{"id":82,"date":"2020-02-08T09:10:42","date_gmt":"2020-02-08T09:10:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/authorlab.pro\/layout\/beyondthespreadsheet\/?post_type=chapter&p=82"},"modified":"2020-04-23T07:59:47","modified_gmt":"2020-04-23T07:59:47","slug":"asking-the-right-questions","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/authorlab.pro\/layout\/beyondthespreadsheet\/chapter\/asking-the-right-questions\/","title":{"raw":"Asking the right questions","rendered":"Asking the right questions"},"content":{"raw":"

September 30<\/h1>\r\nBobbie had worked with XYZ Co for several years but even though she interacted with everyone in the business as HSE\u00a0manager, she realized that she still needed to learn more about some of the functions and departments.\u00a0 Luckily the previous Friday had been quiet and she\u2019d been able to draw up a list of documents that she wanted to review before she started her interviews.\u00a0 She had the company\u2019s annual report for the last couple of years, an org chart and some other internal reference documents. She\u2019d already run a few different searches on the main trade news sites and some general Google searches on XYZ Co to see what other stories came up.\u00a0 Once her normal Monday morning admin had been dealt with, she settled in to get some reading done.<\/em>\r\n\r\nOver the next few hours, she was able to build a better picture of XYZ Co as a whole, most of which matched what she already knew, but she also found out a few pieces of information that would help clarify things later on. She\u2019d realized that she didn\u2019t know very much about the facility in Janwick other than their day-to-day operations so she added that to her list of information requirements.\u00a0\u00a0<\/em>\r\n\r\nShe was making quick work of things but was glad she\u2019d scheduled the interviews for later that week: it was going to take most of Monday and some of Tuesday to get all her research finished and complete her notes.\u00a0<\/em>\r\n\r\nShe had already had one interview with Joe, the operations superintendent who ran all the actual manufacturing and supervised the warehouse. Joe was due to be out of the office that week so they\u2019d crammed in a quick hour over lunch one day.<\/em>\r\n\r\nIt had been awful.<\/em>\r\n\r\nBobbie had jotted down a few questions to ask but, almost as soon as they started, she\u2019d got torrent of complaints from Joe about everything from how Yvonne ran Operations to the company health plan. It wasn\u2019t that there was nothing of use in what he said, it was just such a garbled mess that Bobbie struggled to keep up. It was also hard to separate actual events that had interrupted his work with things that just ticked him off. In the end, she had a clear idea of what was bugging Joe but not much in the way of information to use for the assessment.<\/em>\r\n\r\nLooking back, Bobbie realized that this was actually a blessing in disguise: she now had the time to plan the upcoming interviews. Otherwise it could have been two days of complaints and gripes.<\/em>\r\n\r\nOver the weekend, Bobbie had sketched out how she\u2019d approach the next set of her interview and had broken each into three parts.\u00a0\u00a0<\/em>\r\n\r\nFirst would be a general set of questions to clarify the exact role of that individual and department, how that function supports the overall organization and what the department\u2019s key objectives are.\u00a0 Throughout this first part, she\u2019d use follow up questions to close any information gaps remaining after her research. Once she was comfortable that she understood the department\u2019s role and function, she would then ask about areas of concern and previous events to determine what kind of threats the department faces and how these might affect the business.\u00a0 She\u2019d end by asking about the measures that they have in place to prevent or respond to events.<\/em>\r\n\r\nThat was going to give her a much clearer structure to follow and hopefully let her maintain better control of the discussion. Plus she\u2019d also have completed all her background reading and would have additional specific questions to ask.<\/em>\r\n\r\nIt was still hard.<\/em>\r\n\r\nBy mid-afternoon on Thursday she realized that the strength of this structured approach was also a weakness, for her anyway. Asking the same questions over and over was wearing her out. However, just as she was tempted to skip ahead, she got a surprising answer from Fred in Janwick.\u00a0<\/em>\r\n

