By Matthew Betz, Vice President Business Development, Fleet at Motus, LLC
“Your conscious brain cannot multitask. If I’m speaking to you and checking my iPhone at the same time, I’m doing neither. This is why our society is frazzled; this misconception that we can consciously do more than one thing at a time effectively” – Deepak Chopra
No matter your role in the organization – driver, fleet manager, executive or CEO, our modern world is making it possible to do more, while at the same time increasing the demands on our time and talents. And, as the quote from Deepak Chopra states, we’re becoming distracted and more frazzled. Sometimes, that’s not a major issue, but trying to multitask while driving could be inviting a catastrophe. The question becomes “How do we get The Modern Mobile Worker to focus on the task at hand?”
Perhaps using task analysis techniques would help drivers understand exactly what is expected of them while driving on company business. According to the Performance Juxtaposition Site, breaking jobs down to individual tasks helps employees better understand exactly what they are supposed to do to complete a task. And, driving is arguable one of the most dangerous tasks any employee will undertake.
According to The Performance Juxtaposition Site, jobs are best understood as a series of tasks. A task is an action designed to contribute to the desired end result. They are the means of describing the desired action in great detail. Following are some of the main characteristics of tasks:
• A task has a definite beginning and end
• Tasks are performed for relatively short periods of time (minutes or hours)
• Each task is independent of other actions. A task is performed by an individual for its own sake
Most problems that deal with doing the job right are related to the ability to define the tasks that concern each job.
• Workers need to know what they are supposed to do
• Supervisors need to know what their workers should be doing in order to provide feedback
• The organization as a whole needs to know what tasks need to get accomplished so that their goals and mission may be met.
All of this brings a couple of things to mind for those of us in the fleet industry. First, while we’re pretty good at writing policies that tell drivers what not to do, I think there is room for improvement in helping drivers understand exactly what is expected of them. During a recent industry meeting, I spoke to one manager of a major global fleet about their new program titled “Motor On, Mobile Off”. Now, that’s a pretty clear description of what is expected from a driver. There is no room for misunderstanding of tasks and expectations. Driver gets in vehicle. Driver turns motor on. Driver turns mobile devices off. Period.
Try to imagine the driver in the field juggling many priorities set for them from numerous places in the organization. They are confused. They think there are competing priorities, and they are not sure which takes precedent. By creating a specific job task for driving on company business, we remove that confusion and replace it with very specific expectations.
The second thing we can do for the Modern Mobile Worker is to use that same technology that puts so many demands on them to actually make their life easier. By automating repetitive tasks, using the same mobile device that they already carry, we can reduce some of the “frazzle” that Deepak Chopra spoke of, and allow the driver to focus on the very dangerous task at hand – driving.
As always, I’m open to comments, questions or concerns. I can be reached at [email protected].
