Improving human performance one mistake at a time
Meredith Long and Lauri Minton represented Pantex at this year’s Community of Human and Organization Learning (CHOLearning) annual conference. Photo by Adam Baker.
What do Coca-Cola, the Mayo Clinic, Tesla, NASA, and Pantex have in common?
All have representatives who have at some point been invited to speak at the Community of Human and Organization Learning (CHOLearning) annual conference. This year, a pair of Pantexans presented a workshop at the session.
Consider this: have you ever had one of those days where one problem or mistake just seemed to waterfall into another and another? Maybe the alarm clock didn’t go off or you spilled your coffee walking out the door. These instances or events that lead to human error at work are called precursors. Precursors are unfavorable conditions that exist before work begins that can lead to workplace blunders.
The Department of Energy (DOE) has identified 85 workplace precursors in the Human Performance Improvement Handbook. The odds are that each of us has experienced at least one of the precursors DOE identified.
“Some examples include excessive communication requirements, delays/idle time, repetitive actions/monotony, nuisance alarms, recent shift change, or the first day back from extended leave,” said Lauri Minton, enforcement coordination screener/reporter.
Minton and Quality Assurance Engineer Meredith Long have collaborated on this topic. The duo created a workshop to identify precursors and overcoming such challenges.
“We’ve been working on it for a couple of years and then we brought the product to a specialized group at Pantex as a testing environment to see if we wanted to take it to a bigger audience,” Long said.
Minton and Long submitted their workshop for consideration to present at the annual CHOLearning conference. They did more than get more eyes, ears, and creative minds on their work — they stood out amid a sea of prospective presenters.
“There were far more abstracts submitted than accepted, and the CHOLearning Board of Directors is very picky about the topics and speakers they choose to accept each year,” Minton stated. “There was great synergy in the room and I think we all walked away with fresh perspectives and ideas.”
The workshop was a success in the eyes of these two Pantexans.
“I feel like I was able to bring the importance of Pantex to the audience and they were able to share with me why human performance is important in their industry,” Long said. “It doesn’t matter what industry you’re in, human behavior is everywhere and touches every single thing.”
The duo credit Pantex leadership for allowing them to showcase their passion at a conference and demonstrate their Pantex citizenship.
“It feels special because they recognize that I am passionate about what I do,” Long said. “Pantex trusts me to represent the company in a specialized field that is important to Pantex and other industries.”