Leadership: Preparation, and the Staff (1)

April 22, 2013 by 1 Comment

We talk here quite a lot about leadership, and many of you are in leadership or at least managerial positions. But we, none of us, are Alexander the Great. We not leading an ancient army across Asia that is responsible for feeding itself. we are leading (or hope to be) organized groups of people, trying to do whatever.

In my case, it’s make a living by doing electrical work. What I do is highly technical, some days, you would swear I was a computer tech, some days a forensic detective, and some days a driving personnel manager. Your life may be quite similar, or different.

But one thing is true for us all, in the world of today, we need to be prepared and have the correct information if we are to achieve the desired result. In my case, I have to follow various codes (there are many more of them than you suspect) ensure that the work is done on time, and very importantly (at least if I want to eat) on budget.

The thing is, I usually do most of our estimating, so I have to know another whole series of things, from how long it takes each of our electricians to install an outlet to what our insurance rate is likely to do over the course of the job. Often, all I know going into a job is what the client wants to do, sometimes I have engineers and architect to argue with work with but not always. Always, I have to make this happen on whatever the client is willing to pay.

You know what? This is why so many one or two person firms, especially in contracting, fail. I have whole bookcases, not to mention gigabytes on the server, of information in connection with this, I also have he experience of years of doing this type of work. But that doesn’t cover everything either.

For instance:

  • How will Obamacare affect us (if it will)
  • What will the next code cycle bring
  • What Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) does each employee need.
  • What equipment does a crew need
  • Should we buy it, rent it, try to get along without it, for how long and why.
  • Is it possible to borrow money
  • What is the return on investment on that equipment, training, whatever else.
  • If something goes wrong, will my insurance company really work to win or just pay money (and raise my rates till I go out of business)
  • If we get an OSHA violation (even a minor one) how many contracts will we lose (the answer is most of them)
  • Where the best supplier for this item, and is there a cheaper (and adequate) substitute

And on and on and on and on.

Through experience I’ve got a pretty good feel for all this, in a small company. But if we were to add a few more crews, it will all need to be recalculated, and I won’t have the time.

And that’s what a competent staff does, none of us can keep up with everything, there is far too much information, and it’s mostly relevant, and should be considered. For us to add two crews, We will have to add probably three staff people, and we will need to add them before we add the field people. Here’s where two things stand out: the logistical problem and the personnel one.  This, however, is not uncommon, and leads on to a consideration of how these lessons from ordinary circumstances apply to extraordinary ones.

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Adam Smith — A Man who Saw the Future

January 15, 2013 by 2 Comments

Adam Smith; engraving

Adam Smith; engraving (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

Here’s a segment of a post from my friend Loopy. It’s a quote from Adam Smith, and quite applicable to where we are now. I think we need to ponder this as we plan our way forward but, in any case enjoy his command of the English language, which is one thing that always strikes me with the use of prose from the 18th century.

 

Amidst the turbulence and disorder of faction, a certain spirit of system is apt to mix itself with that public spirit which is founded upon the love of humanity, upon a real fellow–feeling with the inconveniencies and distresses to which some of our fellow–citizens may be exposed. This spirit of system commonly takes the direction of that more gentle public spirit; always animates it, and often inflames it even to the madness of fanaticism. The leaders of the discontented party seldom fail to hold out some plausible plan of reformation which, they pretend, will not only remove the inconveniencies and relieve the distresses immediately complained of, but will prevent, in all time coming, any return of the like inconveniencies and distresses. They often propose, upon this account, to new–model the constitution, and to alter, in some of its most essential parts, that system of government under which the subjects of a great empire have enjoyed, perhaps, peace, security, and even glory, during the course of several centuries together. The great body of the party are commonly intoxicated with the imaginary beauty of this ideal system, of which they have no experience, but which has been represented to them in all the most dazzling colours in which the eloquence of their leaders could paint it. Those leaders themselves, though they originally may have meant nothing but their own aggrandisement, become many of them in time the dupes of their own sophistry, and are as eager for this great reformation as the weakest and foolishest of their followers. Even though the leaders should have preserved their own heads, as indeed they commonly do, free from this fanaticism, yet they dare not always disappoint the expectation of their followers; but are often obliged, though contrary to their principle and their conscience, to act as if they were under the common delusion. The violence of the party, refusing all palliatives, all temperaments, all reasonable accommodations, by requiring too much frequently obtains nothing; and those inconveniencies and distresses which, with a little moderation, might in a great measure have been removed and relieved, are left altogether without the hope of a remedy.

 

Continue reading Adam Smith — A Man who Saw the Future.

 

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