Posts Tagged ‘reliability’

Remember in Star Wars when Yoda said something to the effect that “There is no ‘Try’, only ‘Do’”?  Well I guess if you have supernatural powers and a light saber then that might be true.  But on THIS planet, there is often a lot more trying then actually doing!  In fact business experts say unless you are failing periodically, you aren’t trying hard enough.  So setting lofty goals is a good thing, right?

Yes but failing a lot may earn you a reputation for not delivering on your promises.  The more I talk with people in business about what qualities they want to see in their employees, the more I hear the phrase “Do what you say you will do”.  From engineering staffs to marketing teams, making things happen – – – key things and minor things – – – seems to be an increasingly important ability when HR departments look at potential hires.  How do you do this?

How do you build a reputation for Reliability?

1. Be very reluctant to agree to do things in the first place.  Since your word is your bond, don’t give your word easily.  Instead of saying “I’ll make so-and-so happen by the end of next month” when you have no idea how you’ll actually make that happen, say instead “I’ll push hard to make that happen and it depends on our ability to get X and Y here parts in time” or just say “That is high risk but we will try it.”
2. Be an ACE – – – Always Control Expectations.  If a task is going to be especially difficult make sure key people know it, for two main reasons:  a) You want them to know that the probability of success is low so they are not automatically counting on your success and are, instead, preparing back-up plans b) you may need resources in order to be successful and they can help you get them.

 Here is how you DON’T build a solid reputation for reliably making things happen:

1. You don’t cherry-pick only those jobs that you know you can do, finding ways to reject/avoid all the others.  This will get you branded as a primadonna interested more in your corporate image than in the work of the enterprise.
2. And you don’t play the blame game, finding ways to blame other people (coworkers, managers, suppliers, etc.) time after time when you are unable to complete assigned tasks on time.

As a boss, if people on your team are signing up for tough jobs and then unable to complete them on time, a process (or several) is probably broken.  Your forecasting process for sales may be unrealistic; your supply chain might be unreliable and impacting your deliverables; your project managers are not properly assessing risks and developing work-around plans.  Whatever is causing the problem, get a Tiger Team to tackle it.  They should dig until they find the root causes, no matter how politically painful, and then provide you with options and a recommendation to fix the problem.  This has the additional benefits of forcing people to adopt a mindset of continuous improvement, helping teams become more self-directed and showing everyone that management wants solutions brought to the table whenever a problem surfaces.  Find a problem?  Good.  Bring some possible solutions (options for management) and a recommendation.  That last point, making a recommendation, forces people to take a stand and suggest a course of action.  Such assertive action, taking a public stand on something, builds character.   Managers always watch to see who does this – – – they are almost always the future managers and leaders for the enterprise.

Copyright: Solid Thinking Corporation

—

Tagged as: boss, Business Strategy, Leader driven harmony, Leadership, mack mckinney, management, organization, reliability, reporting, Solid Thinking Corp, work ethics, worplace

With the horror of the Japanese tsunami catastrophe still unfolding, ask yourself this.  If there was a 9.0 scale earthquake in the city where you live and you managed to survive it, what would you do then?  Let’s suppose you cannot “shelter in place” (a FEMA term) because your apartment building is unlivable or gone.  A week goes by and no help arrives.  You are running out of the food and water you managed to gather up.  The power grid is down and you have seen no soldiers, police, fire fighters or power company repairmen.  There is no water coming from the faucets and criminals are looting the stores and roaming the streets.

Admittedly this is a very bad and unlikely scenario but the smartest thing you could do might be to get out into the farmland that surrounds many big cities and offer to work for food, shelter (even if just a place in the barn) and protection.  In the rural areas of most countries people still grow their own food and many even build their own homes.  Their one- or two-story buildings are more likely to survive a major quake than high rises and they will certainly know how to grow and preserve food to last a few years.  And at least in the US, they are likely to have guns to protect themselves and their neighbors (and hopefully any temporary lodgers like you).

Individual Responsibility & Accountability

The pioneering spirit that drove people westward in the 1800s, and founded towns across the plains all the way to the west coast, is still alive and well in this country.  And I come from that heritage – – – my dad said his family was so self-contained on the farm in West Virginia that except for the scarcity of flour, sugar and salt at the local store, they barely noticed the depression in the early 1930s.  They grew and stored everything they needed.  Even today there are two groups of mainly-rural Americans who are still this self-sufficient; those that need to be (due to poverty) and those that just want to be.  Let’s talk about the latter.

