“We train people when they join and when they reach the top — but in the middle, it’s like Darwin, survival of the fittest.” — Anna Keen
The “sticky middle” is where many capable safety professionals stall. They’ve proven themselves technically but now lead others without ever having been taught how. Organisations invest heavily in entry-level inductions and executive programmes – yet the critical middle layer, where future leaders form, is left to figure it out alone.
The result: fatigue, frustration, and a loss of potential across entire safety functions.
In this episode of The Art of Safety Leadership, leadership coach Anna Keen and Wilson James’ Director of Health, Safety & Wellbeing Liam Simpson unpack what truly separates good leaders from great ones — and why self-awareness is the multiplier that lifts safety performance, engagement and trust.
From Technical Mastery to Human Leadership
Safety professionals rarely lack expertise. They know the standards, the controls, the legislation. But as Anna notes, technical mastery alone won’t sustain impact:
“Success looks different; skills need to be different.”
Stepping up from “doing the work” to leading others requires a complete identity shift. The toolkit that earned the promotion no longer works — and without new tools, leaders default to doing more of what they know. That’s how technical experts become overloaded managers.
Liam Simpson experienced the same tension moving from the British Army into corporate safety leadership:
“I used to see vulnerability as a weakness. Now I see it as a strength.”
The transition demanded a different kind of discipline — less about command, more about curiosity. For both Anna and Liam, leadership growth begins when a person turns their attention inward.
Why Self-Awareness Is the Missing Muscle
Self-awareness sits at the core of every effective leadership capability. It enables reflection, empathy, and deliberate choice instead of reactivity.
“Coaching is one of those socially acceptable places to take a pause, take a breath and think.” — Anna Keen
That pause matters. It’s the space between stimulus and response – the point where leaders choose how to show up instead of reacting from habit or fear.
Anna describes this as moving from doing to being: recognising when the instinct to “fix” a problem should give way to listening, questioning and reframing. For many mid-career safety professionals, that’s uncomfortable terrain. Yet it’s the space where genuine influence begins.
Practising Self-Awareness Day-to-Day
1. Build a Reflection Habit
Liam makes reflection part of his daily rhythm:
End of day: “Have I had positive impact today?”
End of week: “Where was I productive? What could be better?”
Anna encourages a similar three-question loop: What’s going well? What’s not? What will I do differently? Reflection isn’t a luxury; it’s the safety valve that stops busy leaders from burning out.
2. Separate Fact from Story
A simple yet powerful exercise:
“Facts are what a video camera could record. Stories are everything we tell ourselves about those facts.” — Anna Keen
By writing down difficult situations and distinguishing the two, leaders start to see how beliefs and assumptions shape behaviour. That awareness makes space for better choices.
3. Ask for Feedback
Anna’s favourite challenge: ask ten people for five words they’d use to describe you. Patterns emerge — often far more generous than we expect. It’s an instant mirror on how you’re perceived and where your strengths truly lie.
4. Know Your Capacity
“Treat yourself with compassion and recognise what you have capacity for.” — Anna Keen
Growth takes energy. Sometimes the smartest move is rest. For Liam, learning to pause before saying yes was transformative:
“You don’t need to be afraid to say no. It’s okay to take a breath and do it next week, not tomorrow.”
5. Track Your Bounce-Back Time
Progress isn’t about never stumbling; it’s about recovering faster. Anna measures it by how quickly she can move from reaction to response — noticing the emotion, taking a breath, and re-centring. Each shorter recovery proves growth.
Trust: The Leadership Currency
If self-awareness is the muscle, trust is the oxygen of leadership. Anna uses the Trust Equation to help leaders diagnose and build it:
- Credibility – you kow what you’re talking about
- Reliabtility – You do what you say you’ll do
- Intimacy – You build human connection
- Self-Orientation – Are you in if for me or we?
“We often go into work in safety with our own agenda. Instantly the self-orientation is ‘I’ rather than ‘we’ — it erodes rather than builds trust.” — Anna Keen
Trust isn’t mysterious; it’s measurable through behaviour. Credibility and reliability create respect, but intimacy — authentic connection — builds loyalty. And all of it collapses if self-orientation is high.
For Liam, this plays out in everyday interactions:
“Just five minutes at the start of a meeting to check in — how was your weekend? — makes a huge difference.”
Remote work has amplified the challenge. Teams who no longer share space must create micro-moments of connection intentionally.
Anna’s practical test: the hot-to-cold scale. Every conversation moves a relationship one degree warmer or cooler. When trust cools, it takes conscious effort to re-heat it — through empathy, consistency and time.
