Danielle Tan
Chief Operating Officer
This topic is frequently posed in the context of food safety in an effort to get people to priorities food safety practices even when they aren’t being watched.
Leaders need to communicate and demonstrate their commitment to food safety in order to ensure that food safety principles and practices drive workers and management across all levels of an organization. Communication is the most important part of any system you have in place, and that’s why we talk about it so much.
Before initiating any communication efforts, leaders can begin by considering the following guiding questions:
#1. How do your senior leaders engage with food safety?
Communication plays a vital role in fostering a strong food safety culture within an organization. It is imperative for senior leaders to actively engage with food safety, ensuring that it remains a top priority. Their involvement can range from setting clear expectations and providing resources to actively participating in training and regular communication channels.
#2. How is your messaging used to communicate food safety expectations to all employees?
Effective messaging is also essential in communicating food safety expectations to all employees. Organizations can ensure that information, guidelines, and best practices are consistently and clearly conveyed.
#3. Is your company’s vision and mission clearly expressed so that both are understood by all staff?
A key aspect of a successful food safety culture is the clarity and understanding of a company’s vision and mission by all staff members. Aligning staff members’ understanding with the company’s broader objectives reinforces the significance of food safety in achieving organizational goals. By addressing these important questions, organizations can enhance their communication practices, foster a culture of food safety, and ultimately safeguard the well-being of consumers.
By answering these essential questions, organizations may create a clear vision and mission that communicates the business’s purpose and how it impacts stakeholders’ expectations and communications by considering the following elements:
Business Structure, Values and Purpose
The senior leadership team, as well as the board of directors or the business owner, is responsible for establishing both the Vision and the Mission of the organization. Although it is not required that the company’s vision and mission statements include specific references to food safety, the relevance of these issues should be represented in the company’s communications, including its website and corporate annual reports.
In a similar vein, the essential principles of a firm permeate all facets of the business and serve as an inspiration for the culture of food safety.
Setting Direction and Expectations
Setting a course of action demands thoughtful deliberation and careful planning in order to pinpoint a unique and direct route to achievement.
This articulates a distinct vision that is shared and ingrained throughout the entire organization and is comprehended by all. Additionally, it requires having a distinct comprehension of what constitutes success, in addition to setting both long-term and short-term benchmarks. Regular follow-up meetings are necessary for effective direction-setting because they allow for the direction to be refined while also ensuring its feasibility and durability.
The shifting priorities of an organization will determine the path that it takes. Food safety ought to be at the forefront of the company at all times and an essential part of its strategic planning. When determining the course of action, it is important to keep in mind all of the strategic priorities, and to make certain that food safety is a factor that is consistently taken into account.
The following are examples of circumstances that can cause a change in direction:
- Changes in regulatory requirements
- Buying a new business
- Changes in product category
- Entering new markets
- Serious food safety incidents
- Science, technology and analytical advances
Leadership and Messaging
A company’s leadership is responsible for establishing the culture of food safety inside the organization and ensuring that it is supported, aligned, and contributes to the company’s broader vision and mission. Enterprise leaders at all levels, from the headquarters down to the local level, as well as business owners, have the potential to significantly influence the culture of their organizations. The level of dedication to food safety shown by those in positions of authority can have a substantial impact on the growth of robust food safety cultures. The leadership’s attention to ensuring food safety may be seen in the way that resources, including financial, human, and temporal ones, are properly allocated.
The policies and standards of food safety are developed by leaders in accordance with the strategic direction of the organization; however, policies on their own are merely paperwork and requirements. When rules are converted into explicit behavioral standards for employees, that is when they take on their true significance. The foundation of a food safety culture is a leadership that demonstrates a constant, visible, and credible commitment to the responsibility and safety of the food supply.
The policy statement on food safety ensures that criteria for food safety are in line with the strategic direction of the organization, and it has the backing of top leadership as well as leaders at individual sites. It addresses food safety ownership of personnel at all organizational levels and establishes responsibility for the food safety of products beginning with product creation and extending throughout the entirety of the supply chain.
Messaging
When it comes to successfully communicating a company’s standards about food safety, effective messaging is absolutely necessary. This messaging should be consistent and obvious to all staff members, so that they have an understanding of the company’s safe food practices and overall approach to food safety, and so that they are reminded of these things on a frequent basis.
The purpose of all food safety messaging is to educate, enlighten, and increase awareness of safe practices among all new and existing employees so that they may take ownership of their role in maintaining the safety of consumers and the protection of brands. Because the food safety policy statement of the company plays such an essential role, it is imperative that it be readily available to all employees and that it be referred to frequently in all corporate communications.
The messaging should be directed towards all stakeholders, including permanent and temporary staff members, independent contractors, and other external partners, as necessary. It should be crafted in a variety of forms and adapted to meet the needs of the organization’s many different stakeholder groups. The messages should be communicated in a consistent manner from leadership to each and every employee. In addition, the modes of communication should be varied frequently in order to maintain their attractiveness, currency, and prominence.
All personnel are required to be informed of all applicable regulatory requirements for food safety, regardless of whether such requirements are local, regional, national, or company-specific. It is of equal importance to explain why these regulations are vital, as well as the manner in which they must be observed by everyone working for the firm.
Messaging Tools
There is a wide range of approaches, as well as technologies, that may be utilized to help disseminate vital information regarding food safety throughout the entirety of the organization. They consist of frequent communications from leadership, which are disseminated via the typical channels of the organization, such as business email, intranet, worksite bulletin boards, and the corporate website. Additionally, they comprise work team meetings and informal learning events. It is possible to monitor the effectiveness of a message by using internet surveys and staff focus groups. This should be done.
Conclusion
The organization’s leadership sets the tone and direction for its food safety culture. Food safety doesn’t have to be mentioned by name in the company’s vision and goal statements, but its importance should be made clear in all company communications. Direction-setting helps build a good food safety culture because it needs a clear vision that is shared and ingrained throughout the organization.
In a food safety policy statement, the standards are put in line with the company’s strategic approach. It is important for the entire organization to use effective food safety messages. Messages should be clear, consistent, and targeted to different stakeholder groups. A messaging structure and the tools that go with it should send important messages about food safety to everyone in the organization. The trustworthiness of an organization’s food safety messages comes down to how important the organization thinks food safety is.
Source:
- A Culture of Food Safety: A Position Paper From The Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI)
- https://www.fmi.org/blog/view/fmi-blog/2023/04/11/communication-and-culture-imperatives-for-food-safety