There is an amazing satisfaction that comes from being individually accountable and responsible for building/repairing things and growing food with your own two hands.  Some people grow their own food in the suburbs or on farms, usually starting out with vegetable gardens but sometimes extending to orchards and even farm animals such as chickens, sheep, hogs or cattle.  Still others repair their own cars, trucks and farm tractors.  Some people move “off the grid” entirely and build power generation (solar, wind, etc.) and power storage systems to run their basic lights and home appliances without a monthly electrical bill.

In many parts of the USA – – –  the West, the Midwest, far North-East and the South for example – – – self-reliance is a matter of cultural pride.  Farm kids are taught how to grow corn, beans and potatoes; to preserve food to last at least a year including canning vegetables, salt/sugar curing of meats, etc.; to kill and pluck a chicken; to get a diesel tractor restarted after it has run out of fuel; to sharpen a dull mower blade with a bench grinder; even to weld metal parts back together.  I was taught all these things as a kid and they have served me well through the years. I’ve added basic building skills such as forming and pouring concrete, building stud walls, wiring a room, laying shingles and hanging drywall.  As an airplane owner I’ve even learned to maintain an aircraft, changing oil and spark plugs and doing any number of other maintenance tasks permitted by the Feds and common sense.

Basic Skills

Going back to our hypothetical survival situation, there are LOTS of scenarios that could require you to improvise to survive. Some basic skills could mean the difference between surviving and not.  Even if you have only limited hands-on skills, here are some basic jobs you really need to master:

• Safely jacking up your car/truck, removing a wheel, breaking-down a tire, installing a gooey rubber “plug” in a hole, remounting the tire and remounting the wheel on the car.  Yes I know AAA usually just tows the car for us and a garage mechanic plugs the hole, but what if neither the AAA nor the mechanic are around anymore, and escaping from danger (approaching weather, bad people, etc.) requires you to drive away?  You need to be able to do this yourself.
• Know how to “dress” a fryer and I don’t mean put a small shirt and pants on it.  That means at least being able to cut it into leg, thigh and breast. Ideally once a year you should go to a farm, buy a freshly killed (beheaded) fryer, take it home and then pluck and then gut it, setting aside the heart and liver (aka giblets) for stewing.  If all hell breaks loose someday, you are thrust into a survival situation, and a chicken wonders across your path, you will be able to eat.  Let your kids 10 or older see how this is done.
• Develop (or hone) basic camping skills: how to erect a tent and tie a few basic knots, how to use a whetstone to sharpen a kitchen/other knife and how to light propane/camp gas lanterns and stoves.  These stove skills could enable you to boil water so it becomes safe to drink, especially important since a person can go 14 days or so without food but only 3-5 days without water.
• Know how to safely siphon fuel using only a 3 foot piece of rubber hose and your thumb or mouth.  (Do not email me about this being too dangerous to even try, because teenagers have been stealing gasoline this way for almost a hundred years.  Just don’t swallow!)
• For a bunch of reasons, know how to shoot a rifle, shotgun and pistol. Go to a range, rent a gun if you don’t own one, and get an instructor to teach you basic weapons safety, handling and shooting.  This could save your life someday.
• Throw a survival skills booklet – – – there are dozens of titles and styles – – – into the trunk of your car or into your closet at home.  Many pilots already get this training as part of their survival education or when in the military and other people get it in school through the Boy/Girl Scouts or 4H Clubs.  But a good refresher course and reference book would be a great gift idea for everyone.

You don’t need to move into a cabin in the wild and become a fully self-contained homesteader.  But adding a few basic skills will improve your self-confidence and your sense of self-reliance.

Donate Carefully

The Japanese people who are suffering terribly now desperately need our help.  But scams are appearing and even established charities are asking people to be careful how they give money.  For example please do not give to the Red Cross or other charity and earmark your contribution only for disaster relief in Japan.  This really ties their hands.  And to avoid being the victim of relief-scams, before you donate anything see these comments from the Maryland Attorney General

Copyright: Solid Thinking Corporation

—

Tagged as: accountability, active garage, basic skills, catastrophe, mack mckinney, Project Management, reliability, responsibility, self reliance, Solid Thinking Corp, survival