Building The Better Future

Recently I had The Privilege of watching a Video that was sent out by our companies CEO David Seaton,  It was a Very Good message about where we were as a company and the direction that our company was headed over the next several years on its journey towards success, And I was very impressed By what He had To say on Several topics.  He Outlined Our Future , Recapped The past and set clear expectations on what we should all be doing to institute The Changes that we were going to make.

I know what some of you might be Thinking, I'm Just writing This article in an attempt to gain some recognition From the Head Cheese so to speak,    well your wrong,  You see My Work Email happens to have an corporate Directory and Mr. Seaton's Email Address ,  So I used It, I wrote him an email entitled Good Talk,  I was under no illusions that this corporate GIANT the CEO of one of the largest compaines in the world would have time to read My Email, to him outlining my Ideas, Feelings and How I Go about my work, why..?  all I am is an acting night shift superintendent on the back end of a project, just holding down the fort while we get ready for our next big job..  In the Grand Scheme Of Things I'm an ant in the ant pile..  I said to myself  SELF,,, he wont ever see it , and I Moved on,

He not only saw it,,,,   He Read it,,,,  and He Responded,,, and I would Like to share just a touch of what he wrote back , He told me thank you for my email and that how nice it was to have someone out here for him that gets it,,, exactly what he was speaking about,, and a few more items but he finished with,, Continue Doing what your doing , and help institute this Change,,,   Then he put me in charge of all of North America ,,

NO,, no fairy tale ending here, just kidding,,     But THERE CAN BE,,,,, FOR US

Each and every day we come to work and we are faced with a decision as we walk  through the gate as to how we showed up that day.

Did we come in, with an attitude for excellence!! , or did we come in to Get a paycheck and go home , and hope nothing bad happens that will keep you from earning that check tomorrow, 

Its sad to say that more often than not, the latter is the case.

What If I could tell you how YOU can make sure  that nothing bad happens, and that You can help insure Your own Future, and have a job as long as you want one ,, would you do it??   Most I feel in my heart would, and just don't have enough, good direction and support to make The Change.

    To All Supervisors out there, in pretty much any trade, any craft or job scope THIS all starts with YOU,, Not a Friday morning memo from the site manager on a new rule, not with a Monday morning mass meeting, Not with a new policy handed down by The corporate office ,, YOU,,, YOU,,,YOU    are the one at a grass roots level that is going to institute this change,  I know a lot of people are thinking I can only make a difference with a few people,,, Well a few is good, but you showed up today to be the best that you ever thought ,REMEMBER,,, so make a difference across the board with everyone,

If You doubt this in the slightest bit take a minuet do a little research, and I proved that this will work to institute real change in your workplace , Our safety is World Class, Our Quality and Production are the same.. But as I said on top of this article  , Are You committed to go the distance, When It gets hard, that's when the Leaders lead ,,

The First and most important aspect in our Business is safety,, SAFETY,,it is what drives everything that we do, You are the one that has to help Instill the Value of safety in your employees , your coworkers, your boss,, You must insist on it,, NEVER take a no or we don't have time , YOU DO HAVE TIME.   as a supervisor you company pays you to enforce the safety plan that they implemented,, As a HUNAN BEING your desire for everyone to go home safe to there family and your commitment to make this happen is critical.. so many times supervisors allow small safety issues to just slide by, without addressing the issue, You Cant,, no one is saying fire someone or throw a fit, Just address the safety Hazard, gloves , safety glasses , rigging , vehicle safety, what ever the situation is ADDRESS IT, coach, have that discussion , yes they might be upset a little, they might be grateful but if you address every safety issue every time no matter how big or small, people will without a doubt Know what your expectations are , and Know that safety is your primary focus, and it will begin to take hold, they will stop and look, check out the situation make sure everything is safe , and go to work.

But YOU have to do this every single time , and then look at it over and over, conditions change all day every day, complacent people get hurt, look at what your doing and what your people are doing all day every day, and accept nothing less,, do not accept a dirty and cluttered work areas, do not accept  poor rigging practices, DONT ACCEPT anything BUT PERFECT when it comes to safety,, every action, report, safety walk,, work step ,, everything    insist on excellence every single time,, SAFETY doesn't have a grey area,, And its your job to make sure of this every time , if its two people or two hundred, its exactly the same the change starts with you,, The World Class supervisor, no one else, its Your Safety Values OWN THEM,

The next thing Mr. Seaton touched on was our quality, once again as a supervisor we own that, You might have the best Pipefitter in the world , or the slickest welder, or the fastest scaffold builder there ever was,, GREAT,,, GO CHECK IT... you see its your job,, you have to inspect what you expect,,, your going to be going to check on your workers safety constantly, so this will be easy, your already there,, and what's that,,  The work is going very smooth as well,,, because you really looked at the work beforehand , and as you went through what the hazards were you were actually going through  your work plan in detail,, so it will be easy for you to determine,, Are they making enough progress? is it being done safely and correctly?  Check on everything they do,,,  set your expectations high, really high ,   and make sure EVERY SINGLE TIME verify what they are doing that it is safe and that it is correct, this will save the company time and money provide the client with there finished product sooner and  build the confidence of the crew, and the client ,, when we do the two things that I have mentioned already  insist on the safety and verify the quality, The PRODUCTION will be there every single time.   AND WHEN ALL THREE ARE THERE,, us as a company , a team and a family  , Our company gets more work because there services are Desired by more business's which translates to more time working for us,, AND it takes US to make this happen, We ,,YOU AND ME, will be the driving force in making this change in our overall culture, and it starts the second you walk past those gates tomorrow , not a week ,, not a month,,   tomorrow,, Make that difference be the instrument of change to help us all be successful, Show up every day with an attitude that your going to make the difference,, because you can, I promise you.. I am not some motivational speaker, I am not a corporate big wig, I'm just a man That is very passionate about the fact that I WILL take personal responsibility in my own success or my own failure,, and today , tomorrow and everyday I will show up, with an attitude of excellence, I'll insist on perfect safety, inspect what I have assigned , and ensure myself my coworkers and my employees a better future because I wont accept anything less than greatness for us all..

sincerely

Mark A. Granger

P.S I'll touch on INTEGRITY in the work place next time