ALMA E-News for April 2002
Greetings ALMA Members,
Preservation of the collective knowledge and experience of risky behaviors learned over the years is an important element in managing laboratory safety —those who don't know history are doomed to repeat it. New lab staff are usually thoroughly trained in the use of personal protective equipment and well versed in safety rules but how are they to learn the dangers of inserting glass tubing into a rubber stopper or recognize the potential tipping hazard of a tall graduated cylinder of sulfuric acid? Many of these hazards in the lab are known because of past incidents so it is important that we preserve a record to pass along these hard learned lessons in training our staff. This could be as simple as keeping a binder of all the incident reports and near misses reported for the laboratory as far back as records permit. At a recent local ALMA meeting, one manager reported that he supplemented these records with a more visual approach. He let his staff select a large poster of a person (with suitable constraints on dress, of course) and then placed bandages or other indicators of all past injuries on the poster. If we had a mechanism for sharing these experiences between our labs then we could all benefit from each other’s experiences. Wouldn’t it be great if incident reports could be collected from all ALMA members (suitably edited to eliminate names and company to satisfy the lawyers), compiled and analyzed, and the results reported to members for training our staff and identifying hazards?
For you fans of emotional intelligence, Daniel Goleman has packaged this concept in yet another book (Primal Leadership, with Boyatzis and McKee). The new book maintains that the primary task for the leader is to act as the group’s emotional guide. A positive influence on the group’s emotions is referred to as resonance and is the driver of high performance. The key to establishing resonance is through development of the emotional competencies that determine how leaders handle themselves and their relationships. Leadership styles are classified into six categorizes:
- Coercive
- demands compliance; drive to achieve, initiative, self-control
- Authoritative
- mobilizes toward a vision; self-confident; empathic, change agent
- Affiliative
- creates harmony; empathy, relationship building, communication
- Democratic
- consensus; collaboration, teamwork, communication
- Pacesetting
- high performance standards; conscientious, drive to achieve, initiative
- Coaching
- develops people; empathy; self awareness
The author maintains that although managers tend to adopt one of these as his/her primary style, the most successful leaders are able to adopt the other styles depending upon the situation. He also maintains that, over the long term, all of the styles have a positive influence on the culture of the organization except for the coercive and pacesetting with the authoritative style being the most positive. Although pacesetters are driven toward high personal performance, they tend to demoralize the organization with their judgmental attitude when few people are able to meet their high standards. The author maintains that managers can change to a more positive leadership style by following a program to improve self-image and interpersonal relationships. Does anyone else see a parallel between these concepts and the ideas of Dale Carnegie from the 1930s?
Do you have a system to measure lab performance? Have you dealt with cultural issues? Have you led your lab through reorganization or downsizing? What has been your experience with teams? Share your experiences with other managers by writing an article for our journal, Managing the Modern Laboratory. If you are willing but are just having trouble getting started or can’t think of a topic, contact me at the address below and maybe I can help. A published article in a professional journal will make a strong addition to your list of accomplishments at the end of the year.
If you have any comments, cost saving suggestions, opinions, etc. let me hear from you .
Wayne