Jacob stood a stone’s throw from the assembly area. Day 3 of his research into safety in the manufacturing area. His shoulders stiffened every time he looked up from writing notes, his body making him aware of the sideways glances of the people in the area.
Jacob thought for a moment about why everyone was avoiding saying hi, or anything, to him. He had always been friendly. Why did they seem angry? Jacob’s unfocused stare landed somewhere between two machines. He was wearing all the required safety gear – glasses, hearing protection, and safety shoes. He consciously left his phone at his desk. Even though he could have used it to take notes and to time safety measures, he knew phones were strictly prohibited on the manufacturing floor. What else could be upsetting everyone?
Troy, one of the CNC operators was watching Jacob through his bifocal safety glasses. Jacob had taken Troy out to lunch a few times. Jacob appreciated Troy’s stories and Troy appreciated Jacob’s willingness to learn. He sauntered towards Jacob and flexed his finger in a follow-me fashion.
“Kid, what are you doing?” Troy asked. The words hung in the otherwise empty breakroom for a moment. Jacob scrunched his forehead and looked at Troy questioningly. “Are you doing a time study, trying to replace the workers with more automation?”
Jacob’s eyes widened. Now he understood. Even though Jacob was a mechanical engineer, not an industrial engineer who would do a process study, that nuance was not shared knowledge nor was it particularly relevant at the moment. He realized he never gave any context to the people that he was going to be around. He was studying the equipment and the team’s interaction with it, but not their performance or the cycle time of the operations.
Jacob exhaled heavily. He thanked Troy for asking him the question, and fought back the desire to ask why no one trusted him. Then he explained what he realized he should have before embarking on his research project.
“I’m researching the safety features of the equipment and how we interact with it with the goal of making the machinery even safer to use. I asked to do this project after I thought about how Davey got his arm stuck in the machine last year.” Jacob involuntarily shuddered. Troy smiled and patted him on the shoulder.
The next day, with the permission of the line supervisor, Jacob pulled the assembly team together and explained what he was working on. He apologized for causing worry. The company had its share of ups and downs, triumphs and turmoil over the years. It wasn’t far-fetched to conclude his stopwatch and note-taking would support a cost-cutting measure.
Jacob invited everyone to give him feedback, and made himself available in the breakroom and lunchroom. To his surprise, many people shared their stories, both what worked and what concerned them. A few people suggested modifications that would improve safety but wouldn’t be annoying or burdensome to work with.
Jacob was grateful the team gave him a second chance. He gathered a lot of good information and sketched modifications and additions to designs to improve safety. Upon realizing he would need to present his ideas to his manager and likely to the director to get buy-in and funding, he started to sweat. How would he be able to influence the decision-makers?
tl;dr
Provide context before you do something out of the norm. People will create their own context if you don’t provide one.
engineer your life
- Did you screw up? Apologize and figure out how to do better next time.
- To gain support for your efforts, provide the why, the reason you are doing what you are doing.
- If you’ve got some insight and see someone struggling, assume good intent and offer feedback.
Photo by Bill Oxford on Unsplash