Jim Thompson (jthompson@taii.com)
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I belong to a volunteer organization that is part of the National Guard here in the State of Georgia. We are as military as you can get--if you saw us in uniform and didn't know your badges and insignias, you would think we were regular army. When I joined this organization five and one-half years ago, my family and close friends didn't expect me to last six months. After all, I am not exactly known for following the rules.
A few years ago at one of our major events, the question was asked of command, "Why don't we have license plates for us in our organization?" It is a logical question, as we are part of the state's safety and preparedness systems, and certainly other organizations have such benefits.
Now, I am not at a high enough rank in this organization to command a turtle to cross the road, even after five and one-half years. That is my fault; my travel schedule has precluded me from taking the requisite training courses to be eligible for promotion beyond the rank of corporal.
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However, I got to thinking about the license plate question. I need to add that we are entirely volunteers, the State of Georgia pays for Workmen's Compensation when we are on duty, but that is it. We are the cheapest "employees" in the state by any measure. So, last summer, I sauntered over to my state representative's home--he lives about two blocks away--and presented the case for the license plates. Our legislature only meets in the winter, but he said he would bring it up. Well, on 6 May 15, the Governor of Georgia signed the bill giving us each one vehicle license plate per year with our insignia on it at no charge as long as we stay in the organization. So, our cost to the state went up by about $50 each per year. Still the cheapest "employees" in the state.
But that is not the point. If I had carefully thought about my rank and position in the pecking order, I would have done nothing. Instead, I decided to do something. Was it a risk? Perhaps, but only a slight one. What are they going to do, fire me?
We face these issues all the time at work. There are people who feel constrained to follow the rules and there are those who see an opportunity for the company and exploit that opportunity for the benefit of the company.
The first group is called "Followers." The second group is called "Leaders." Leaders use the rules as guidelines. They assess which are really important and which are not, then seek opportunities to improve the business, with some consideration of the rules but all the while not blindly following them.
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Followers, on the other hand, obsess over the rules. The most dangerous ones obsess over rules long gone by. For instance, I have seen people blindly following company rules that were put in place under a different company ownership. Unless these are regulatory rules related to environment, employment or safety and administered by a government body, this is crazy. It reflects either an extraordinary fear of breaking the rules or a complete lack of day-to-day engagement in the business.
Speaking of engagement, I once saw the best test of engagement ever in a morning meeting in a mill I was visiting. The mill manager passed out 3 x 5 cards at the start of the meeting. He asked everyone to write down on that card what the safety incident rate was through the previous day and the tons made on each of the machines the previous day. He did not collect the cards, but he told the participants that if they had not written anything on their cards, they needed to consider strongly why they were working in that mill. Message received--from a leader.
You might want to take our quiz this week, if you are interested in improving your career in your mill. You may take it here.
For safety this week, we follow the safety rules, don't we? No shortcuts here.
Be safe and we will talk next week.
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