"We are not the real experts in your business -- you are!"

By Dean B. Wisecarver 

We sometimes struggle to find interesting topics for this newsletter. It isn’t easy to come up with new topics that have broad appeal or application. Frankly, during our consultations we tend to find that utilities are challenged by the same issues we’ve already addressed or they struggle with unique issues that are not of general interest.

But, in more than a few instances, we have come across a utility that has an excellent idea or approach to some common issue that we believe others would like to read about. In such cases, we’ve asked that the person we met with draft or outline an article that we can publish in our newsletter. Unfortunately, either because of time constraints for this person or fear of having his/her writing put on display, we rarely get such contributions. (That’s too bad because we’re very good at editing and cleaning up drafts so they read clearly and easily. There’s no need to spend lots of time polishing up an article for us. We’d be happy to do the necessary polishing.) Sometimes, of course, we take notes during our meeting and write the articles ourselves. This is okay but the ideas might be more compelling to others if the author was someone directly in your business.

I can think of several specific topics like this that have arisen. One was a cooperative that custom-designed and made special tubes to hold hot sticks that had auto-closing ends. The cooperative did this after having a hot stick fall off a truck because someone forgot to replace the end cap on the existing tube. Another was using our Supervision From A To C program in creative ways, especially adapting the material to small group sessions. This approach seemed very well received and I think the concept would have been very interesting to other utilities. There are others, but you get the idea.

If you are a regular reader of our newsletter, you have probably noticed that from time to time you’ll read an article that deals with a topic we’ve covered before but using different examples to make the point or new information that has come to light since we first covered the topic. There have been several of topics that fall into this category: buying and deploying AEDs; behavior-based interviewing and the hiring process; legal definition of “notice” as it relates to line patrols and encouraging non-technical employees to help spot hazards around the system; learning from things that go wrong (AKA accident investigations); roadside hazards; improving and sustaining performance while driving; etc.

The bottom line here is that, in truth, we are not the real experts in your business – you are. We’d like to have our newsletter become a conduit through which each of you, the real experts, can share short, interesting, useful ideas for safe and efficient operations with others in your business. If we could get more people to do this, there would be improvement in both the content and value of our articles, and, frankly, this would increase the willingness of others with great ideas to share, too.

So, I’m both inviting you and challenging you to join us. Try drafting an article on some idea or approach you’re proud of at your utility. Send it along to us and we’ll work with you to get it polished up to read really well. Then, we’ll publish it for the benefit of others and put your name on it for the deserved credit. Just an outline would be a start. It can even be hand-written and mailed, or just an emailed note to us to save you time -- any way that’s convenient and easiest for you. We’ll help edit it and polish it but nothing will be published under your name without your final approval.

Feel free to contact either Bruce Wright or me. If you want our contact information right now, just click here. I hope we’ll hear from you soon.