Toolbox Talk

Toolbox Talk: “Sharpening Our Axe”

If I have six hours to cut down a tree, I’ll spend the first four hours sharpening my axe” Abraham Lincoln.

Simply put this quote is about being prepared which is a critical element of doing a job successfully.

When is a job successfully done?
When we achieve our target or objective which is also based on how efficiently and safely these results are realized.

“Sharpening our axe” is not something that we should do at the start of a job or seldom but something that we must do all the time.

This is particularly important in safety where we do things over and over again and then lose focus because we feel we are no longer challenged or we are “experts” at what we are doing so we won’t have an accident.

We may have lots of experience but then our performance diminishes with time because we did not take the time to sharpen our axe so we can maintain a high performance output.

For example, take the case of Joe the lumberjack.

‘Joe was looking for work, so he asked a timber trader friend of his if he had any openings… and Wes, his friend, put Joe on the payroll as a lumberjack.

Happy with the break his friend gave him, Joe vowed to do his best every day. Wes said, “Just show up ready to work at 6:00 am next Monday and we’ll see what you can do.”

On Monday morning, when Joe arrived at 5:45 he received an axe from his new boss, who led him to the wooded area that needed harvesting.

Joe had a good day and brought down a total of 15 trees. Wes was thrilled with the performance of his friend and told him so.

The second day was a little tougher for Joe, but he still cut down 13 trees – not a bad day’s work!

However, Joe’s production dropped off steadily in the following days leading him to question his strength.

Wes figured he would wait until the end of the week before approaching Joe about his declining output.

Friday at quitting time, Wes called Joe into the office to discuss the situation. Joe apologized and said he would work harder.

Wes said, “Joe I don’t think that’s it. I can see you are working hard.” Then he asked, “When was the last time you sharpened that axe of yours?”

Joe responded, “I haven’t had time to sharpen my axe because I’ve been too busy chopping down trees!”

…Sounds familiar?

When we take the time to “sharpen our axe” whether it is our tools, equipment, risk assessments, our minds or our bodies, it gives us the opportunity to do our best all the time and enables us to achieve and sustain excellence.

In fact if we don’t take the time to “sharpen our axe” we will find ourselves slipping into the realms of mediocrity in everything we do.

To stay effective and efficient, we have to stop to sharpen our axe. Sometimes stepping away from a task also helps us to see it more clearly.

Additionally we must maintain our physical and mental health which will help us to stay productive.

 

“The vast possibilities of our great future will become realities only if we make ourselves responsible for that future.” ~ Gifford Pinchot