If you want something different................

Where do I start? As we go down a path we often wonder why we are not going in the direction we thought we would. I am sure there are many answers to this question, but if you read my last posting you know what our first reaction is - BLAME! We blame someone else for our unintended path. I am not here to speak about blame though, so I won't. So back on track. It is very difficult to be the "change agent". What do I mean by "change agent". Imagine this; you are a new employee, volunteer, student, etc. and you see things you do not understand or agree with. But everyone around you seems to be oblivious to these things you see. You ask a colleague "why is that....." and you either get ignored or told "that is no big deal, it is the way it is around here. Where does that leave you? IT BETTER MAKE YOU THINK! IT BETTER MAKE YOU THINK! I say this twice because you need to think about it. I know you have experienced it sometime in your life. You see something that does not make sense and you are brushed off. Will you ask again? Will you do something about it? Do not fall into the trap and become like your surroundings, CHANGE IT! Be a "change agent". Ask again and again and again until you either understand why it is like this or it changes. This is what I mean by "change agent". This is very difficult to do. You fear for your job, your bonus, your career, your everything. I understand this, but do not become a different person because of your surroundings. Be you and change your surroundings to what you think is RIGHT. So before I finish my opening line I want to say something about LEADERSHIP. Great leaders lead! Great leaders are prepared to do what they say and stand up for what they believe is right, not popular. We need more great leaders, so choose to be one. Now the rest of my opening line -


IF YOU WANT SOMETHING DIFFERENT, BE IT. SAYING IT AND NOT BEING IT MEANS NOTHING!

BLAME

BLAME makes me sick! Blame is the most significant roadblock to positive change! He did not read the procedure! She did not do an MOC! It wasn’t me it was you! This is all blame and until we get over it we will not change or learn from things that go wrong. I do it, you do it, most everyone around us does it, but until we let go of blame we will not learn everything we can from things that go wrong. Sure we will learn that the valve lifted and this is usually where we stop. We found out why the failure happened; the valve lifted! Some organizations want to understand, so they ask “why did the valve lift”. Well, the valve lifted because the differential pressure was lost. But why was the differential pressure lost? Because the differential pressure sensing line was plugged. Why was the differential sensing line plugged? Because the differential sensing line root valve was plugged. Why was the differential sensing line root valve plugged? Because the wrong valve was installed which allowed sulfur to build up in the valve body and plug the valve. BINGO we found out who did it! The engineer put the wrong valve in. The operator new this was the wrong valve. The inspector looks at this valve every day why didn’t he catch it. What should we do? Move on and attempt to understand more. Do not stop here! Did you hear me, DO NOT STOP HERE! This is blame, find out who did what wrong and stop. Now let’s ask why. Why was the wrong valve installed and not recognized. If we let go of BLAME and try to understand to such an extent that we would have used the same valve, we will truly learn from things that go wrong.