What is an environmental gorilla?When it comes to environmental issues, many facilities are primarily focused on environmental compliance – let’s make sure we meet our permit limits. Let’s stay out of trouble - today. While environmental compliance is an important aspect of environmental management, it should not be the sole focus of a facility. Each facility should also actively reduce its risk of potentially significant future environmental liabilities on a daily basis. The easiest way to start is to manage your environmental gorillas.
According to Christopher Chabris and Daniel Simons, authors of the best-selling book The Invisible Gorilla, “Imagine you are asked to watch a short video in which six people – three in white shirts and three in black shirts – pass basketballs around. While you watch, you must keep a silent count of the number of passes made by the people in white shirts. At some point, a gorilla strolls into the middle of the action, faces the camera and thumps its chest, and then leaves, spending nine seconds on screen. Would you see the gorilla?”
Well according to the authors, when they conducted this experiment at Harvard University a few years ago, half of the people that watched the video and counted the passes missed the gorilla!
This experiment reveals a significant behavioral tendency - we are not aware of a lot of things around us, and we do not recognize this lack of awareness. This causes many of us to simply overlook the obvious.
Here is a state-of-the-art chemical mix room with all of the “bells and whistles.” This facility was proud of the investment that it made to protect the environment by ensuring any release from drums and totes stored in this area would be contained by the trenches and sumps within the self-contained chemical mix room. The trenches and sumps actually contained sensors that would sound an alarm if any released material entered the structures.
As a facility or plant manager, you have a lot to keep track of. Your day-to-day responsibilities are already overwhelming. Then you throw in environmental permitting and reporting requirements to stay in compliance, employee training, safety procedures… And if you have an emergency or unexpected issue, chaos ensues. Like with many things in life, you can sidestep all of this and enjoy a less stressful existence with a bit of planning. The right plan will tell you what to do and how and when to do it. All you have to do is stick to the schedule.
Feeling overwhelmed can be challenging. But it’s nothing new for facility managers, whose plates are overloaded just about every single day. It’s part of the job. But you can ease the burden. Using some key strategies, you can manage and overcome your work-related stress and anxiety. In the process, you’ll become more effective, more productive… a better manager and leader. All it takes is some time management, self-care, the power of delegation, and a few other proven techniques. You can take back control… one step at a time.