About Tim

So…who am I?

I’m a guy who a few years ago found himself in an ‘impossible’ situation.

I was working at a commercial nuclear generating facility in the northeastern US, and became responsible for improving “human performance”. (In case you’re not familiar with the term, “human performance” is basically all the stuff involved with the reduction of human error AND improvement of efficiency. (simple…right?)

My neck was on the line.

While the nuclear industry had created some great tools to help people not make mistakes, I HAD A PROBLEM: How to get workers to actually use the tools, AND how to gain active and sincere reinforcement by middle management.

Based upon my life experience, I had a few ideas on how to get worker buy-in and leverage manager and supervisor support. Fortunately, I was given the latitude by senior leadership to try them out.

And son of a gun- they WORKED BIG TIME!

I kind of felt this method would work; however, the results of what it achieved blew me away. Following my ‘formula’, station human error rate was reduced by 87.5% in approximately 30 months.

I got a big promotion out of the deal, stock options, and lots of pats on the back. But what was most important to me was that I had helped to create a safer and more efficient work environment (that was essentially employee driven).

And not only did my process achieve great results, it actually changed the culture of the organization.

How do I know?

As I write this, it’s been over three years since I and the members of the sponsoring senior leadership team have moved on to other opportunities. And yet, human performance at that facility continues to this day to get better and better.

Then the phone started ringing…

Once I had achieved this success, I started getting phone calls from other organizations. They wanted to know how I did it. They wanted me to come speak at their events. The Tools Handbook that I created was being copied by plants all over the world (as well as by some of the world’s largest corporations).

But I still had an issue.

I don’t like bureaucracy. I don’t like “red tape”. I don’t even like following “rules”.

When I was awarded that big fat promotion I mentioned earlier, I was given the biggest compliment of my entire (almost) 20 years in that industry. I was told by the Vice President that I was “different.”

Commercial nuclear power in the United States is a great industry. Anyone who looks at the stats will see productivity, safety, and quality numbers that are virtually unrivaled anywhere else. And all of this was basically driven by the fallout from TMI (Three Mile Island).

Following the accident at TMI in 1979, the federal government mandated huge changes within the industry: Extensive Corrective Action (tracking and trending) Programs, massive expansion and accreditation of plant operator training, tons of information sharing, formal human performance improvement initiatives…the list goes on and on.

The great news of all of this is tremendous success. The bad news is that large organizations and bureaucracies were created as a result. This was my issue.

Being different has it’s internal challenges (I’m sure you’re aware of what I’m talking about), but in this case it gave me great advantage. My distaste for everything bureaucratic and organizationally expensive led me to distill the genuine ‘nuggets’ of what had made this industry so successful at reducing human error.

And you know what? I discovered that none of this is rocket science (and it doesn’t require huge investments and bureaucracies to make it happen)! This was awesome, because I have always appreciated things that are fast, simple and easy.

I discovered that there are actually a few key elements, which when properly employed, can reduce errors immediately and set the stage for long term sustainable improvement.

It’s not complicated. It doesn’t have to take a long time. It doesn’t have to cost a lot of money.

I also knew that the ‘rest of the world’ (as the folks in nuclear power refer to it) could greatly benefit from this information.

So in February of 2005 I left commercial nuclear power to found the Practicing Perfection Institute, Inc.

My purpose was to take the essence of what they had learned in nuclear, distill the key elements down into simple (normal) language, and make them available in a step-by-step process for the rest of us. And this is exactly what I did.

And the results out here in the ‘real world’ have been even more dramatic than when I did my original ‘test’ at that nuclear plant. For example…

· A large electrical transmission organization in central Texas went from having (5) unplanned outages due to human error in the eight months prior to implementing the formula, to having only (1) in the past 18 months

· This same organization was given the top safety award in 2007 by their regional Safety Exchange

· Three of our certified members have given presentations (and written articles) at industry conferences on their successes

· A large electrical transmission organization in the northeast cut their error rate by more than half within just a few moths of implementing the process. The organization is currently well below their stretch goal for 2008.

And (for me) here’s a really cool recent development-

Since leaving the nuclear industry, I have developed tools and strategies that have a much more profound reach upon individuals and teams than anything they were previously doing. And word has gotten out.

Now I have nuclear organizations coming to me to help them take human performance to the next level. I am professionally honored and personally grateful to have such an opportunity.

We recently implemented my methods within the Operations Department at a large two-unit nuclear plant in the northeast. I’m traveling to Canada in a couple of weeks to help them get started. In September or October, I’ll be flying to China on behalf of the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) to teach and help them understand how great human performance improvement can be achieved without extensive cost.

This is an amazing journey.

Now I find myself incessantly pondering the impact this method can have upon virtually any team of people working in ANY industry. I think about the lives that can be saved in the medical and transportation industries, how occupational safety can be greatly elevated anywhere, how virtually any process involving humans can be improved. Yes…my brain is pretty much overwhelmed all of the time.

What this method has to offer any organization, team, or individual subject to human error (which is pretty much all of us) totally blows my mind. I am honored and blessed to be part of this, and to have been given such an opportunity to make a positive difference in the world.

For freedom from error,

-Tim

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