When passion meets expertise, results achieved are transformative. A proficient leader, Cameron Barrett and his accomplished team at Field Safe Solutions exemplify this statement. Since coming on as CEO in 2018, Mr. Barrett has brought together a skilled team to build an organization that is making a difference in the health and safety of workers and experiencing tremendous growth while doing so. It’s Mr. Barrett’s passion and focus on people that have fueled that growth and his company’s success.
Field Safe’s corporate values spell ACTION:
- Accountability,
- Commitment,
- Teamwork,
- Innovation,
- Ownership and we are,
- Nimble
Mr. Barrett is the personification of these values. Since 2018, he has moved at light speed to put the foundational pieces in place that have turned Field Safe into the industry leading organization it is today. He has accomplished this by focusing on people (the Field Safe team, its clients and its shareholders) and through his commitment to ensuring Field Safe can nimbly respond to changing market conditions and client needs.
Mr. Barrett asserts, “Building a great company never takes place without surrounding yourself with team members who share your passion.” This recipe has allowed Field Safe to maintain its growth trajectory despite the economic uncertainty brought on by the global pandemic and the challenges of building a new company.
Connecting with Employees A High Priority
Communication and connection with his team are priorities for Mr. Barrett. He recognized very early that the pandemic would make that even more important. He engaged his network of peer leaders and other experts to incorporate their advice and best practices into Field Safe’s efforts to engage a fully remote workforce to ensure their safety and that business commitments continued to be met. Field Safe’s massive growth and need for additional headcount was another challenge he and his team had to learn to manage remotely.
Events such as biweekly town halls, fifteen-minute video chats over coffee with staff, and rewarding the outstanding contributions and behavior of all team members are some of the initiatives he has implemented.
Change is expected and inevitable at a company that is growing as fast as Field Safe and Mr. Barrett has challenged his team to take chances and “improve 1% every day”. Failure is ok… but use that failure to learn and improve.
Mr. Barrett believes that leadership is a privilege, and it is important that all leaders take that responsibility seriously. Mr. Barrett leads by example and has set a personal commitment higher than 1% improvement per day. He engages his peer network to support his growth as a leader and thanks his closest allies for their support.
Experience in Software and Technology Companies
Mr. Barrett’s 25+ year career includes national and international sales leadership roles within industry leading software and technology companies. Prior to Field Safe, Mr. Barrett was President of Computer Sciences Corp. (CSC) Canada where he was acting president of Canada with over 800 employees. Mr. Barrett holds an MBA from Heriot-Watt University, an MSc (Law) from Abraham Lincoln University and an ICD.D designation from Rotman School of Business. He also served as a Board Member of the Information Technology Association of Canada and currently sits on the Board as Chair of Governance and Nominating Commitee of the Huntington Society of Canada and as Independent Director and as a member of the Board of Directors for headversity. Giving of his time to support worthwhile causes is another passion and the Huntington Society is particularly important to him. He is dedicated to making a difference here, as well.
Leveraging Technological Trends to Improve Safety
Technology has been both personally and professionally rewarding for Mr. Barrett. He says that the passion and excitement that technology offers individuals to be creative and to take chances is unlike any other industry in the world. Field Safe has provided the greatest opportunity of his career to exploit that passion and build technology that truly makes a difference.
Field Safe’s priority is to SAVE LIVES while also saving time and money. Each day its team is tasked with improving the field worker experience and it does this by leveraging technological trends like the Internet of Behaviors. Mr. Barrett believes technology and digitization affords the best opportunity to continuously advance the safety culture of all organizations, but those solutions must be easy-to-use, and connect workers.
Field Safe and The Connected Worker
Field Safe’s easy-to-use safety application and smarter workflows methodology digitizes the field to connect workers. This resolves the field data gap and enables instant communication and information sharing. Ease of use increases user adoption and forms completion and submission which in turn increases the amount of data collected. That data is then shared in real-time across all team members and head office. The improved access to data allows leadership to make data informed decisions that improve safety, optimize operations and lower costs.
Field Safe’s all-in-one health and safety system does away with the inefficiencies of multiple systems and paper-based processes. Smarter workflows reduce the touch points that slow down the transfer of information. Emerging threats are identified immediately, and corrective actions implemented fast.
Solving Real Business Problems for Enterprise Clients
Field Safe has a unique market position servicing the very largest enterprises in North America. With more than 10 Fortune 1000 clients and partners, Field Safe continues to evolve its market leading position based on a scalable, secure, and stable digital platform. Field Safe again looks to people (its clients and its partners especially) to ensure its research and development investments will continue to result in an industry leading application that creates value for the market and continues to solve real business problems.
The Road to Zero Incidents
In the opinion of Mr. Barrett, both Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning provide tremendous opportunities to impact technology advancement to help drive business outcomes that improve safety and a company’s bottom line. Through trusted advisor relationships with its clients, and strategic partnerships with leading organizations like IBM and TELUS combined with the team’s unrivaled industry and safety expertise and its best-in-class digital solutions, Field Safe has been successful moving companies nearer their goal of zero incidents.
Field Safe and all of its executive including Mr. Barrett are actively engaged with key associations to stay current with health and safety market drivers. It is honored to regularly receive recognition and awards from a variety of industry organizations.
Learning from the Past While Looking to the Future
Under Mr. Barrett’s leadership, Field Safe applies the learnings from its past to continuously improve and is a stronger company because of it. Mr. Barrett sees failures as an important tool to learn and grow. It’s okay to take chances but you must make educated decisions that are based on data… a message he applies internally and shares when presenting to clients or at executive and industry events.
But at the same time, you must maintain focus on your core values and your corporate goals. This can be difficult, especially in the early days of a start-up organization but Mr. Barrett cautions that it is critical to maintain this focus.
Day-to-day activities can often make it difficult for a leader to stay on top of market trends that may signal new revenue stream opportunities, as well as emerging threats which if ignored could be very dangerous to a young business and young leaders. Once again, Mr. Barrett looks to his people to help him stay informed.
Mr. Barrett has helped Field Safe maintain its market leading position in a very competitive industry thanks to his people-centric philosophy and encourages all leaders to do the same. He advises aspiring entrepreneurs to get started, find a mentor, and do not quit.
