7 Rules of Rickover (Identifying Problems Lying in Wait)
Gordon Graham is a 33 year veteran of California Law Enforcement. His education as a Risk Manager and experience as a practicing Attorney, coupled with his extensive background in law enforcement, have allowed him to rapidly become recognized as a leading professional speaker in both private and public sector organizations with multiple areas of expertise.
The magic in Mr. Grahams programs is in the delivery. He is a fantastic speaker who uses humor and his life experience in the California Highway Patrol to convey Risk Management ideas to fit with in any organization. His programs are available on his website and I highly recommend looking into them. The main points of Mr. Grahams presentation are highlighted below:
Admiral Rickover developed a safe nuclear US Navy in the 40s by first purposely causing reactor failures to assess the risk involved. He developed 7 rules to ensure a process for the safe operation and development of the US Navy’s Nuclear Fleet.
- Continuous improvement. Anything that can be quantified can be improved. Be better than minimum standards.
- People running complex systems have to be highly capable. Don't hire stupid people. Initial vetting process is paramount to setting the foundation. Be thorough and truthful in the training documentation.
- Quality supervision. Mediocre sups affect accountability as well as the operations. Substitute "sups" with "leadership roles in our union" makes this easier to digest. We need to continue to keep in touch and heed the lessons of our out going controllers. They never stop being NATCA.
- Healthy respect of the risk that we face. Be particularly cautious with high risk, low frequency tasks. Bad weather deviation days, for example, are very high probability times for errors. Conversely, big departure/arrival push are high risk, high frequency and not as concerning because we are exposed to it more often and know what to expect.
- Training has to be constant and rigorous. Everyday is a training day for core critical tasks.
- Audit system. They should be done by 3rd party objective. Not unlike our TRB process. We routinely have our NATCA people show up at a facility not their own to conduct a TRB. This way no preconceived notions on the developmental, rather a clear focus on the training process.
- Continuous learning. We can never know everything. Embrace new ideas and technology and ave willingness expand our knowledge.