Reynolds Wrap Up: “Learn Baby Learn!” – Enhancing Your Probability for Personal Success in FEMI

Executive Summary

As my readers know, I’ve written previous articles that included the need for continuous improvement (CI) in our fixed equipment mechanical integrity (FEMI) methodology and technology. It’s one of the ten foundational management systems to achieve operational excellence in our industry [1]. As a subset of the overall need for FEMI CI, there is our own personal CI for each of us individually, so we can continuously perform better in our technical endeavors. This Reynolds Wrap Up (RWU) describes three specific strategies that I used to advance my career and that you can use to enhance your FEMI competence, which will contribute to your personal growth and success in your FEMI job. Those three strategies to increase your FEMI knowledge base could include:

• Maximizing the application of your primary sensory organs (eyes and ears) to learn more about FEMI.
• Getting involved in networking relationships in order to benefit from knowledge-sharing experiences with other FEMI specialists.
• Creating and maintaining a documented plan for improving your knowledge base and skills through training opportunities and self-learning techniques.

Introduction

“Learn Baby Learn” – The title phrase of this RWU encapsulates the cultural zeitgeist of the 1960s (zeitgeist definition: “the defining spirit, trend or mood of a particular period of history as shown by the ideas and beliefs of the time”). The title emphasizes a willingness to learn and grow, just as it did in the late 60s when I was coming of age. It was popularized by Martin Luther King as a method to overcome racial inequity in a speech in 1967, not long before he was tragically assassinated. Beyond the very useful strategy that MLK intended, that phrase stuck in my head throughout my working career as a method to enhance my personal competence, which leads me to the second part of my chosen title above. For me, personal success in FEMI has to do with achieving one's own defined goals and finding fulfillment in one's professional endeavors. It involves achieving specific objectives in our FEMI career by continuously learning, growing, and developing our knowledge base of the 101+ essential elements of FEMI [2]. That endeavor is typically associated with having a sense of purpose, meaning, and satisfaction in our FEMI careers, which can lead to a more comfortable, enjoyable existence.

Okay, enough on philosophy, let me get down to the real strategy of “Learn Baby Learn.” Early in my 57+ year FEMI career, I had three strategies recommended to me that would significantly improve my knowledge base and therefore my ability to contribute to (and help me) in advancing industry FEMI programs. These included:

1. Using Our Sensory Organs in the Right Proportion: We are born with two key sensory organs: eyes and ears. Specifically, we have two eyes and two ears, but just one mouth. For the purpose of learning about FEMI, our sensory organs should be used in that approximate ratio (i.e., listen, read, and observe should be twice as much as we tell others what we know).
2. Getting Involved in Professional Networking: Participating in intercompany and intracompany groups, teams, meetings, etc. with other FEMI specialists to share knowledge and learn from others’ experiences.
3. Continuously Improving Our Competence: What is “competence?” Competence can be described as the ability to effectively use one’s combination of training, skills, experience, and knowledge to perform in one’s chosen endeavors, in our case, in FEMI.