If you don’t look, you can’t see!

I find it incredible how some people think and how people react to certain things that happen these days. It seems to be a natural thing to just look outside of your organisation for a solution to the issues you face. I say natural because the human mind will wonder why, if we have the solution, the problem exists. It does seem very basic but in truth, the more you understand, in the different environments, the better and more equipped you are. This very simple principle applies to almost everything you see and do.

I am an electrician and I’ve experienced the sparky job and the client side, so my viewpoint is much wider than the person who only ever stays on the tools… different environments, different understanding. 

Now how do we apply this to the decisions and planning mentality in the organisations we work. It isn’t easy but lets pick a totally off topic subject and apply some rationale, or experience to the discussion. 

In the UK every year around 1.7 million women and 699,000 men are subject to domestic abuse / violence. This is about 7% of women and 3% of men. In Housing we have a need to look and apply an element of safe guarding to those who depend on us. Yet what are we doing to actively help in our own organisations. Obviously we look when we see the residents, we hear when something is reported but what we don’t do is harness the value of technology, or the data we already have. 

Here’s an option…..

UK Housing providers usually work to a set of Schedule or Rates (SOR) for their contractors. These are a set of codes that have values, time and competence associated with them. There will be a few that are attributed to damage to doors, walls etc and then, once repaired, associated comments connected to them on completion. How many organisations place flags or warning checks to specific things inside the repairs systems? If a door has been damaged more than once in a 12 month period does anyone check the damage caused? Is there a safeguarding issue that needs to be managed. 

There is no excuse to time and application as the triggers for these should almost be automatic. Your repairs system and tech provider should have the ability to see and prompt to help you manage risk, not just the big 7 risk and not just the risks that are born out of a disaster in the sector. Actively triggering insights to help manage risk across the spectrum of your capability. 

I will be brutally honest now, the issue here sometimes lies in the fact that software vendors always look for additional revenue or professional services. Very few provide that extra mile we once all tried to achieve. So the fear of suggesting something at the risk of additional costs that we don’t have means we don’t provide the service we feel we should, or could. The flip side of this is that every single software vendor gets labelled with the same brush.

So the Housing sector is currently dealing with a reaction to Damp and Mould, not something that has just reared its head as this is an issue that’s been around for years. What information do you already have? Do you have a process in place for escalation when your repairs, voids or cyclical streams identify and note something somewhere. 

What about the current issue of Broken Neutral Conductors, do you have something in place that triggers a notification to say a property on XXX street has been identified as an issues and it is very likely that the transformer supplying hat property supplies much more on the street. 

We can also be proactive before work as opposed o being proactive once work has been done. 

How many electrical specifications now state that all insulation in the loft must be placed back correctly and not leaving any open areas in the corners or sides of the loft. Lifting insulation to wire a house and then not placing back correctly leaves cold spots which in the end will lead to condensation (damp and mould). 

With the right experience, can do enviroment and approachable vendors, the capabilities of our organisations are endless. Technology and data has so many answers but you really need people to think outside the box to seek innovative ways to be better. We can change so much for the better with he benefit of what we have now as opposed to looking for new ways. 

Always happy to speak and help anyone, and no, that’s not a pitch for consultancy, just a simple offer to share anything I have in terms of experience and understanding.