From Turning Up to Showing Up
Liam’s father drilled one mantra into him as a kid: “Work hard, show up.” Decades later, it still anchors his leadership.
Showing up is more than attendance. It’s the quality of presence — being deliberate, prepared and emotionally available. Anna explains:
“It’s recognising where you’re at and what energy you’ve got to give. Can you truly show up today? And if not, be honest with yourself and others.”
That honesty sits at the heart of vulnerability. Safety leaders often feel pressure to know everything and never falter. Yet saying “I need a pause” or “I don’t have the answer” models the very psychological safety they’re trying to cultivate.
Perfection isn’t the goal. As Anna reminds her clients:
“Seventy per cent in academia is a first. If you’re hitting seventy per cent every day, you’re smashing it.”
Leaders who can live comfortably at that level sustain themselves — and their teams — far longer than those chasing 100 per cent every hour.
Conducting the Orchestra
Another of Anna’s metaphors brings this to life.
Early in a career, you play an instrument. You’re hands-on, producing outcomes. As you progress, you lead a section. But true leadership means conducting the orchestra — stepping back to coordinate the whole performance.
“Your role is to create space, look at the symphony, interact with the audience. You can’t just nip in and start playing the trumpet.” — Anna Keen
That shift from doing to enabling requires trust — in others and in yourself. It’s also the point where self-awareness becomes organisational awareness: recognising the rhythm, tempo and energy of the entire system you lead.
Practical Guardrails for Growth
- Prioritise energy, not hours. Leadership capacity is finite. Focus your best energy where it drives the most value.
- Be curious, not furious. > “If I’m furious, I can’t be curious.” Check your emotional temperature before tough conversations.
- Acknowledge the 95 per cent. Most leaders fixate on their gaps instead of their strengths. Recognise what’s already working.
- Accept failure as data. Liam calls it “being okay with not knowing everything.” That humility opens space for others to contribute.
- Reflect, rest, recalibrate. Leadership growth is not linear — it’s a wave pattern of learning, setback and rebound.
Measuring Progress: The Bounce-Back Test
How do you know it’s working?
Anna builds “impact sessions” into her coaching programmes — structured reflections on what’s changed:
- What did I set out to do?
- What feels different now?
- What evidence do I have of change?
Leaders can replicate this themselves. Ask trusted colleagues: “You’ve seen me over the last year — what’s different?”
Improvement often appears in the speed of recovery. When mistakes or challenges hit, self-aware leaders still feel the emotion — but regain balance faster. Over time, that shorter bounce-back becomes tangible proof of progress.
What Great Leaders Have in Common
When asked who inspires him most, Liam smiles:
“Roy Keane — he showed up, was consistent, passionate, and always there.”
For Anna, inspiration is a “buffet” of leaders — Jacinda Ardern for authenticity, elite coaches for intentional practice, safety leaders like Netflix’s Ruth Denner and Crystal Danbury for courage and heart. What unites them? Presence.
“Presence matters more than position.” — Liam Simpson
Title and hierarchy fade quickly; what people remember is how a leader made them feel. And that begins with how the leader manages themselves.
Self-Awareness as a Continuous Practice
Leadership isn’t a finish line.
“It’s infinite — like safety.” — Anna Keen
Anna likens it to building a muscle or training for a marathon: periods of exertion followed by recovery. The goal isn’t constant intensity but steady adaptability. Liam adds:
“You can’t be at full capacity all the time. If you’re burning out, your team will too.”
Finding that sweet spot — enough stretch to grow, enough rest to recover — sustains long-term performance.
“A self-aware leader recognises they see the world through a lens — and they can change that lens.” — Anna Keen
That single sentence captures the philosophy of modern safety leadership: awareness, adaptability, and authenticity.
Reflection Prompts for Leaders
Use these questions with your next coffee or commute:
- What am I proud of this week?
- Where did I react instead of respond?
- What relationship needs one more degree of warmth?
- Am I turning up — or truly showing up?
- What story am I telling myself that might not be true?
Final Thought
Self-awareness doesn’t make leadership easier — it makes it real. It replaces performance with presence, ego with empathy, and activity with impact. In safety leadership, where influence depends on trust, that self-knowledge is not optional; it’s essential.
Watch the full episode of “Preparing to Lead: Self-Awareness in Leadership” on the Safe365 The Art of Safety Leadership Podcast.
Whether you’re stepping into your first leadership role or looking to deepen your existing leadership practice, this conversation offers both the framework and the inspiration to begin the essential work of leading yourself first.
