Attendees:
- Create a profound impact on organizational performance by harnessing new approaches and removing boundaries around safety
- Showcase your ideas for maximum impact during one-on-one or group meetings
- Enlighten leaders, co-workers and stakeholders with compelling reasons to ensure your
safety messages are heard, supported and understood - Apply the power of positive influence with an open mind, ensuring greater buy-in
- Raise your profile internally and strengthen the profile and reputation of safety leaders
How to A Develop Happy, Productive Safety Culture & Effective Safety Leaders ©
The most successful organizations recognize that enduring success is based on their ability to build outstanding teams and great workplace relationships. They understand that honing exceptional interpersonal skills are a given…that building trust, cooperation and respect are essential ingredients for a positive, sought-after culture and high employee retention.
When leaders and teams are happy, a positive safety culture ensues. The collective efforts of all lead to increased motivation, low turnover, reduced accidents and greater camaraderie. Teams flourish an atmosphere of respect, ultimately strengthening relationships both internally and externally.
A fully – functioning workplace enjoys high morale, high engagement and lower stress. When managers and teams collaborate and contribute to the common purpose, their commitment to safety excellence deepens and the desire to be part of a winning culture escalates.
During this energizing and informative presentation, your attendees will be given tools to hone essential relational skills, elevate their influence as safety professionals, build engagement and increase motivation levels. They will leave with practical tools to build trust and co-operation with their colleagues. Above all, your attendees will leave inspired to take the lead and contribute to an enduring, outstanding culture.
Expected takeaways for attendees:
- Engage your teams to foster a positive, sought-after safety culture
- Apply the power of positive influence with colleagues and managers alike
- Learn the essentials to purposefully communicate the priority of a “safety first” culture at all levels
- Master the art of connection to build trust, teamwork and loyalty
- Become a role model for taking the lead, celebrating team accomplishments and elevating your career as a safety professional
Hear what others have to say
Michelle Ray delivered the closing keynote address at our 2017 Safety Conference. In the weeks leading up to the event, Michelle Ray partook in preparatory tele-conferences reviewing the audience make-up. During these sessions, Michelle revealed her greatest asset to be an incisive ability to uncover the specific hurdles faced by delegates to the Conference, to probe in order to gain a deeper understanding of their leadership needs, and then, as proven by her delivery at the Conference, a high-level ability to integrate audience-specific messaging into a custom-tailored speech. Indeed, Michelle Ray employed in-situ role-plays to great effectiveness as a means of communicating real-life examples of leadership in the workplace.
But please don’t just take my word for it…survey results from delegates in attendance at Michelle’s closing keynote assigned an average of 4.93 points out of 5 to her performance, the highest of any speaker or presenter during the 2-day Conference! – Paul Boileau, Chief of Corporate Affairs, Manufacturing Safety Alliance of British Columbia.
“We contracted Michelle to open on both days of our conference in 2017 and she did not disappoint. She executed both presentations with ease, captivating and engaging the audience in her conversation-like style, using story telling, questioning, and activities to relate her points. She is collaborative, lively, humorous, and creative. She demonstrated a professional manner in all of our interactions, and as a conference organizer, I appreciated that she was prompt in her responses, was well organized, and punctual the day of our event. During our customization meeting, she came prepared with a list of questions about our industry, and ideas for how to ensure her message related the experience of our industry workplaces. I would highly recommend her as a presenter to anyone looking to deliver practical strategies for professional growth.” – Candice Thomas, Safety and Injury Management Advisor, BC Construction Safety Alliance “Bridging The Gap”, 2017
I thought that your presentation was not only engaging but thought provoking. Your energy is contagious and you really are in touch with your audience.” – Tom DeSorcy CFO Fire Chief/Chair FCABC Conference Committee