-----<\/em><\/p>\r\nThey'd been on the videoconference for almost an hour and Bobbie had just asked if there were any previous events she should be aware of in Janwick. She was getting tired of going through the same questions and was waiting to hear a\u00a0 list of events that had already been reported.<\/em>\r\n\r\n\u2018I am the HSE manager after all,\u2019 she\u2019d thought. \u2018Shouldn't be anything new here.\u2019<\/em>\r\n\r\n\u201cWell, there is the civil unrest we\u2019re tracking,\u201d Fred had replied.<\/em>\r\n\r\n\u201cUmmm, OK,\u201d she\u2019d begun to feel concerned, \u201ctell me more. And why didn't we hear about this before?\u201d<\/em>\r\n\r\nFred had given a rueful grin.<\/em>\r\n\r\n\u201cSorry Bobbie, I didn\u2019t mean to worry you. It hasn\u2019t affected us yet - but I stress the \u2018yet\u2019 part. Basically we\u2019ve got local elections coming up and some of the politicians are stirring things up a bit. That\u2019s getting people a bit heated and there\u2019ve been some fights break out between rival supporters but nothing at the plant or nearby.\u201d<\/em>\r\n\r\n\u201cWe\u2019ve got a few measures in place to keep things civil at work and we\u2019re tracking how this might escalate but I keep forgetting it\u2019s not on anyone\u2019s radar back in Houston. Even though it hasn\u2019t affected us yet, I should be keeping you updated.\u201d<\/em>\r\n\r\n\u201cHey, no worries, Fred. We\u2019re too distracted by our own elections sometimes. Thanks for updating me. That\u2019s definitely something we need to consider in the risk assessment. We need to make sure you\u2019re all safe and we\u2019re so reliant on your guys that anything happening with you could have a real knock-on effect to the supply chain.\u201d<\/em>\r\n\r\nShe\u2019d made some more notes and was grateful she\u2019d asked that one question.<\/em>\r\n\r\n\u2018Score one for sticking to the template,\u2019 she\u2019d thought.<\/em>\r\n

-----<\/em><\/p>\r\nBobbie finished her last interview with Zack at 4:00pm on Friday and headed back to her office, dropping her notepad onto the growing pile of documents she had gathered for the assessment.\u00a0 She remembered that she still had to finish her weekly safety summary report so she put the risk assessment aside for a moment and got to work on her routine reports.\u00a0\u00a0<\/em>\r\n\r\nAt around 5:00pm, she heard a knock and looked up to see Xavier at the door.\u00a0 The CEO looked around Bobbie\u2019s office and saw the growing piles of paper.<\/em>\r\n\r\n\u201cI guess that wasn\u2019t such a little project after all.\u00a0 What do you say you just send me the draft of the weekly safety report now and call it a day?\u00a0 I can finish that up myself and let you get off.\u201d<\/em>\r\n\r\n\u201cSee you Monday,\u201d Xavier called over his shoulder as he headed back to his own office.<\/em>\r\n\r\nBobbie didn\u2019t need to be asked twice.\u00a0 She hit \u2018send\u2019 on the draft report and was out the door before the CEO could change his mind. The size and scope of the risk assessment was becoming clear and she wanted to grab a break while she could. It was only going to get more frantic from this point on.<\/em>","rendered":"

September 30<\/h1>\n

Bobbie had worked with XYZ Co for several years but even though she interacted with everyone in the business as HSE\u00a0manager, she realized that she still needed to learn more about some of the functions and departments.\u00a0 Luckily the previous Friday had been quiet and she\u2019d been able to draw up a list of documents that she wanted to review before she started her interviews.\u00a0 She had the company\u2019s annual report for the last couple of years, an org chart and some other internal reference documents. She\u2019d already run a few different searches on the main trade news sites and some general Google searches on XYZ Co to see what other stories came up.\u00a0 Once her normal Monday morning admin had been dealt with, she settled in to get some reading done.<\/em><\/p>\n

Over the next few hours, she was able to build a better picture of XYZ Co as a whole, most of which matched what she already knew, but she also found out a few pieces of information that would help clarify things later on. She\u2019d realized that she didn\u2019t know very much about the facility in Janwick other than their day-to-day operations so she added that to her list of information requirements.\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

She was making quick work of things but was glad she\u2019d scheduled the interviews for later that week: it was going to take most of Monday and some of Tuesday to get all her research finished and complete her notes.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

She had already had one interview with Joe, the operations superintendent who ran all the actual manufacturing and supervised the warehouse. Joe was due to be out of the office that week so they\u2019d crammed in a quick hour over lunch one day.<\/em><\/p>\n

It had been awful.<\/em><\/p>\n

Bobbie had jotted down a few questions to ask but, almost as soon as they started, she\u2019d got torrent of complaints from Joe about everything from how Yvonne ran Operations to the company health plan. It wasn\u2019t that there was nothing of use in what he said, it was just such a garbled mess that Bobbie struggled to keep up. It was also hard to separate actual events that had interrupted his work with things that just ticked him off. In the end, she had a clear idea of what was bugging Joe but not much in the way of information to use for the assessment.<\/em><\/p>\n

Looking back, Bobbie realized that this was actually a blessing in disguise: she now had the time to plan the upcoming interviews. Otherwise it could have been two days of complaints and gripes.<\/em><\/p>\n

Over the weekend, Bobbie had sketched out how she\u2019d approach the next set of her interview and had broken each into three parts.\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

