Managing things... leading people (Part 2)
"I'm not sure how long I lay on the floorboards, my teeth chattering uncontrollably..."
At this point Denis had been alone on the mountain for hours, but he had managed to find a run down hut near the peak of Mount Ruapehu.
His beloved brother-in-law had fallen to his death, and taken the supply bag with him.
The temperature had dropped below freezing on that chilling New Zealand night.
"The air by this point was so desperately frigid that on each inhalation, I felt as if pins and needles were spiking into my lungs."
Denis lay on the floor without warm clothes, blankets or a fire.
All he had were his thoughts and his breath.
Five seconds at a time?he would inhale, hold his breathe and thank god to be alive.
Then he would exhale.
He continued this on into the early morning until finally he heard the thumping of propellers from far off in the distance.
With every last ounce of energy he could muster, Denis jumped to his feet and ran outside waving his arms.
The word R-E-S-C-U-E was painted on the side of a bright red helicopter... he was saved.
But he would never be the same.
--
Fast forward 20 years and Denis is teaching a seminar titled?Managing Things Leading People?nearly half way around the world from where his incident took place.
I had the privilege of attending the class and listening to Denis' story first hand.
Incredible...
But it wouldn't be until now (about 10 years after the seminar) that I'm piecing it all together and seeing how this applies to electrical safety.
On that fateful night atop the mountain Denis had an epiphany... he now knew that he was put here on earth to do something special and to change people lives.
He had ideas and principles that up until that point he had simply regarded as common sense... now they stood out with remarkable significance.
Denis knew that he had to teach others...
He would reflect on what happened during the event for years before solidifying his ideas into a book and a seminar.
One of his core ideas was that?things need to be managed, but people need to be lead.
This is what I see as the fundamental flaw in electrical safety programs today.
Every code, standard, regulation, policy, procedure, chart, form and tool are ways to help manage electrical safety risk.
But they are all?things...
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Even if you had every single one of these things figured out and documented people will still get hurt.
Why is that?
Because the people are not things.
People can not be managed.
People need to be lead.
If they are not being lead...
They are not bought into the process and they don't see the value in the management system (whatever it is), they only see road blocks and red tape.
You'll hear things like "the gloves are hot", "the forms take too long to fill out", and "the procedures don't make any sense".
This is what happens when industry leaders try to?manage?their people.
So many times I've gone into a facility where they have "everything" in place.
Arc flash study up-to-date, access to all the PPE and tools required, job safety planning forms available... yet nobody follows the rules or uses any of the stuff.
It's because the company missed the boat on the?implementation... they tried to manage people with things instead of managing things and leading people.
Denis taught me a lot that week.
It was the best seminar I've ever attended.
Managing things and leading people applies everywhere... but we can certainly use it to improve electrical safety.
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If you've bought into what I'm saying and want to learn more I'd start with Denis' book titled?Five seconds at a time: How leaders can make the the impossible possible.
His mountain climbing story is only the intro... the rest of the book is about leading people into any endeavor.
If you want to get more into the details of how this applies to electrical safety then please comment or message me... I'd love to hear your thoughts and share more of mine.
Until next time...
Stay safe.
Cheers,
Jon