At VitalSmarts, we are in the middle of a workplace-safety study, and I’m interviewing a lot of managers and supervisors. Often I hear them ask, “What do you care about: saving money or saving lives?” Then they’ll assert, “You can’t have it both ways.” While this perspective sounds reasonable, our research suggests that the opposite is actually true. The supervisors with the best workplace-safety records are also the ones with the best financials.

It turns out the question isn’t, “Do you hold people accountable for costs or for safety?” The question is, “Do you, or don’t you, hold people accountable?”

We’re finding a similar pattern in healthcare. The managers whose teams have the highest scores in employee engagement and patient satisfaction are also the best at cost containment. They are best at making sure their department’s FTEs track patient census and acuity levels. 

Again, the question is not whether you manage toward employee engagement, toward patient satisfaction, or toward cost containment. The question is whether you manage. Managers who are good at speaking up and holding people accountable seem to be able to achieve “all of the above.”

I’ve been trying to wrap my head around these patterns. They seem like judgment errors to me. So, here are my thoughts. Feel free to add yours…

First, I think we’re far too quick to assume that values like safety and finances are mutually exclusive. We jump to the conclusion that focusing on safety means giving up on finances. Of course, there are times when values are mutually exclusive. We can all imagine situations when saving lives requires breaking budgets. However, in the real world, these situations are the exceptions, not the rule. In the real world, we should assume that most of our values can be achieved most of the time—that we don’t have to pick and choose among workplace safety, employee engagement, patient satisfaction, and strong financials.

The second mistake we make is to assume people’s successes and failures reflect their priorities and values—when they more often reflect their skills. Most of the goals we pursue in the real world, or at least in business settings, reflect values everyone holds—at least to some extent. It turns out we all want safety, quality, productivity, engaged employees, and customers who are thrilled. As a result, although people differ in their level of passion for one value or another, their passion doesn’t predict their success. Instead, their success is predicted by their skills.

The bottom line: When people aren’t achieving a work-related goal you care about, your first thought should be, “What makes this hard for them?” not, “Why don’t they care?” Always look in Source 2 of the Influencer model: Personal Ability. Our research shows it’s a key ingredient in almost every successful solution.