Seven Habits of Highly Effective Maintenance Organizations Habit 5
“Seven Habits of Highly Effective Maintenance Organizations”
Habit 5
Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood.
This is one of the great maxims of the modern age. It is also Steven Covey’s habit of communication; and it’s extremely powerful. Covey helps to explain this in his analogy, “diagnose before you prescribe”, which is simple, effective, and essential for developing and maintaining positive relationships.
Habit 5 is about communication and listening to the customer-in this case: operations, employees, and management. For example, when operations seems unreasonable - what appears to you as a “lose/win” situation, i.e. a loss for you and a win for them - first try to diagnose what is at the root of their demand. When done sincerely, this often uncovers true underlying issues that need to be addressed and leads to cooperation rather than confrontation. Mutual trust may develop between the parties. This is a much more productive environment and ultimately benefits everyone in the organization. Watch next month for Habit 6, Synergize.
”Seven Habits of Highly Effective Maintenance Organizations,” by Paul Swatkowski, MRG, is based on the book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, by Steven Covey.
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A person who feels mastery over his/her environment transforms the `bad' stress into good excitement, working on time management as a skill, helps a person feel that mastery. The goal is not to feel in control because that is an illusion. The goal of time management is feeling that you can master anything that comes at you.
- Alignment and Balancing
- Asset Management
- CMMS and EAM
- Green Reliability
- Human Asset Management
- Infrared Thermal Imaging
- KPIs - Reliability Performance Metrics
- Lean Maintenance
- Lubrication
- Maintenance Management
- Motor and Power System Testing
- MRO - Spares Management
- Oil and Fluid Analysis
- Planning and Scheduling
- PM Optimization
- Predictive Maintenance and Condition Monitoring Management
- Reliability-Centered Maintenance
- Reliability Engineering
- Reliability Leadership
- Root Cause Analysis
- Shutdowns and Turnarounds
- Total Productive Maintenance (Asset Care)
- Training
- Ultrasonics
- Vibration Analysis
Comments (4)
It applies not only to Maintenance.
1) Posted 10:10 am, 14 May 2009 by Juan AngelCuéllar
May also want to look at the Time management Matrix.
This is a very useful tool for those struggling with choices and time restraints.
2) Posted 7:23 am, 21 May 2009 by Alan Beck
3) Posted 7:14 am, 28 May 2009 by Paul SWatkowski
Thanks for the comment. The Time Management Matrix is covered in the full article - The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Maintenance Organizations - available on our website <MRGSolutions.com>. Watch for my next article "Quadrent II Maintenance" which details activities that can keep a Maintenance organization out of the Fire fighting (QuadrantI) mode. - Paul
4) Posted 7:19 am, 28 May 2009 by Paul SWatkowski