First would be a general set of questions to clarify the exact role of that individual and department, how that function supports the overall organization and what the department\u2019s key objectives are.\u00a0 Throughout this first part, she\u2019d use follow up questions to close any information gaps remaining after her research. Once she was comfortable that she understood the department\u2019s role and function, she would then ask about areas of concern and previous events to determine what kind of threats the department faces and how these might affect the business.\u00a0 She\u2019d end by asking about the measures that they have in place to prevent or respond to events.<\/em><\/p>\n

That was going to give her a much clearer structure to follow and hopefully let her maintain better control of the discussion. Plus she\u2019d also have completed all her background reading and would have additional specific questions to ask.<\/em><\/p>\n

It was still hard.<\/em><\/p>\n

By mid-afternoon on Thursday she realized that the strength of this structured approach was also a weakness, for her anyway. Asking the same questions over and over was wearing her out. However, just as she was tempted to skip ahead, she got a surprising answer from Fred in Janwick.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

—–<\/em><\/p>\n

They’d been on the videoconference for almost an hour and Bobbie had just asked if there were any previous events she should be aware of in Janwick. She was getting tired of going through the same questions and was waiting to hear a\u00a0 list of events that had already been reported.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018I am the HSE manager after all,\u2019 she\u2019d thought. \u2018Shouldn’t be anything new here.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cWell, there is the civil unrest we\u2019re tracking,\u201d Fred had replied.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cUmmm, OK,\u201d she\u2019d begun to feel concerned, \u201ctell me more. And why didn’t we hear about this before?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Fred had given a rueful grin.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cSorry Bobbie, I didn\u2019t mean to worry you. It hasn\u2019t affected us yet – but I stress the \u2018yet\u2019 part. Basically we\u2019ve got local elections coming up and some of the politicians are stirring things up a bit. That\u2019s getting people a bit heated and there\u2019ve been some fights break out between rival supporters but nothing at the plant or nearby.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got a few measures in place to keep things civil at work and we\u2019re tracking how this might escalate but I keep forgetting it\u2019s not on anyone\u2019s radar back in Houston. Even though it hasn\u2019t affected us yet, I should be keeping you updated.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cHey, no worries, Fred. We\u2019re too distracted by our own elections sometimes. Thanks for updating me. That\u2019s definitely something we need to consider in the risk assessment. We need to make sure you\u2019re all safe and we\u2019re so reliant on your guys that anything happening with you could have a real knock-on effect to the supply chain.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

She\u2019d made some more notes and was grateful she\u2019d asked that one question.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018Score one for sticking to the template,\u2019 she\u2019d thought.<\/em><\/p>\n

—–<\/em><\/p>\n

Bobbie finished her last interview with Zack at 4:00pm on Friday and headed back to her office, dropping her notepad onto the growing pile of documents she had gathered for the assessment.\u00a0 She remembered that she still had to finish her weekly safety summary report so she put the risk assessment aside for a moment and got to work on her routine reports.\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

At around 5:00pm, she heard a knock and looked up to see Xavier at the door.\u00a0 The CEO looked around Bobbie\u2019s office and saw the growing piles of paper.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cI guess that wasn\u2019t such a little project after all.\u00a0 What do you say you just send me the draft of the weekly safety report now and call it a day?\u00a0 I can finish that up myself and let you get off.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cSee you Monday,\u201d Xavier called over his shoulder as he headed back to his own office.<\/em><\/p>\n

Bobbie didn\u2019t need to be asked twice.\u00a0 She hit \u2018send\u2019 on the draft report and was out the door before the CEO could change his mind. The size and scope of the risk assessment was becoming clear and she wanted to grab a break while she could. It was only going to get more frantic from this point on.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":253,"menu_order":1,"template":"","meta":{"pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[47],"contributor":[],"license":[],"class_list":["post-82","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry","chapter-type-standard"],"part":50,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/authorlab.pro\/layout\/beyondthespreadsheet\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/82","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/authorlab.pro\/layout\/beyondthespreadsheet\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/authorlab.pro\/layout\/beyondthespreadsheet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/authorlab.pro\/layout\/beyondthespreadsheet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/253"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/authorlab.pro\/layout\/beyondthespreadsheet\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/82\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":310,"href":"https:\/\/authorlab.pro\/layout\/beyondthespreadsheet\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/82\/revisions\/310"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/authorlab.pro\/layout\/beyondthespreadsheet\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/50"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/authorlab.pro\/layout\/beyondthespreadsheet\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/82\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/authorlab.pro\/layout\/beyondthespreadsheet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=82"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/authorlab.pro\/layout\/beyondthespreadsheet\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=82"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/authorlab.pro\/layout\/beyondthespreadsheet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=82"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/authorlab.pro\/layout\/beyondthespreadsheet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=82"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}