The Difference Between Knowing and Knowing What to Do

By Mark Helding, Executive Director, Independent Racking Inspections & Audits (IRIA)

There’s no shortage of information available to us these days. You can look up a standard, find technical guidance online, watch someone explain something on YouTube or search for an answer while you’re standing in the middle of a warehouse.

For the most part, I think that’s a great thing. Good information is easier to find and easier to share than it was when I started. But having the information and knowing what to do with it are two different things.

After 25 years working around warehouses and racking, I think I’ve probably come to appreciate that difference more, not less.

The answer isn’t always on the page

Standards matter. Technical guidance matters. Checklists have their place too. But warehouses have a habit of not looking exactly like the examples.

They change over time. Racking gets moved or reconfigured. Loads change. Different equipment comes onto site. Repairs are made. Businesses grow into spaces that were designed for something quite different ten or fifteen years earlier.

And sometimes you walk into a warehouse where nobody really knows the history of the racking at all. That’s where things become more interesting.

You’re not just looking at what’s directly in front of you. You’re trying to understand what has happened around it.

Why is the damage there? Is it isolated or are you seeing the same thing further down the aisle? Has something changed operationally? Is there another question you should be asking?

The checklist might get you started. It won’t necessarily get you to the answer.

Experience changes the questions

When I started in this industry, naturally I was focused on learning the technical side of the job. You learn the standards, the systems and what you should be looking for. Experience adds another layer to that.

After you’ve seen enough warehouses, different racking systems and some unusual situations over the years, you start recognising patterns. You notice when something doesn’t quite add up. You know when to keep looking rather than settling for the obvious explanation.

Perhaps more importantly, you become less interested in having the quickest answer. I think that’s true of experienced people in most fields.

The good ones I’ve come across tend to ask more questions, not fewer. They want the background. They want to know what changed. They’re interested in the detail that seems slightly out of place.

It’s not because they’re making something simple more complicated. They’ve just been around long enough to know that sometimes the small detail changes the answer.

The tools have changed enormously

The way we inspect warehouses today bears very little resemblance to how we did it when I started.

Technology has made it much easier to capture information onsite, photograph what we’re seeing, keep a history and look back at what has changed over time.

For businesses operating several warehouses, it also means information from different sites can be viewed together rather than sitting in separate reports in separate offices.

That’s a huge improvement.

But there’s an interesting thing about having more information. It doesn’t necessarily make the decisions automatic.

You still need to work out what matters.

A photograph is useful, but someone needs to understand what it shows. A history is valuable, but only if someone notices the pattern in it. A dashboard can put everything in one place, but it can’t make every decision for you.

The tools are better than they’ve ever been. The judgement behind how we use them still matters.

Knowing what matters

I think this is where experience becomes particularly valuable.

Over the years, you build up a bank of knowledge that doesn’t come from one standard, one course or one warehouse. It comes from seeing different systems, different environments and plenty of situations that don’t quite fit the textbook example.

You start to recognise patterns. You know when something warrants a closer look and when one issue might be telling you something about what’s happening elsewhere in the warehouse. You also know which questions to ask before making a call.

That doesn’t diminish the value of good information or better technology. Both have improved our industry enormously.

But they work best alongside people who know how to interpret what they’re seeing and apply it to the situation in front of them.

After 25 years in this field, that’s probably what I value most about experience. You never stop learning, but you do get much better at knowing what matters.

About the Author

Mark Helding is Executive Director of Independent Racking Inspections & Audits (IRIA) and has spent almost 25 years helping organisations across Australia and New Zealand create safer warehouse environments.

With a background in social psychology and extensive experience in warehouse safety, independent racking inspections, training and risk management, Mark works with businesses across a broad range of industries to improve safety, strengthen governance and support better operational decision-making.

His articles explore the intersection of workplace safety, leadership, organisational culture and human behaviour, drawing on practical experience from thousands of warehouse inspections and audits.