communication

How Reliability Professionals Can Overcome the 3 Barriers to Effective Communication

As reliability professionals, we’ve all had moments where our message falls flat, a misunderstanding occurs, or a simple conversation gets bogged down. It’s usually due to one of the big three barriers to effective communication: language, accessibility, and generational differences. The seven cause-and-effect factors (the “bones” of FINESSE) are designed to overcome all three barriers. However, it’s important to understand the context of each of the three barriers. Here’s a quick look at each one.

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by JD Solomon Leave a Comment

Six Ways Soft Skills Matter for Engineers and Technologists

A professional colleague recently asked me how much technical knowledge someone should have before giving a presentation to senior management. My two-part answer was, “Twenty-five percent of what they know, and soft skills are as important as the facts they know.” Here’s six ways soft skills matter for engineers, technologists, and reliability professionals.

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by JD Solomon Leave a Comment

Why Effectively Communicating System Redundancy to Decision Makers Is So Important

Effectively communicating system redundancy is important because redundancy touches system performance, risk management, disaster recovery, regulatory compliance, and customer & owner confidence. Getting the redundancy communication wrong produces blind spots and surprises. Getting it right produces a well-oiled, predictable machine. This article provides proven tips for effectively communicating system redundancy.

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by Greg Hutchins Leave a Comment

Great Communications are Essential for Business Prosperity

Guest Post by Bill Pomfret (first posted on CERM ® RISK INSIGHTS – reposted here with permission)

The last few years have proven the risk landscape is dynamic and evolving. And while an organization focuses on responding to one crisis, another is almost always lurking in the shadows—from COVID variants and severe weather to supply chain, and civil unrest and cybercrime. In fact, you could even find yourself in the dark – literally.

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by JD Solomon Leave a Comment

Communicating PFAS (Forever Chemicals)

The United States Conference of Mayors created a PFAS Toolkit. The information and resources included provides insights into several key aspects that local governments and businesses should be aware of in relation to PFAS (forever chemicals). Key parts of the PFAS Toolkit are presented here.

PFOA and PFOS in Drinking Water: Overview

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a group of chemicals developed in the 1940s that have been used in a variety of consumer products like semiconductors, cellphones, textiles, renewable energy, and medical devices. Two chemicals, perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS) are no longer produced today, but they were once used in a wide variety of industries. Today, trace levels of PFOA and PFOS can be measured in water, air, soil, animals, humans, and some consumer products globally. PFOA/PFOS are persistent in the environment, and some studies suggest that long-term exposure at increased doses may lead to negative health impacts. [Read more…]

by JD Solomon Leave a Comment

How Building Better Business Cases Improves Reliability

A Business Case Evaluation (BCE) is a decision-making tool that assists in making value-based funding decisions. Business cases are developed in the early capital and operating budget planning cycles as a standardized and systematic process to analyze the benefits and costs of various options to solve an identified problem or a cost-saving/revenue-generating idea. A big part of building better business cases is analyzing the system over the long term for monetary and non-monetary aspects. Building better business cases improves reliability and performance by formally documenting “needs” versus “wants.” Business cases serve as a powerful communication tool at all levels of an organization. [Read more…]

by JD Solomon Leave a Comment

Systems Thinking: CATER Provides Five Ways to Improve Team Facilitation

The mental model CATER will help you recall the five ways to improve any form of team facilitation. CATER does two big things necessary for all great facilitated sessions. The mental model creates comparable knowledge among participants and opens feedback channels for successful collaboration. Apply systems thinking and improve team performance by CATERing to your participants. [Read more…]