WEBVTT 00:01.476 --> 00:04.226 (downbeat music) 00:16.799 --> 00:18.810 - It's actively caring. 00:18.810 --> 00:22.810 How do I, I can say I care, but it'll say do something. 00:22.810 --> 00:23.643 What does it mean? 00:23.643 --> 00:24.870 It's just a word. 00:24.870 --> 00:26.610 And so I wanna be able to actively do it. 00:26.610 --> 00:27.780 And that's what I do for the command, 00:27.780 --> 00:31.230 as we recognize doing that is important, 00:31.230 --> 00:33.280 and then going out and giving folks the education 00:33.280 --> 00:35.610 and the training that they need 00:35.610 --> 00:40.140 to make them better stewards of the command safety program 00:40.140 --> 00:42.830 but better stewards of their own relationships. 00:42.830 --> 00:44.540 Because at the end of the day, that's what it's about. 00:44.540 --> 00:45.700 - It is, yeah, you're right. 00:45.700 --> 00:47.430 I mean, everything that you have said 00:47.430 --> 00:49.510 actually makes me think about it. 00:49.510 --> 00:52.180 It's just like crazy to think that safety, 00:52.180 --> 00:54.260 you can't just think of safety as just a word like 00:54.260 --> 00:56.480 or it's the number one priority. 00:56.480 --> 00:57.490 It has to be a value. 00:57.490 --> 01:01.380 It has to be something in you that you really cherish 01:01.380 --> 01:04.070 because in the example that you gave about, 01:04.070 --> 01:06.620 who's in an accident, where are, 01:06.620 --> 01:08.420 who are you coming home to? 01:08.420 --> 01:10.030 Where are you on that list? 01:10.030 --> 01:11.920 I, yeah, honestly, I didn't think about that. 01:11.920 --> 01:16.030 Like, yeah, you yourself want to come home and be there 01:16.030 --> 01:17.590 with your family and friends and 01:17.590 --> 01:19.650 whatever lists you've made. 01:19.650 --> 01:20.930 So that's really touching. 01:20.930 --> 01:21.763 And I like that. 01:21.763 --> 01:24.008 It gives me a little bit of chills, 01:24.008 --> 01:25.225 that you say that. 01:25.225 --> 01:28.320 - Well, and for me, anybody that's been in safety 01:29.340 --> 01:32.160 has a name that they remember, 01:32.160 --> 01:34.140 because it's typically a tragedy. 01:34.140 --> 01:36.503 And for me, the name is Mike Seymour. 01:37.490 --> 01:41.540 Mike Seymour worked for us at a Naval based Cornado. 01:41.540 --> 01:45.079 He passed away on June 4th, 2009. 01:45.079 --> 01:48.470 Cause he fell on June 3rd, 2009, while at work 21 feet 01:48.470 --> 01:51.020 to a concrete floor, it didn't have to happen. 01:51.020 --> 01:53.300 And it's really irrelevant the story 01:53.300 --> 01:55.410 there's, everybody had a piece of that, 01:55.410 --> 01:57.500 but I came back from vacation and heard about it. 01:57.500 --> 01:58.490 I never met Mike. 01:58.490 --> 01:59.633 I didn't know Mike. 02:01.090 --> 02:04.920 And yet to me I felt that I had failed Mike. 02:04.920 --> 02:06.970 That it's a personal failure that we 02:06.970 --> 02:08.390 as a command failed him. 02:08.390 --> 02:10.410 But I personally failed Mike 02:10.410 --> 02:13.420 because our culture hadn't gotten there yet. 02:13.420 --> 02:15.220 It was, it was brand new, this whole process 02:15.220 --> 02:17.420 but I just felt we could have done better. 02:17.420 --> 02:19.550 And did we serve Mike better? 02:19.550 --> 02:20.800 And we didn't, we failed him. 02:20.800 --> 02:21.970 Now, Mike made his choice. 