Of course I knew I was going in to a tough situation when I took the job; in fact that's in part WHY I took the job. I don't like the easy things, I like the hard ones (don't go there).
Anyway, I knew I was going to be introducing this group to their first real on site management and I wanted to explain some important concepts and philosophy; so I presented this.
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My management philosophy has a few very basic, but very important tenets:
- Trust
- Respect
- Professionalism
- Communication
- Honor
- Loyalty
- You are adults, I will treat you as such
- You are professionals, I will treat you as such
- I am your advocate; I do my best for you
- In return, you do your best for me
- I trust you completely – ONCE
- Trust your team completely – with all others; trust, but verify
- Life Comes First
- K.I.S.S.
- The “P”s
- Planning (SMESCS)
- Mission focus
- Be prepared
- Be creative
- No idea is a bad idea (but it may not be the RIGHT idea)
- Never say "That's impossible" to the guy who's actually doing it
- Take risks – but understand and MANAGE them
- Good is Enough; Good Enough Isn’t
- Unintended consequences
- Good intentions matter, but good results matter more
- Sometimes you have to make the “least bad” decision
- The Perfect is the enemy of the good
K.I.S.S
- Keep
- It
- Simple
- Somethingorother (depending on how rude you want to be)
- Prior
- Preparation
- Prevents
- Poor
- Performance
- S ituation
- M ission (or objective)
- E xecution
- S ervice and Support
- C ommand Control Communications
- S upply and Logistics
MISSION
- What is a MISSION?
- What’s the difference between a mission, and an objective? (two answers)
- What is OUR mission??????
ALWAYS REMEMBER THIS:
No matter what you do, what you know, or what your intentions are; every word you say, every thing you do, will have consequences you did not intend, forsee, or understand.
20 Questions
On my very first day, I gave them a list of 20 questions I wanted them to answer for me, as follows:
Task Issues
- What are your major tasks every day
- What are your primary work tools, applications, and systems
- What problems do you have (or foresee) with your major tasks
- What problems do you have (or foresee) with your primary tools, applications, and systems
- What administrative or logistics issues do you have
- What general issues not specifically related to the above do you have
- What do you think works
- What do you think DOESN'T work
- How can we fix what doesn’t work
- How can we improve what we does work
- What major projects are you working on right now
- What major projects do you foresee in the near future
- What problems are you having with your current major projects
- What problems can you foresee having with your current, or near future major projects
- Are there any major projects we need to be starting that aren't listed above; or do projects need to be stopped, or accelerated.
- What is your current work schedule and location
- Does this schedule and location work for you, and if not how could it be improved
- Do you have all the resources, personal, professional or otherwise; necessary to do your job
- Other than the issues described above, how can we make your job better, easier, more efficient etc…
- Other than the issues described above, how can we increase your happiness or satisfaction with your job
- Ideas
- Gripes
- Grumbles
- Problems
- Plusses
- FUN
- More FUN
People can surprise you; if you let them.
