Thursday night specials: General Industry Coverage

Early in my career, I was lucky to work at a shop that supported hands-on skill growth and learning in a unique way. It was intended for the purpose of training, but it wasn’t until years later, when I was in the position to implement a similar setup, that I realized its training potential.

Courtesy of T. Lipton

A selection of Thursday night projects.

The shop allowed its employees to work on small personal projects using the company’s facilities and resources.

One of the old guys at this company, employee No. 001, was the shop foreman until a serious industrial accident sidelined him. He started the tradition of what I call “Thursday nights.” This was the special time set aside for employees to work on their own projects. It was only 1 day a week, but it was sanctioned, albeit weakly, by the company. We were allowed to use company equipment and minor materials and build almost anything we wanted—things that we were interested in. This time was set aside so the inevitable “G-jobs,” or personal projects, would not be done on company time.

Thursday nights, however, had a much more important impact. We were gaining hands-on experience in the best possible way: by doing. People built things the shop foreman would never assign to them because he didn’t feel they had the skill or experience.

The most extreme project I know of took place over a 14-year period, when a friend built a 48 ‘ sailboat. He built the boat in his backyard, but almost all the fittings and bits crossed his workbench at one time or another. Another guy built a stainless steel hot tub, and the list goes on.

I maintain that if you have the experience, who cares how you came by it? By doing projects and trying things you had never done, you built up your skills. The successful people at that company were the ones who were there every Thursday night chunking away on their projects. Most success, either career or financial, can be traced to proactive learning.

The following are the basic rules for such a program.

• A minimum of two or more people work together, and somebody is responsible for locking up.