Last week my brother and I decided to start a crane training school. Not only that, but we hired my friend Daniel Dunn of Dunn Productions to shoot a crane signalman and rigger training video.
Do I know anything about crane operation? Do I even know anything about making a training video? No! That’s why this past week has been so much fun. I’m learning things I never thought I wanted to know.
It’s not really as “out there” as it sounds. My brother is an experienced, NCCCO-certified crane operator. And there’s a new OSHA regulation that went into effect last week requiring “qualified signalman and riggers” on crane sites, so the idea is timely. I doubt anyone who reads this blog has any interest in this topic, but just in case, you can check out our website-in-its-infancy here: www.newenglandcraneschool.com.
What I really wanted to talk about though is the exhilaration of throwing yourself into a completely foreign world; and the importance, as a learning professional, of always being willing to plunge yourself into something completely new, even when it’s uncomfortable.
I didn’t think it would be uncomfortable at first. I thought, I do instructional design, so why can’t I create any kind of training program I want as long as I have a subject matter expert? Three days later as I cowered in fear under a 170-foot crane while it hoisted a huge trailer over my head, holding my ill-fitting hard hat on my head and looking around for a safer place to stand, the word “uncomfortable” didn’t even quite describe the experience. And that night, looking at the video footage Daniel had shot and listening to my brother talk about the physics of rigging a crane load (physics being a subject that has always glazed my eyes over), I added “overwhelmed” to my current emotional state.
No matter, because this is going to be fun. New experiences are what life is all about, and during this week of Thanksgiving, I’d like to give thanks for this great learning opportunity.
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