Working Up

Have you been on the same team with people who are so repulsive and object to almost every idea ? The usual feeling toward these people is resentment. They can be really obnoxious. Though they seem critical yet they are very emphatic. I had an experience with one today. 

Harry is a senior colleague at work. He's been around for the past 11yrs. But he's quite repulsive and rebuffs ideas easily. Most of my colleagues think he creates unnecessary pressure. Something happened today at work that change my perception about him.

We were to fix a gas pipeline system to a burner that has been fixed on to a furnace. Trying to do that, we encountered a design error. We tried our ways around it, but no avail. We blamed the previous shift of wrongly fixing the burner onto the furnace...it was getting dark, so we decided to leave the job for those who will come in the morning.

Half an hour later,after we returned back to the control room, Harry asked about how the job went. We told him that the situation at hand. And as his culture, he rebuffed...

"No no no no....there's a way around it...get your helmets and your gloves and let's get to the field."

You should see the look on our faces. We quickly grabbed our helmets and gloves and joined him, under the furnace. He made us remove one burner and tried to turn it to the side and fix again, but that wasn't possible. Then he made us remove all the burners that didn't fit with the gas pipeline. We tried to exchange their positions to see whether,it wasn't fixed in the right place. That too didn't work.

Comments had started flowing from mine colleagues (including me)...

"Oh it won't work...there's a problem with this and that..."

Harry was quiet and still, starring at the heavy burner that was on the floor.... Few minutes on...he sighed! He had noticed the problem.

Few days ago the burner was taken to the mechanical workshop for welding of some parts...in welding it, the cut off a rim, and mended it, but when fixing it back, they missed the original position of the rim, thus the holes don't fit into their places, thereby making the burner part that is to fit with the gas pipeline to exceed its length. The only way out, is for the mechanical guys to drill new holes on the rim of the burners, as they try it on the furnace, or they cut out the rim again and re-weld as they try it on the furnace.

How come we didn't notice this. A team of six guys, and a supervisor couldn't see the problem. It took another team member who wasn't part of the first troubleshooting to find out.

As we walk back to the control room, I could hear Harry's name on everyone's lip. Just then I recalled, a training event I attended two years ago. It was the festival of ideas. One of the thoughts that was shared,was building a team for transformation.

The presentation lead by Albert Ocran, highlighted the need to include several people with qualities he allegorically referred to as the Ace,the Spade, the hearts, and the king. The spades, were people who are very categorical and critical, just like Harry.

Harry's critical discernment, has changed my opinion. He's thought me vital lesson in problem identification and problem solving. The rest of us spent the next half hour talking about Harry's repulsiveness, and his veracious point of view. It was all alluded to the time he invests in studying and taking short courses on various subjects, including his vast interest and involvement in politics.

To me Harry has set a new standard. For me, I have decided to study and know every detail about every equipment and system in the plant. Each day, apart from my duties, I spend about 20-40 minutes tracing pipelines to and fro a system or equipment and study my manual. I believe if I'm consistent in this, by the next two years I'll be a master of the plant.