We are starting the descent off our 2024 Spring outage peak. We still have 2200+ craft working 130K hours on 100+ jobs. Let’s stay focused on safety & quality and avoid the summit fever.

Over the past two weeks I had the privilege of representing APM at industry conferences: TapRoot’s Global Summit & TAUC’s Construction Leadership Conference. APM engages here to influence the industry on broad topics like pension reform, apprenticeship standards, and safety innovation. These conferences also provide opportunities to develop as industry leaders.

I heard 3 nuggets of insight that have me thinking.  

#1  “The first step in the right direction improves all angles.” ~ Karl Mecklenburg

I know this from playing and coaching sports – a good first step gives you an advantage. Apply this to our business. Every day, every task, our first step in the right direction is the Safety Task Analysis. A good STA sets up the day and task for success.

#2  “Most good listeners are underperforming by 60%.” ~ Derek Gaunt with The Black Swan Group

Poor listeners are distracted or listening to respond. Good listeners are trying to understand the other person’s logic and emotion. The best listeners practice empathetic listening. What is their world view, their motivation, their perspective, etc.? The key to building trust is to listen with empathy.

#3  “The average person has the opportunity to influence 80K people in their life.” ~ Tommy Spaulding

On an average day we interact with ~3 new people. Spread that over an average lifetime, and we have the opportunity to interact with 80K people. And that is the size of many stadiums. So in our life we have the opportunity to influence and impact a stadium full of people. What would they say?

In the spirit of our CBS philosophy, I have 3 commitments to work on:

1. In my daily STA, I will identify my first step (action) that sets the day up for success.

2. In my convos, I will allow 5 seconds of silence before I speak and my first statement will be to label what I heard. 

3. In my daily walk, I will identify 1+ MOHII (moment of high impact and influence – Balmert tool) to influence someone positively.

I will be a better leader if I improve in these areas.

And we will be a better APM as we continue to improve at taking the right first step, listening with empathy, and influencing others for good.  

—Jake