Invited to do a workshop for a very large international corporation, I went out to a dinner where I sat next to the “grand poohbah” vice president in charge of all things quality and safety. He leaned over to me and said:

We had just witnessed a large toolbox talk at a mining construction site in Africa. It wasn’t a bad session; the safety officers were loud and lively in their statements, there was some humor and even the safety manager from the general contractor stepped in to say a couple words.

The union steward had just recounted an incident where a supervisor asked one of his workers to step into standing water to work on corroded gauges near the coker. The work needed to be done immediately as it would delay ongoing maintenance on the fractionator to take on different stock feed.

Behavior is not right or wrong, good or bad. It just is. It is neutral. Approach behaviors with the dispassionate, objective view of a scientist. Not with emotions.

The manager had gone on a fishing trip for at-risk behavior.  And he “hooked” one of his crew doing “wrong.” He found what he was looking for – at-risk behavior -- and administered discipline, based on this single data point.

We are taught to describe ourselves: “I’m an ‘Introvert’ which explains my discomfort working in big teams,” or “My co-worker is a ‘Judger’ which explains why she is so critical.” We have the impression that if we just “know” ourselves and others better our work together will be more collaborative and productive.