Situation: A commercial fishing vessel that operates in Dutch Harbor, Alaska. Management and crew speak a variety of languages. The crew work 12-hour shifts processing each catch.
Goal: Improve communication between management and crew.
Secondary goal: Improve proper operations on the ship, like those involved in cutting or packaging fish, for which the managers were responsible. Also reduce injuries from improper operations.
Previous Attempts. Traditional `management training' in the past produced minimal improvement.
Program: TAG Teaching (Teaching with Accoustical Guidance)
The training was designed for 3 days of 9 hours each.
Day One: The program began with seventeen members of the Seafisher management team attending a class on shaping chickens, given by Terry Ryan, Theresa McKeon, and Amy Duz. Yes, chickens. The men used clickers to shape, for example, walking to a specific spot, climbing on top of an object, pecking the picture of a flounder and not the picture of a mackerel. The men realized you cannot force a chicken to behave. You must select actions.
Next, the program moved to the men’s own actions. Casino chips were handed out liberally for asking questions, answering questions, or any active participation in the day’s events. The day ended with a trip to a casino.
Days Two and Three: TAGteach training continued along with discussions about how to create a plan for implementation upon returning to the workplace.
To get the managers to interact with each other in a positive manner, each man was given a handful of playing cards. They were instructed to hand a playing card to a peer when he did something they liked. At each break each participant picked out the five best cards he had received. The best poker hand received a casino chip. At first, anyone who handed out a card received a card from the instructor.
TAG teaching was introduced by practicing tagging actions in videos, such as “straight legs (in a handstand on a balance beam), and “kicking a soccer ball with the inside of a foot.” The men were taught to specify the specific actions to be strengthened called tag points. They helped identify tag points for their jobs, like “Fish head facing in.” Since a variety of languages were spoken, if performance wasn’t tagged, the direction-giver learned to clarify the instructions instead of repeating the same directions, only louder.
Tag points were set for cleaning fish without getting cut (difficult in the hold where floors are slippery and the ship is moving), and a variety of other safety rules that had not always been followed in the past.
Results:
Performance improved. The year following training, the ship had zero accidents, a new record. The company saved much more than the costs of training. Unofficial reports indicated that traditional antagonisms between managers from different backgrounds had decreased. Directions had become clear, and interactions more positive.
A few unedited comments from the men follow:
Train a chicken?! It was amazing I learned you can’t force something or someone to learn, I have to work with them.
It taught me to look at myself every time I train. Never blame the person you are training. I never saw it like that before this seminar. That’s why we came back for a second seminar and brought back more people.
In the past I would just get mad at what they (workers) did wrong but now I will show them what I am looking for.
Instead of just trying to get something out of them all the time…production, production, production, I’ve learned to care about my crew and make them feel good. I feel good seeing my crew happy. Even though they have to work hard, I am able to get that smile on their face. I think it’s all coming from the class. This is a very big change for me.
With a happy crew you get more respect and production
Before, injuries were just part of the game - now they are not.
The men with their chickens
BEHAVIORAL PRINCIPLES AT WORK IN OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY
Basic principles first outlined by B. F. Skinner, helped managers learn how to improve worker behavior with shaping procedures. Instead of blaming poor performance (typical in the fishing industry), the managers learned to communicate with clear pinpoints and to use immediate reinforcement to improve work performance.