Did you ever have a week, where through coincidence or maybe serendipity, the same theme keeps repeating? And does the repetition make you start to wonder what it is the universe is trying to tell you and why now?
Tuesday night it was a speaker on wellness talking about the need to encourage employees to embrace healthy activities rather than trying to force them into it. Give them information, give them specific tools, make it easy to participate, he said.
Wednesday night, it was a fellow speaker at the Oklahoma SWANA conference, passionate about driver safety. Drivers have to want to be safe, he said. Rules and lectures work about as far as you can see your drivers or until they know you aren’t watching. They won’t follow the rules until each one grasps the personal ramifications for themselves and their family of not behaving in a safe manner. Make it personal, make it something they own.
Thursday afternoon sitting at the Tulsa airport, I had a chance encounter with an umpiring friend who works for a major airline in, oddly enough, quality control in the maintenance department. We talked about mentoring people to better performance. And then, on the flight between Tulsa and Denver, yet another quality assurance guy, this one a Canadian using ISO 9001 principles to help make improvements and pre-qualify contractors in the oil and gas industry. His point, and that of the retired doctor sitting next to him, was that it takes the personal commitment of every individual throughout a process – beginning to end – to avoid mistakes and create a quality outcome.
Was it just coincidence? Maybe it’s that I need to do a better job of pulling Agency employees into the process of responding to tighter budgets and changes processes? Or was it all a reminder that nothing changes for the better until people believe in and own the goal?
Please join this discussion by clicking on the comment button below or visit I AM SWANA to start your own conversations.
Sara Bixby
2009 SWANA Treasurer
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