Rediscover Your Inner Superhero
Several years ago, a good friend of mine who worked in the utility industry drove his truck headlong into a tractor-trailer parked along a highway shoulder. In the blink of an eye, he was gone, leaving his wife a widow and their children without a father.
Fast-forward one year later. After conducting some training sessions with a utility company in Mississippi, a co-worker and I were driving home to South Carolina. My co-worker was asleep in the passenger seat, and everything was going smoothly as I navigated the truck and trailer east on I-20 under a clear, starry sky.
I had the radio turned off and my phone was far enough away that I couldn’t reach it. My focus was on the traffic, the terrain, and the possibility that I could encounter an unsafe driver or an animal trying to cross the highway.
As I looked in my side mirror a little while later, I noticed a trucker quickly gaining on me; he was particularly noticeable because of the vertically stacked green LEDs on both sides of his 18-wheeler. At that moment – and for the first time I can ever remember while driving – my inner voice told me to beware of this trucker and his intentions on the road.
His 18-wheeler was flying, surpassing the 70-mph speed limit by roughly 15 mph. As he quickly passed me to the left, the rear of his trailer (and all those wheels) became even with my cab. That’s when the trucker jerked his steering wheel in my direction, causing his trailer to swing toward my face.
In a split second, without time to think, I threw my truck and 40-foot trailer onto the shoulder of the highway; the left half of the rig was hanging onto the pavement, with the right side in the grass. I never hit the brakes because I didn’t want to lose control of the vehicle. Eventually, we came to a soft stop, which is when my co-worker abruptly woke up, surprised to find himself on the side of the road. I explained to him what had happened, all while quietly being grateful for the wisdom and impeccable timing of my inner superhero powers.
Understanding Your Electric Reality
Did you know that you, too, have inner superhero powers? And that you have some choice in when and where you can use them? Allow me to explain.
Your electric reality – that is, the physical world in which you work and interact with others – is a two-sided coin. One side represents the challenges we face as human beings. For example, we face innumerable distractions every day, from the time we’re born until our mortal journey is complete. We endure traumatic situations and sometimes find ourselves involved in activities that are neither healthy nor profitable. We can also be easily triggered by circumstances and allow our emotions to take over. Both on their own and in combination, these experiences have the power to lead us to the trough of unhappiness – and that unhappiness makes it more difficult to channel our inner superhero powers. Additionally, it leaves us more vulnerable to making mistakes and creating potential safety hazards, putting us in a place where bad things can happen. Just consider that trucker I encountered on the road. I’ll never know for sure, but he struck me as someone who was deeply unhappy.
The other side of the coin represents those times and places where great things can – and do – happen. In these environments, every worker’s life is valued and protected; crew members are mentally and physically tuned in to one another; encouragement is doled out in spades; positive attitudes are abundant; and everyone returns home safely each day. It’s easiest to channel our inner superhero powers on this side of the proverbial coin because fewer personal obstacles (e.g., distractions, traumatic events, unhealthy activities, feelings of unhappiness) exist, leaving our minds clearer and with less cognitive load. In the story I recounted earlier, I’m certain things could have turned out very differently had I not been feeling calm, cool, collected and highly aware of my surroundings.
The fact is, we have very little control over most things that happen in the world each day. One thing we can control, however, is how we show up to our jobsites. When each member of a line crew is actively committed to fostering a healthy team environment – including working safely, watching out for their brothers and sisters, and taking accountability for their actions – these workers become greater than the sum of their parts, productive line team superheroes who build each other up, help each other grow and accomplish great things together.
Final Thoughts
If you’re anything like me, your teammates have become more like family over the years. After all, many of us spend more time at work than we do with our loved ones. It’s in our best interest to continue building and strengthening our connections with co-workers – because the stronger those connections are, the more easily we can identify each other’s strengths, weaknesses and superhero powers, enabling all of us to work smarter and more safely.
About the Author: Brent Jeffries is vice president of field operations and a safety instructor for Bierer Meters (www.bierermeters.com). He’s also the founder of Electric Culture of Safety (https://electriccultureofsafety.com), a national grassroots partnership within the electric power industry. Reach him at brent@bierermeters.com.