More on Myles

As a non-profit safety council, we literally exist to help shape the contracting community around us. Without the support of the contracting community we would not have been “associated” and created.

Now that we are a part of the community we work hard to stay relevant. All around us we see safety councils failing because they cannot find ways to be a big enough part of the communities that they support. 

In the past few years we have been forced to absorb four other safety councils because they were not able to survive any longer as they had in the past. Staying relevant, in a world where training is becoming more prevalent, dynamic, easier to create, and cheaper, leaves those following the older models in a precarious position. 

But, this could be the type of radical change that we discussed in the question above. A radical change in the way that contractors are trained. Having worked with a contracting organization I know how they are slaves to savings and finding the most competitive price, ironic that the very characteristics they display in business could ultimately hurt the safety councils that support them. 

One thing that my organization is doing is trying to incorporate more of the contractor's experienced workers into the training deliverables we produce. We try to give them a voice, and leverage their experience for the betterment of the entire industry. We commonly host lunch and learns and other events to help promote safety, information sharing, and other ways to be relevant to the community and industry. 

Myles says, “Often whe I says you start with people’s experience, people get the point that you start and stop with that experience, but of course all of you know better. There a time when people’s experience runs out” (p. 128). That’s what we want to try and avoid. Earlier Myles says “I just think most people cant’ think outside the socially approved way of doing things and don’t open up their minds to making any kind of discoveries. I think you have to think outside the conventional frameworks” (p. 44). 

This is what we are trying to do. Both leverage the existing experience but also think outside the conventional frameworks. This should help us stay relevant for the industry and the community we serve. 

References

Horton, M., & Freire, P. (1990). We make the road by walking: Conversations on education and social change (J. Gaventa & J. Peters, Eds.). Temple University Press.