What I Learned About Engagement From Inside a 22 Inch Pipe

I came across a big piece of pipe while out riding my bike through the woods. Big by some standards, like in comparison to the inch-and-a-half pipes you find under your kitchen sink. But small in comparison to the memory this pipe conjures up. The pipe in these pictures has a 26 inch inside diameter, this is relevant to the story.

It's the summer of 1990 and I'm at work. When I say work, it's not my career because I'm between years at college and I'm in noisy industrial workshop. One where things are made from steel. If it's steel and it goes into construction, we make it here.

Lately, we've been making pipe. I say "we" but I'm not making anything. I'm cleaning stuff up and moving other stuff around. I'm not a tradesman or a craftsman or a journeyman, I'm a helper. I'm the college kid who's here for the summer and I do whatever they need done for 7 bucks an hour.

I've learned a few things, like how to operate a remote control crane. Not just how to push the buttons and move stuff, but how to chain up and balance the load and operate it safely. I also learned to operate a cutting torch. In fact, I'm really good at that. So good in fact that I've become a go-to guy when a beam needs a beveled edge, or a cut needs a steady, consistent hand. Oh, I also set my pants on fire with a stud welder one day, but that's not a skill they pay you for.

Today, I'm looking at 15 feet of 22 inch pipe. Pipe is measured by the inside diameter. That's relevant because my job today, and for the foreseeable future, is to crawl inside that pipe and clean it out. There are rough spots and something called "weld berries" which is the spatter from a welder that has been improperly set. If the welder (the person doing the welding) sets the welder (the machine that the welder uses) for voltage and amperage to the wire and gas combination correctly, you don't get this weld spatter--no berries.

The problem with weld berries inside pipe, is that it impedes the flow of whatever is going to pass through the pipe. Today, I'm the whatever that's going to pass through the pipe. Weld berries are going to impede my flow through the pipe because before I come out the other end, I have to scrape all the berries off with a piece of flat-bar steel I just sharpened with a grinder.

I'll be honest, weld berries aren't the only thing impeding my flow. There's also claustrophobia. I didn't think I had it until today, right now, looking at just how small 22 inches is. For reference, if you have a printer, pull out two sheets of paper and place them end to end. That's the space I'm going to be spending my day in.

You can't crawl into a 22 inch pipe on your hands and knees. You have to literally worm your way in with your arms out-stretched in front of you, so the work you'll be doing will be out at full arms length. You'll want to go to the restroom before you get in, because you can't get out fast for any reason. Have you ever seen a worm move fast? They're not known for their speed.

I start out slow. As soon as I'm in, just to my shoulders, I'm starting to panic. It's too tight. I can't move. But it's my job, and also motivation to go back to school at the end of the summer, so I back out, catch my breath and go in again. This time I start the scraping near the end of the pipe and focus just on that. Keeping my mind on the job and off the lack of space is working. Before I know it I'm in to my waist, but my feet are spread far apart because that's tricking my brain into thinking I'm not in such a small space.

Eventually, I have to get all the way into the middle of the pipe. By that time I've completely overcome my claustrophobia.

At lunch time, I go to eat with Glen, my brother-in-law, who is a gifted welder and craftsman He's that guy who's the best in the shop. You know, that guy who does it right the first time and fixes other people's screw ups. There's at least one on every team, at least for a while. He tells me what a waste of time it is to have me in those pipes. I counter with, "Well, it has to be cleaned out, right?" "Oh yeah, but if the guys who did the welding cared about what they were doing, there wouldn't be any weld berries in there in the first place" he tells me. Glen is the one who educated me on the welder settings I mentioned above.

I'm a kid, but this is one of my first encounters with employees who are not engaged. There were lots of others in other jobs I'd already had, I just didn't see it for what it was--people who didn't really care about their jobs.

I've looked at it a lot over the past couple of decades. There are lots of specific reasons why people are either engaged, not engaged or actively disengaged, but it's always, always, always a management problem.

The lack of engagement at this steel fabrication shop was precisely and without question a management problem. The guy at the top of the management chain, we saw rarely. The next guy down, breezed through the shop once or twice a day on his way to doing whatever it was he did all day. The supervisor for the shop, no one had confidence in. He just walked around barking orders all day.

Take a look at your team. Take out 3 mental buckets. The first bucket is labeled "Engaged" the second and third are labeled "Not engaged" and "Actively Disengaged" respectively. Now put a mental image of each member of your team in one of the three buckets. I'd tell you to put the people in the buckets, but they won't like it in there--remember, I'm the pipe guy.

Here are some descriptions to help you:

• Engaged - enthusiastic, committed and involved

• Not engaged - watching the clock, don't care what the work is as long as they're paid, quality is irrelevant

• Actively disengaged - destructive to product, disruptive in behavior, trying to destroy

Every person on your team will fit in one of these three buckets.

That's enough for today. Fill your buckets and we'll pick up there next time.

Ryan Houmand is a management coach with extensive knowledge and experience in employee engagement. He's helped and continues to help leaders at all levels, in all industries improve their most menacing metrics. He's the author of A Passion for Monday and has appeared on FOX, CBS and NBC discussing the 3 Mistakes that Make People Hate Monday.