[Post by Chuck Krugh, June 23, 2023]
Once upon a time in my early career, probably before I could call it a career, I sometimes operated on the assumption that I knew what was going on in my job, department or company based on what I heard. You know what happens when you assume… Of course, although I thought I knew, I was often really off base.
Back then, when I was working in my trade as an airplane mechanic, I would pick up tidbits of info from the other mechanics while shooting the breeze or in lunchroom conversations. When I really wanted to “learn” what was going on, I would go to the line shack. The line shack guys – the guys who moved the aircraft around the airport – seemed to me to have the best intel on what was happening. I’m not sure why – maybe because they talked to a lot of people while meeting and moving aircraft. They always seemed to the best informed. The operative word here is “seemed.”
The mechanics I worked with excelled at spinning a relatively benign comment from leadership or conversation into an epic story. Then the “latrine lawyers” in the hangar would provide all the supporting details of the story – making a case for why it was true (Here I’m using a throwback term from my Army days – latrine lawyers are those guys who would tell folks how to get out of their enlistment contract with the Army – usually in basic training). Sometimes the stories reached fantastic proportions.
Often they dealt with the impending sale of the aviation company, a forecast of imminent layoffs or an expected shakeup in management.
As I left my trade and moved into management, I continued to keep a finger on the pulse on the rumor mill. It was hard to predict which way the stories running around the plant would go: either so close to true or so far off.
Rumor mill conversations can be entertaining and somewhat informational, but they can cause harm as well. Some of the more worrying and negative rumors can be dangerous to your health by increasing your stress about your job, finances or wellbeing. This is the negative side of the rumor mill. It can – and often does – contain unnecessary or wrong information. Many times, the information seems so plausible or truthful that it just must be true. But is it really?
The more I have witnessed the effects rumors have on people, the more it has taught me to ask questions and seek answers for myself. I learned to get the facts so I could understand what was going on in the company. I learned that leaders were usually more than willing to share what they know if they could. And the vast majority of the time, they would tell the truth.
The negative effects of rumors are the reason I told everyone in the All-Hands meetings to ASK if you have a question – “Get the facts.” Doing that also aligns with the five key expectations I talked about in my very first blog.
Life is full of stressors from our jobs, spouses, partners, families, friends, finances, health, homes, and on and on. I would like to decrease your unnecessary, job-related stress. If you have any questions that you want answered, ask your leadership. If you don’t get a good answer from them, then please stop me when I’m out on the deckplates. I’ll do my best to give you an answer. I know how important – and what a relief – a straight answer can be!
As I have told you before, I will share what I can share, but will not share what I can’t share. There is no harm in asking! Get the facts!
See you on the deckplates! Don’t let the rumor mill get you…
Safely Execute High-Quality Work
Chuck
President, General Dynamics Bath Iron Works
Click here to view more From the Helm blog posts.