02:21.970 --> 02:24.250 He also ignored some safety processes 02:24.250 --> 02:25.420 and it cost him his life. 02:25.420 --> 02:27.940 But it's not about putting blame. 02:27.940 --> 02:30.290 It's about how do we do better to remember that 02:31.210 --> 02:33.240 Mike's wife is still a widow. 02:33.240 --> 02:35.290 Mike's kids are still fatherless. 02:35.290 --> 02:36.780 And we could have prevented that. 02:36.780 --> 02:38.690 And there's not a single day that gone has gone by 02:38.690 --> 02:39.800 since I found out about that, 02:39.800 --> 02:42.770 which I think was like on June sixth or seventh. 02:42.770 --> 02:44.550 That I don't think about Mike once a day. 02:44.550 --> 02:46.910 And that's, 11 years later. 02:46.910 --> 02:49.410 And I still there's a part of my day 02:49.410 --> 02:50.780 where I think about Mike. 02:50.780 --> 02:52.580 He is the name that drives me home. 02:52.580 --> 02:55.330 Cause I don't want to have another name that worked 02:55.330 --> 02:57.040 that I'm responsible for. 02:57.040 --> 02:59.450 And if we have a loss of life 02:59.450 --> 03:01.770 it's a failure at a corporate level, 03:01.770 --> 03:02.990 it's a failure at a local level, 03:02.990 --> 03:04.390 but it's also a failure at corporate level. 03:04.390 --> 03:08.640 Cause Jim Wink, who was our former XO was here in 2000 03:08.640 --> 03:13.010 I think 2009 to 2011 or maybe it's a 2011 to 2013. 03:13.010 --> 03:15.260 He told me, he said, "Rod, there's not a single 03:15.260 --> 03:17.820 thing that NAVFAC does that should cost anybody their life 03:17.820 --> 03:18.690 or get them injured. 03:18.690 --> 03:20.189 We're not in a war zone." 03:20.189 --> 03:21.022 - We're not. 03:21.022 --> 03:21.970 - We're not in a war zone. 03:21.970 --> 03:24.170 And so whenever I talk to people I ask people, 03:24.170 --> 03:26.513 do you know what NAVFAC safety policy is? 03:28.010 --> 03:29.670 Most people give me a blank look. 03:29.670 --> 03:31.040 Well no, and then I say what, 03:31.040 --> 03:32.243 tell me what you think it is? 03:32.243 --> 03:34.460 They talk all around a whole bunch of stuff. 03:34.460 --> 03:36.290 And I said at the end and they'll use a stample 03:36.290 --> 03:37.140 safety's number one. 03:37.140 --> 03:38.590 I say, that's not our policy. 03:39.530 --> 03:40.890 It's not a policy. 03:40.890 --> 03:43.660 But NAVFAC's policy, if you read our CO statement 03:43.660 --> 03:45.010 if you read the Atmel statement 03:45.010 --> 03:47.020 from headquarters, our PAC statement 03:47.020 --> 03:49.080 it basically says this, we'll never put production 03:49.080 --> 03:51.750 above the safety of our people ever. 03:51.750 --> 03:53.280 That is our policy. 03:53.280 --> 03:55.070 We will protect our people 03:55.070 --> 03:56.600 rather than meet a schedule. 03:56.600 --> 03:58.710 Schedules will come and go. 03:58.710 --> 04:00.860 But people can't. 04:00.860 --> 04:04.350 And if we hurt our people, we can't meet schedules anyway. 04:04.350 --> 04:06.630 And so we have to remember that our people 04:06.630 --> 04:09.330 are our most important resources from a moral standpoint 04:09.330 --> 04:11.200 and from a business standpoint. 04:11.200 --> 04:12.033 Protect your people. 04:12.033 --> 04:13.370 Your people take care of you. 04:13.370 --> 04:15.253 And we can pass schedules, 04:16.130 --> 04:19.329 but we can never ever make up if we lose a person. 04:19.329 --> 04:20.740 And we just can't get that one back. 04:20.740 --> 04:23.000 - Right, no, I agree with that, definitely. 