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Management Side
Week of 13 April 15: Being Thorough

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I have never seen a specification or practice written on the subject of "being thorough." Many specifications and practices are written specifically about the thoroughness required in a particular, unique setting; hence they are about thoroughness, but in terms of a specific task. Paper manufacturing specifications, piping and pressure vessel specifications are some examples of the specific. Here, I am searching for the non-specific, the general.

Children are often not thorough. Hence, thoroughness is taught by parents and by schools. "Pick up your toys" can be thought of as the specification imposed on an errant child who has already moved on to the next task. Again, however, it is specific.

With maturity, comes one's long term view of thoroughness. Whether it is through examples of a parent, favorite relative, or perhaps a teacher, some people who are likely already predisposed to be thorough pick up the general habit and execute it faithfully. Others, no matter how many examples are thrust in front of them, never get it and never seem to want to get it.

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Sloppy work, whether done by a person or a group, is prima facie evidence of not being thorough. It is aggravating, troublesome, expensive and life threatening. How many accidents, at work and elsewhere, are caused by not being thorough? Why do young people--ages 16 to 25--have more automobile accidents than older folks? Some of this problem is distraction, but many accidents are caused by not being thorough (coming to a complete stop, looking all directions for hazards).

In our mills, how much work, especially in maintenance, is caused by a lack of thoroughness? My wild guess is probably something in neighborhood of 25%. How many accidents are caused in our mills by lack of thoroughness? In the "Safety Show '15" on Pulp & Paper Radio International, I can think of several accidents we described that were the result of not being thorough.

So how do we teach thoroughness? I have to admit I am not sure. I think it involves training people to slow down and think more. However, there is a danger here when it comes to those who are not energetic to start with--they will see this as a license to go really slowly.

We certainly cannot write specifications for everything, although when a lack of thoroughness causes one to be dragged into court as a negligent party, the plaintiff's attorneys would have you believe everything can be specified. And this attitude, over time, has caused a preponderance of rules and regulations to be promulgated throughout society. Unfortunately, I believe it has also stifled creativity.

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Should you be held responsible for maintenance? Maintenance is directly involved in asset valuation ... Check out the latest edition of Strategic & Financial Arguments.

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My last thought relates to the concept of teaching oneself to be more thorough. This will work as a self-disciplined approach, if you are inclined to better yourself. It is simply this. When you are conscious that you are in a hurry to finish the task you are doing (which may or may not be unpleasant) in order to rush off to a task you very much want to do, you are in a danger zone. You can train yourself to set off internal alarm bells when you find that such conditions exist. Once the alarm bells go off, you can slow down, check for thoroughness in the project you are attempting to complete and make sure it is done in every sense of the word. However, I just do not know how to teach this to someone who does not already have a predisposition to be thorough.

So, frustratingly, we come to the end of this column and I don't feel I have been thorough! Perhaps you can help out by taking our quiz this week. It can be found here.

For safety this week, safety is indeed about thoroughness, isn't it?

Be safe and we will talk next week.

You can own your Nip Impressions Library by ordering "Raising EBITDA ... the lessons of Nip Impressions."


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