I was asked to speak to a workplace this month, it was a group of office workers, marketing staff, sales people, IT support, management & leaders for the company.
Then thought to myself….. “these people are not really exposed to high risk”.
But then I tried to put myself in their situation.
I’m at a workstation & my supervisor asks me to bring a file to the meeting room in a hurry. We have floor to ceiling filing cabinets & I’m only short. So do I grab a chair & stand on it and reach the top filing cabinets….. or do I go to the store & get the proper elevated step that is stable & has hand rails?
I’m in the Marketing Department & we have this great new product that we need to promote. I’ve got some great ideas that I just need to get down and ready to present to our next meeting. We have some systems that require us to get up from our desk every 60 minutes for 5 minutes to stretch & move….. But my ideas are really good & I need to get them ready. I spend the next 6 hours sitting at my desk, I even let my Vegemite & cheese sandwich wait until I had finished my work!
I love selling…. I love the products I sell. I’m at the end of month & I’m ahead of my targets. I get a call from a client that needs to place an order but she needs to see me. I’ve got an appointment 30 minutes before she wants to see me but she is about 45 minutes away from where I will be. But I’m a good driver, I know the back roads where I can do 120 in an 80 zone. The weather is crap, rain & dark….. so do I agree to see her? Or do I say No I can’t make that time?
I’m an IT Expert…. I can ride a Mac & Tweak windows till it purrs, I get a call from someone in sales that their PC is “Stuffed”…… so I go down & find that the power supply is hot! Now these PC’s are hardwired in & to turn off the power I need to call maintenance & get the power isolated. But I know that if I’m careful I can change it while it is “Live” as long as I’m careful…… It will save time & prevent the department from having to shut the sales group down!… What do I do?
I’m a Manager or a Leader….. and I tell one of the office girls that I need a file urgently!… I don’t care how you get it but get it now!
a. I’m the Marketing Manager and I tell my staff that we need this proposal by today at the latest
b. I’m the Sales Manager and I say to the sales team “Whoever sells the most this month will get an IPad for everyone in their family! So get out there & sell no matter what!”
c. I’m the IT manager, I recently had a meeting with the MD and she told me that she was concerned about the amount of “Down Time” due to IT issues. I passed this on to my staff to tell them that we need to reduce “DownTime”.
OK….. so you have read the above ….what do you think?
