Eliminate the Small Errors

Take Care of the Little Things is a country song from the 1960s. It tells of a divorced man telling the new man in his woman’s life to cut the grass, fix the washing machine, and love his sweet baby. It was due to neglect of the little things that he lost the big thing – love.

A Wall Street Journal article on September 13 quotes Dr. Robert Helmreich, a human error expert, who says, ” You can’t eliminate human error, but you can minimize the consequences.” I have studied some of Dr. Helmreich’s papers and writings about crew resource management and aviation safety. The article points out that there is some type of error made in the cockpit of airlines on over 60 % of flights. Most of those errors have no serious consequence. We hear about the serious consequences when an airplane crashes.

When the company I worked with started an operational excellence program, there was little information in our industry. We learned about error management from the aviation, nuclear, aerospace, military, and chemical industries. The key lessons are pay attention to those minute details, recognize and correct small errors quickly, change unsafe practices and behaviors, then communicate the lessons learned to others.

There is zero tolerance for accidents in today’s world, so the target is always zero. That is a tough standard, but a worthy one.

Posted September 26th, 2005 in Operational Excellence

A Culture of Fatalism

Daniel Henninger, in The Wall Street Journal, on September 23 quotes Fred Smith, who says a “culture of fatalism” exists about corruption in Louisiana. People believe nothing can be done about the corruption that evidently has existed in the state for years. Whether that is true or not, I do not know.

I do know that excellence cannot be achieved if a culture of fatalism exists in an organization. In my work with a pipeline company, a belief once existed that we were going to have errors and accidents that caused spills and threatened public safety. We spent most of our time, energy, and resources preparing to be good emergency responders and spill cleanup professionals. I often wondered why we didn’t spend as much time preventing spills as we spent getting ready for spills response.

It was only when leadership and employees began believing that all spills and errors and accidents were preventable that the culture of fatalism began to die. The belief led to actions, prevention programs, and attitudes that the most important responsibility was the protection of the people, the environment, and employees.

I don’t know what will be done about the culture in Louisiana, but I know that fatalism and lethargy can be replaced with faith and action.

Posted September 26th, 2005 in In the News, Operational Excellence

They Left the Country Music

A Wal-Mart store in uptown New Orleans was looted, and John Stonaker was quoted in an article by Mary Foster, an Associated Press writer. Stonaker said, “They took everything-all the electronics, the food, the bikes…The only things left are the country-and-western CDs.”

Now I’m not commenting on the moral implications of looting and stealing all the merchandise. I guess Wal-Mart’s “Everyday Low Prices” were not low enough when a natural disaster hits. And I certainly am not demeaning the suffering of people. Sometimes looking at things differently, maybe humorously, can be helpful for healing. I guess it’s a Southern trait, like a preference for country music.

What bothers me is that the looters did not take the country music. I listen to a diverse mix of music, and believe diversity is helpful. After I read the news article, I thought about what useful lessons country music contains about living during the storms of life. Those country music CDs might be just what is needed during the evacuation and the temporary living arrangements.

For example, George Jones has a new album titled “Hits I Missed…and One I Didn’t.” Even the title is instructive. It was said when Katrina went east of New Orleans that once again the city had missed a hit, but then it didn’t really miss. I won’t bore you with an analysis of how all the songs apply in this situation.

Here are a few analogies, from the twelve songs on the album. “Here in the Real World” talks about how things are different in the movies than in real life. In the movies, people don’t cry and good always wins. We would never be blue, if life was like the movies. There’s a great line in the song, “here in the real world, it’s not that easy at all ’cause when hearts get broken it’s real tears that fall.” Because we have expectations of instant gratification, like the movies and television and commericals promise, we forget the real world can be a disappointing place at times. Our hearts can be broken and our tears will fall. It’s a sad fact, but a true one.

“If You’re Going to Do Me Wrong, Do It Right” is a song that tells about all the things a man bought a woman. The man tells her to take it all, if she’s going to do him wrong. He wants her to do the wrong right, he doesn’t want to see the proof or know the truth. And it is terrible to see the proof of a hurricane’s destruction or know the truth that levees and other barriers will not always hold.

The title “Pass Me By” is instructive in itself, and the singer is just wanting bad experiences to pass him by. The song “Too Cold at Home” contains the line, “I’ll sure be glad when these dog days of summer are over.” All of us will be glad when this summer and fall are over, because people need this time to pass.

Then the song “Busted” talks about hating to beg for food and clothing, but the singer is busted. He says, “I’m no thief, but a man can go wrong when he’s busted.” People are going to need lots of help, for a long time. Those who can should donate money and time to help. The singer does not ask for help in the song, but just states the facts and the reasons.

Can you see how useful country music can be for helping us deal with tragic circumstances? I have often made it through times of despair by hearing a meaningful phrase in a country song. Try it, you might like it. By feeling bad, we often get better.

Posted September 26th, 2005 in In the News