One of the things I thought I’d be good at in life was to become a career counselor. Well, that did not happen, but now and then I like to pass on what I did learn while working.

Below is a short piece on how I believe you can improve on your job, and have greater career satisfaction as well.

Learn To Think Like An I/O Psychologist

I’ve never been an Industrial / Organizational (I/O) Psychologist, but during my career I did try to think like one.  I did so because an I/O Psychologist is trained to identify problems and then create solutions for them in the workplace, thus improving workflow, product output, and employee satisfaction.

If you can identify and solve problems during your career, like an I/O Psychologist does, you will have greater “career success,” improved job satisfaction, and be rewarded with salary enhancements and promotions.

As a support engineer and  manager for a medical device company, I was always on the lookout for problems or ‘opportunities’ as I liked to call them.  I looked  for tasks that caused me difficulties, or how could something be done better?  It sounds funny looking for problems, but they are everywhere and can impede your job performance and that of your coworkers.

Let me give you an example:

Service Call Trending – As part of a team of support engineers, at the end of each month, we were required to printout all the month’s field service calls, trend them by product, call problem, and field fix.  This was a very tedious task that took hours for each of us.  There were hundreds of calls to sort through across several different instrument product lines.

One day while having lunch with a coworker from the IT Department, I was complaining about the unpleasant trending task, and how we were going to be late with our reports once again.  I continued my rant with, “Why can’t the Field Engineers do this?  They are the ones who actually perform the repair.” 

She finally stopped me from complaining and said, “You already have spreadsheets for each product line, with the actual problem and the fix, right?  If so, we can update the field program so that when the Field Engineer completes the call, he will see a list of actual problems and the fixes (from your spreadsheets).  Each problem / fix will have a unique number.  The engineer will simply choose the numbers that best represent the problem and fix.  The field report already contains the product type  when the field call was dispatched, so now it will have the actual problem  code and fix code as well.  I was amazed, it seemed so simple.

I informed my manager of the idea.  He went absolutely nuts!  “When can we get this done,” he said.  It took me a while  to go through each spreadsheet to code and insure that there were no duplicate numbers, prior to uploading into the field reporting system.  Within days, my manager wrote a report and could easily extract the needed data into report form.  We checked each report to ensure that they were accurate.  The reports were now completely automated!  In fact, it worked so well that our Manufacturing and In House Repair teams adopted the same coding methodology.

I’ve listed below basic steps that you can use to tackle and solve any problem.  Simple, but if applied very effective.  This is what I used in our department.  The steps are summarized from a ‘Total Quality Management (TQM)*’ program:

1) Identify the Issue –

Don’t be afraid to talk about problems.  Work with individuals in your department and other departments to identify issues.  The more discussion the better.  Begin a department meeting to discuss what challenges were encountered during the week.  Keep your manager informed  – managers like to be part of the process. 

2) Define the Issue –

Clearly understand  what is happening.  Look at the issue from all potential impacts.  Consider time, materials, costs, and how other coworkers are affected.

3) Install a Quick Repair –

If possible, brainstorm a quick idea that could be taken to prevent the issue from getting worse.  In the example, there wasn’t anything that could quickly be done, but in other cases there will be.  Keep an open mind.  All ideas are good and should be considered.

4) Investigate Solution Opportunities –

Discuss long-term permanent solutions.  Consider what can be done to prevent the issue from ever happening again.

5) Implement the Solution –

When the best solution is obtained, take the steps to implement.  Before  rolling it out, perform some test samples.  If you cannot roll it out in one step, break the solution up into manageable steps.

6) Verify All is Working –

Once implemented, check all the inputs and outputs to insure that everything  is operating correctly.  Follow up a short time later with the users for feedback.  If needed, make adjustments.

These steps are not difficult to follow and can really make a difference in your ‘Career Success’ and the success of your company!   

So go ahead… Think Like an I/O Psychologist!

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* Total Quality Management (TQM) – To learn more about TQM, refer to books by Dr. Phillip Crosby, Dr. William Deming,  and other leaders in quality engineering and I/O Psychology.