WorkLore

I live in a car-centric city. I also enjoy recreational running. 

These two things are sometimes at odds. 

The number of times I have almost been hit by a vehicle (mostly when turning left) as I cross at a crosswalk because the driver is only looking at the other cars is more than a few. 

The best one was the driver who almost took me out when turning left into a gym parking lot. It made my workout a lot less safe!

Hence, I watch for shields. 

I feel more confident crossing a road when there is through traffic parallel to me that turning drivers will pay attention to. When it’s just me, I am far more cautious, watching drivers who might not be watching for me. 

Ultimately, the problem is one of focus. 

Drivers of vehicles focus on other vehicles. 

Usually ones of similar size. 

They aren’t focused on pedestrians (or on smaller vehicles like bicycles and motorcycles). 

Using vehicles as a shield shifts those driver’s focus to what they are attending to. Running in high pedestrian zones like city centres (or universities where there are lots of pedestrians) also shifts focus since drivers realize they need to attend to more than just the traffic. 

It got me wondering how many times we are focused on the big things going on, the big, flashy parts of our processes, or the latest and newest development.   

Do we run the risk of damaging the smaller, but still important stuff when we undertake a big change initiative, process improvement, or implementation initiative? 

What might we lose?