Old ane new: Employee (and employer) accountability and communication

Last night, I reviewed the departing memo from our former administrative employee. She described the woeful inadequacies of our computer systems and the horrible state of our office. She also had a few less-than-enthusiastic words about my own behaviour. Ouch.

Her complaints are well taken, and I appreciate the initiative of another of the company's senior employees in co-ordinating the exit interview/report (to be given to me only after the departing employee left). After all, as company president/owner, I am truly accountable and responsible for everything that happens here, and it is important for me to learn what is really happening, not what people simply tell me because I am signing their paycheques. (Spelling here is Canadian.)

Nevertheless, what should I do with this information, and why do we have these problems?

Part of the issue of course is the recession's lingering austerity. Systems/office maintenance and upgrading are expenses that can be deferred, at least short term, and when cash is in short supply, they are. Another issue is the communications dynamics between me and the former employee; our business operates on a fairly loose and entrepreneurial manner, employees are encouraged to speak their mind, advocate for change where appropriate, and then, where possible, to take action themselves to solve problems.

(In earlier years, I interpreted this philosophy far too loosely, causing employees to act from self interest rather than the company's best interests -- now, these are aligned through the business planning and meeting system.)

I've forwarded memos and discussion papers to the new employee and explained straightforwardly the negative reviews of the previous employee (though of course respect confidentiality and haven't sent the actual review to anyone else). My goal is to allow the new employee to know exactly what she is taking on and give her time, as she works out her notice at her current employer's place, to think about strategies she might want to implement to solve the problems.

Next week will be interesting, in that word's bigger sense. As we wait for our new administrative employee to arrive, we are evaluating a new sales candidate in the office, and a temporary employee must fill the administrator's desk -- as we conclude production of our January issues in time for the Christmas deadline. I hope things won't be too chaotic. On the other hand, I'm excited about the energy this change brings to the business, allowing us to set the stage for a dynamic New Year with much growth and progress.

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Responsibility

Yesterday, because of my screw up, I created stress and emergency planning responsibilities for others. As manager of my son's minor hockey team, I booked the team into a "contact" tournament, when our league plays by non-contact rules.

Not everyone reading this blog knows much about hockey, but it is the major sport in our region and at professional level can be quite intense and physical. Body contact rules are in place to ensure younger players and those without training in the more forceful aspects of the game are not put at risk.

But, in going ahead with the tournament booking, I failed to check a website which would have confirmed we were heading into the contact space (at age 11-12, many leagues consider the kids old enough to play contact hockey, but our district doesn't, at least for recreational or house league play.)

Parents arriving early saw intense body checking and naturally were fearful for their kids.

On arriving at the scene, our coach convened emergency meetings with parents and the tournament organizers. He took responsibility and leadership to obtain the tournament organizers' co-operation in arranging unofficial rule modifications, gave the players a crash course in some things to watch out for, and (after concurring with the parents), decided to go ahead with the tournament, with the understanding that if conditions appeared unsafe on the ice, we would leave the game immediately.

As it is, all went well, the kids had a great day, and we ended up dead last.

Can lessons be learned from this experience relevant to Construction Marketing?

Details are important, even for non-detail people. A simple check with one website would have avoided the problem.

Mistakes can create opportunities. We all learned from the experience, and I think grew. Our kids saw how hockey can be played differently -- but were reassured after the day that we would properly revert to our own league rules.

Cultural and rules variations can exist within specialized areas. Smiths Falls and St. Isidore are the same distance from Ottawa, but the separate leagues play by entirely different "contact" rules. We should not forget these nuances in our marketing because they can be important.

One person's error can affect many. Here I feel the pain (and relief that all went well).
We must accept responsibility for our decisions and actions. No one else is to blame. Notably, our coach accepted responsibility for MY mistake; he needed to quickly adapt and adjust the program to accommodate the special circumstances here.

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Who is responsible?

Recently, Bob Kruhm in North Carolina forwarded me an excellent posting from Don Short II, Economic Survival Lessons From Peter Kiewit at ENR.com. The article is well worth reading, but what I found most interesting is this anonymous comment attached to the story:

I have recently been a victim to the economic crunch, but I realized that my problem started years ago in the boom times, not today. The quote above, "It takes competent estimators..." or the lack of that caused my problem. Years ago an inexperienced estimator for a subcontractor mis-worded a quote that made his bid too broad. A less than ethical GC held him to the extra work implied because of the GC's bad estimate on the entire project forced him to get the work done at the lowest price.

Three subcontractors down the food chain and several projects and years later, this subcontractor can't pay my client who can't pay me because he is still trying to recover from the GC's bad estimate. The GC is not even involved in my situation. His bad bid years ago still ripples thru the local industry in many trades. Are the low bids of today discussed in other ENR articles starting more of these ripples?

I don't want to leave this on a negative note with no solution. Support the American Society of Professional Estimators (ASPE) and your local chapter. If you don't have one in your city, look into starting one. Five of us started one four years ago and now have 50 members. I know it can be done. ASPE is dedicated to education and training and offers training classes all over the country that will teach your estimators how to put together better bids. Don't complain about bad times, support the solution. Go to http://www.aspenational.org/ learn what you can do.

The anonymous writer makes some important points about surviving in the industry. And his thoughts link to three perhaps contradictory observations:

• Our fates are often determined by events and circumstances far outside our control and power;

• We are responsible for finding solutions and resolving the challenges we face;

• No matter how good we are at selling and marketing ourselves, if we screw up the estimate (or the actual job) we are goners!

Hopefully, none of us are responsible for causing the recession, but we all have to live with it.

However, we are responsible for our pricing, overheads, and business management.

If we are not winning any jobs, but keep our overheads and business expenses high, we fail. If we win jobs, but price them incorrectly, or accept work from organizations who won't pay their bills in a timely manner, we lose.

If we learn how to market effectively, seek advice and guidance from knowledgeable and experienced people (but always keep the advice in balance with our own perceptions and understandings) and manage our affairs prudently, we will survive, even thrive.

Linked with these observations:

• Dumb things can haunt you if you are not careful and don't learn from your lessons;
• Quick fixes and miracle cures sometimes work, but if you are relying on them for your survival, you may not live in business too long;
• Don't give up -- but don't throw good money after bad!

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