04:23.000 --> 04:25.170 What has been the response? 04:25.170 --> 04:26.720 You said you kind of go about 04:26.720 --> 04:29.360 doing classes and teaching and telling people 04:29.360 --> 04:33.620 using stories, making people value safety. 04:33.620 --> 04:35.840 What has been the response to that? 04:35.840 --> 04:37.573 Is there a way to gauge that? 04:38.770 --> 04:39.890 - I've been very lucky 04:39.890 --> 04:42.400 in that I've got to visit every single one of our bases 04:42.400 --> 04:44.760 every single oversight area that Southwest has 04:44.760 --> 04:46.260 I've been able to visit. 04:46.260 --> 04:49.260 And I would say the response is getting better. 04:49.260 --> 04:51.070 It started out as cynical, 04:51.070 --> 04:53.750 because as much as we say it at the top, 04:53.750 --> 04:55.230 this is what we believe at the bottom. 04:55.230 --> 04:57.590 Sometimes production drives the bus. 04:57.590 --> 05:00.480 Because, whatever you're telling people 05:00.480 --> 05:02.800 you're measuring the most is what they're gonna respond to. 05:02.800 --> 05:04.620 So if we're measuring how many, 05:04.620 --> 05:05.720 did you meet your schedules? 05:05.720 --> 05:07.450 Did you meet your dollar amounts? 05:07.450 --> 05:09.540 Then people are gonna focus on that. 05:09.540 --> 05:11.250 So there, there's a little bit of cynicism, 05:11.250 --> 05:12.510 but it's changing. 05:12.510 --> 05:15.310 I think more and more people are taking it to heart. 05:15.310 --> 05:17.070 More of our leaders are taking it to heart. 05:17.070 --> 05:19.640 You have your old folks. 05:19.640 --> 05:22.510 I use that term loosely cause I'm 59, 05:22.510 --> 05:24.820 but there are folks that I've been doing it for 30 years, 05:24.820 --> 05:25.710 why do I need to change? 05:25.710 --> 05:28.270 Well, yeah, but what about on day 30 plus one 05:28.270 --> 05:29.790 and you get hurt? 05:29.790 --> 05:31.440 Now at 59, I can't afford to get hurt. 05:31.440 --> 05:33.200 It takes me longer to get better. 05:33.200 --> 05:34.930 - Right, to recover and therapy. 05:34.930 --> 05:38.260 - Yeah, and I don't want to see someone get hurt. 05:38.260 --> 05:40.330 And just because we take in a shortcut doesn't mean 05:40.330 --> 05:42.380 that eventually shortcuts aren't gonna cost us, 05:42.380 --> 05:44.490 cause eventually they do. 05:44.490 --> 05:45.323 They've cost me 05:45.323 --> 05:47.556 before I've taken a shortcut, hasn't happened. 05:47.556 --> 05:49.320 And the next thing I know it happens 05:49.320 --> 05:50.940 cause I get distracted. 05:50.940 --> 05:52.301 So the idea is, 05:52.301 --> 05:55.500 the receptivity is getting better. 05:55.500 --> 05:56.670 The more we talk about it, 05:56.670 --> 05:58.280 the more we get that emotional content, 05:58.280 --> 05:59.230 the more that people get it. 05:59.230 --> 06:01.570 And the more that our workforce is supported 06:01.570 --> 06:03.600 and standing up for safety. 06:03.600 --> 06:05.320 The more that leaders back it up. 06:05.320 --> 06:07.600 That commitment from leaders with a combination 06:07.600 --> 06:10.060 of support from employees, it is gotten better. 