Service Calls

I decided recently to run some service calls. It started off with me learning of a service opportunity and initially just selecting some of the outstanding tasks that were in my wheelhouse to self-perform. I completed my assignments at the quoted price and the promised timeframes. They asked if I could work on a few other things where other vendors had not been able to do the same. It snowballed from there. I just got back from supporting the resolution of the last such item, which I really didn’t want to be bothered with. It was a leaking laundry supply hose that was seized onto a questionable supply valve. If it couldn’t be backed off, there was a likelihood that we’d have to open up the wall cavity, replace the laundry outlet box, and patch back the wall surfaces. Another professional had attempted to get the hose off on a prior visit, and it was looking increasingly like we’d have some selective demolition and rework to do. I wasn’t looking forward to it.

I’m several years removed from running such calls. There was a time when my personal vehicle, the big body Honda Civic, was already pre-loaded with the stuff I might need to do some drywall patching and repair on short notice. Today, I had to take the time to track down and pack up my mud pan, shop vac, EZ sand and so forth. If it came down to it, I was ready. I remember being almost excited at the prospect of flexing what were then new-found skills and abilities. That was me as a young bull. Today, as an old bull, it was more the sentiment of, ‘if I must…(*exaggerated sigh*).’

So I took the call today and met with a new plumber. We went over the history and then I left him to close the main water shut-off valve in case the supply line fractured unexpectedly during his effort. He agreed that this was not simply going to back off. This is where I fully expected that we’d be cutting into the wall. He was going to try something. If it didn’t work, that effort would have been wasted, and we would have nonetheless needed to do what I suspected was necessary. If it did work, then fantastic. The old bull could retire early.

This is the point that I find interesting in the context of leadership. I’ve worked with and for people who do not readily allow for their direct reports or subordinates to take what may be, to them, a novel approach. They are limited by their own frameworks and concepts of norms. Or, perhaps because they’ve already made preparations for a certain anticipated outcome, they don’t want to lose the value of those efforts. ‘We’ve already transported all this stuff; we might as well use it.’

A lot of what I understand and practice today regarding leadership was forged in my early days as a young bull. Back then, all I had was textbook learning. I had not really seen or done much professionally, but there I was on jobsites leading crews of other companies’ employees in the attainment of project objectives. “I don’t know what I’m doing. I don’t know what they’re doing. This is ridiculous. How can this even work?!” That last part was the key. I had the humility to ask questions. It’s the quickest way to get to know something you didn’t previously know. I would ask the foreman what they were preparing to do. And then I observed what transpired next. At subsequent opportunities, if I saw something that was different from what I previously observed, I asked what gave rise to the differences. I learned what worked and what didn’t work. I also learned that ‘different’ [does not equal] ‘wrong’, not necessarily.

These days, in nearly any given project circumstance, I’ve got a strong command of what needs to happen and how it’s likely to go down. However, I haven’t forgotten those young bull lessons. It’s important to allow the folks closest to the work a measure of control over how it is going to be performed. I appreciate and need that in my own work and the taskings I take on; it would be hypocritical of me to deprive someone else of a comparable level of self-direction.

To me, leading isn’t about prescribing every single step or action to be taken by those under your leadership. People do their best work when their leaders can describe in vivid detail the desired outcomes and then allow the teams to develop or navigate the processes necessary to achieve those outcomes. Leaders control outcomes. Teams control process.

This evening, we were clear on what was needed in order for the service call to be ‘done’, but we were also flexible with respect to what we might need to do to get there. Had I been overly prescriptive with respect to the approaches I was most familiar with; we’d still be there. Well, I would still be there patching and cleaning up. Even when we, as leaders, know a way, we have to be open and encourage the people in our charge to be willing to pursue a better way. The approach tonight was not without risk, but it worked. And I’m better for it in having learned, even as an old bull, another alternative to resolving challenging field conditions.