The Black Dog
The story of the black dog began in the 1980’s when I was a Probationary Constable. Part of the journey as a police officer was to investigate traffic accidents. When you attend one of these scenes, even when they are just a small, non-injury accident the emotions of the participants and the witnesses is usually very high. It is these emotions that trigger the reactions to all at the scene.The emotions trigger conscious and unconscious memories in the individual and when a person can often be reasoned with, more than one and they can begin to be a mob mentality which can get out of control. The last thing you need is to be out of balanced yourself in taking control of the situation. Though I am speaking of a traffic accident here it is not much different to being in business.
There are times you need to take that big deep breath and wiggle you toes to get out of the head and take charge. So, my Sergeant taught me this story to ensure that I could always get the correct information at a scene and not lose myself in what was going on. I was lucky in the sense that the greater the challenge the more focused I seem to get. I just didn’t want to bash my toe in the middle of it as I could fall apart.
So, attending an accident on a suburb street, one unit was an elderly gentlemen who had collided with a young ‘P’ plate driver. Obviously, there was inexperience and aging coming into play if you looked at them and the witnesses only. Emotions trigger not only the memories but also the experiences that may have created a bias or prejudice, consciously or unconsciously.
Many of the witnesses would describe the unit at fault as being the elderly gentlemen who should not have been on the road in the first place as he was too old. And then what of this young driver who would have been driving too fast and with the care of other road users. With all the statements taken and the evidence on the road, skid marks and broken vehicles, Serge would then say ‘find the little lady on the porch’ and ask her.
There seemed to often be a lady, watering the garden or looking out the window at the moment that saw everything in the neighbourhood. On walking up to her and asking you would get..
‘Well, the old man came down the road this way and swerved to the right and the young guy he came up from tat way and swerved left then right and they were so lucky no one was hurt. But the little black dog just dashed between them and ran up the road untouched’.
What often happens is if you do not get the helicopter view (that is when you get back to the office to type up the report you view the whole scene form a helicopter to see what is the most likely transpiration of events), even in business you will miss what is causing the disruption to the energy and flow of the office or business. Find that and deal with it with the end in mind and you can cleanse and balance very quickly and go forward to increase the business on a firm base.