06:10.060 --> 06:11.370 I always tell people, 06:11.370 --> 06:13.980 for me the best way to gauge it is kind of like 06:13.980 --> 06:15.170 being on a cruise ship on, 06:15.170 --> 06:17.480 which I can't cruise right now cause the COVID-19, 06:17.480 --> 06:18.990 but eventually I'll get back on one. 06:18.990 --> 06:20.690 But if you've ever been on a big ship, 06:20.690 --> 06:22.010 if you stand at the bow of the ship 06:22.010 --> 06:25.150 and are just looking the direction that the ship is going 06:25.150 --> 06:27.220 you can't tell if the ship's making a turn. 06:27.220 --> 06:28.676 You can't know. 06:28.676 --> 06:29.509 (mumbles) 06:29.509 --> 06:30.964 - I can only imagine you can. 06:30.964 --> 06:32.280 - The only way to know is to go back 06:32.280 --> 06:33.970 to the AFT end of the ship, 06:33.970 --> 06:35.150 to stand at the stern 06:35.150 --> 06:36.990 and look back where you see that winch 06:36.990 --> 06:39.660 making that long curve. 06:39.660 --> 06:42.132 When you're doing a culture change, it's the same way. 06:42.132 --> 06:42.965 - The same way, okay. 06:42.965 --> 06:43.810 - If you're just looking forward 06:43.810 --> 06:45.620 you're not gonna see the change that you've made. 06:45.620 --> 06:46.740 But if you take a look back 06:46.740 --> 06:50.700 I can literally say we've started the 180 degree turn. 06:50.700 --> 06:51.550 We're starting to get it 06:51.550 --> 06:53.810 but it's been 11 years in the works. 06:53.810 --> 06:56.910 And a lot of times culture change stops because people stop. 06:56.910 --> 06:57.890 They get frustrated, 06:57.890 --> 07:01.200 they don't persevere, they don't push on. 07:01.200 --> 07:03.730 And we're pushing on because the command has held onto it. 07:03.730 --> 07:06.800 And, and I've been very lucky to be able to be part of it 07:06.800 --> 07:08.360 and continue to do this. 07:08.360 --> 07:09.320 And I'll continue to do this 07:09.320 --> 07:11.370 until they tell me I have to stop. 07:11.370 --> 07:12.203 I could retire-- 07:12.203 --> 07:15.230 - I would not want you to stop if it means safety and 07:15.230 --> 07:17.930 letting people know to cherish that and to value that. 07:17.930 --> 07:21.360 I mean, just talking to you for the past few minutes 07:21.360 --> 07:22.920 is just like, Oh yeah, you're right. 07:22.920 --> 07:24.515 You should value that' 07:24.515 --> 07:27.190 cause that's the only way that that's gonna get to you. 07:27.190 --> 07:29.420 - Yeah and we have to look at employees as 07:29.420 --> 07:31.650 from a supervision standpoint, you have to look at employees 07:31.650 --> 07:35.520 as people, not as a number or as a tool, they're persons. 07:35.520 --> 07:37.690 And-- - And we have a great people 07:37.690 --> 07:38.810 here working for NAVFAC. 07:38.810 --> 07:43.320 - We have some of the best, some of the most talented folks 07:43.320 --> 07:45.580 in all disciplines, whether they're blue collar folks 07:45.580 --> 07:47.440 or white collar folks 07:47.440 --> 07:48.960 that all they need to know is 07:48.960 --> 07:52.320 that somebody cares about them, that's it. 07:52.320 --> 07:55.960 And if you show that to someone that you care about them 07:55.960 --> 07:57.530 they will go to bat for you. 07:57.530 --> 08:02.000 I am, in my career, which is 30 going on 39 years now, 08:02.000 --> 08:04.510 I've had three supervisors in 39 years 08:04.510 --> 08:06.530 that if you asked me to go work for them again, 08:06.530 --> 08:07.470 I would drop what I'm doing 08:07.470 --> 08:09.400 and I would go work for one of them again. 08:09.400 --> 08:10.330 And then you think about that, 08:10.330 --> 08:12.513 I'm only saying three in 39 years. 08:13.448 --> 08:15.833 And two of them worked for NAVFAC. 08:17.106 --> 08:19.856 (downbeat music)