Sow a little appreciation and reap the rewards
by Bernard McGrath, Inspection Validation Centre

One of the rewards of writing this column is the feedback I get from people within the NDT and Quality fraternity. When I first started, each article stimulated at least one e-mail from a reader giving feedback. These provided sufficient encouragement for me to continue writing, either directly through specific comments or indirectly because the e-mail described how my article had triggered a particular response.

Although the e-mails have dried up, I have still received sufficient feedback for me to know that people do read the column and that I am not totally isolated in my own little world, detached from reality! Thank you to all of you who have given me this verbal support. It is much appreciated. The last thing I want to do is to be producing something which is of no interest and of no use.
 
One of the questions I get asked most often though is how easy is it to think of things to write about. At the beginning it was easy. I started writing the column with the objective of publicising and explaining the PANI project to NDT News readers. Then I had a few pet issues that I wanted to rant about. This I was able to do with some careful editing and restraint. Since then, coming up with ideas has not been a problem. What is a challenge is linking the ideas together to make at least a semi-coherent article. With my increasing age, I always have to check that I am not repeating a previous article.

I can illustrate the process by describing the development of this month's article. January is the month of my Dad's anniversary and I was thinking about him whilst out for a run. It was only after he died and I had observed the reaction and comments of the family that I realised the gift he had given to us all. He had the ability to make each one of us, his wife, his children, his grandchildren and his great grandchild, feel special. The connection to the workplace is obvious. Make people feel appreciated or special and you will get the best out of them. But telling managers and supervisors to be like my Dad is not really enough for an article.

That was not until I read an abstract of an article in the January edition of the Harvard Business Review. The article promotes the importance of mentoring within professional service firms (PSFs). The abstract talks about A and B players and makes the somewhat obvious statement that not all staff are A players. However, as B players make up about 70% of PSF staff, then giving attention to B players through mentoring is time well spent.

Despite the recent uptake of technology, NDT is a people business. And all people need motivation. A key part of this motivation is achieved by taking time out to recognise the contribution that each and everyone in a company makes to the success of the company. Again, if I just state this fact, it will have little impact. To persuade you to consider applying it in your work situation, I need to illustrate the benefits that it can bring. The best example I have come across is that of General Bill Slim. This could be particularly appropriate because I have recently discovered that before he joined the army General Slim was a foreman of a testing gang in a Midland engineering works.

Through inspired leadership, Slim was able to motivate a demoralised 'Forgotten' army to turn defeat into victory in Burma during the Second World War. Slim recognised that motivating the front-line troops was not too difficult a task – when someone is trying to kill you there is a motivation to stop them! The challenge was to motivate the supply troops who were crucial to maintaining the army as a fighting force. To address this, Slim and his commanders made it their business to visit these less spectacular units, to show an interest in them and to tell them how much the army depended on them. Slim used the analogy of a clock. There are springs which drive the wheels which represent the senior leadership team. The wheels represent the rest of the company.

There are some big wheels that are obviously important. There are some small wheels that don't look important at all. Yet stop one of those small wheels and see what happens to the clock.
Making people feel special is important to both the home and the workplace. It may take more effort to do it in the latter but, as illustrated above, it can make the difference between winning and losing!

Please note that the views expressed in this column are the author's own personal ramblings for the purpose of encouraging discussion within the NDT Newspaper. They do not represent the views of the IVC, Serco Assurance or the HSE who funded the PANI projects.

Letters can be mailed to The Editor, NDT News, Newton Building, St George's Avenue, Northampton NN2 6JB. Fax: 01604 89 3861; E-mail: ndtnews@bindt.org or e-mail Bernard McGrath direct at Bernard.McGrath@sercoassurance.com