The first thing I discovered was why it sometimes seems
there are so many people watching while so few are working. For at least a
couple of trees, there were as many as 11 people involved. The County had originally
ordered the work after a hurricane came through the area. They usually did not
have a representative but this was in a busy and hard hit park so there were 2.
A company that specializes in disaster relief work was contracted to do the
work and they had 1 person on site. The contractor subcontracts out the work to
companies that would normally be providing tree services in their hometowns,
there were 4 of them, three of which were working and the owner that was
supervising. Finally, in addition to myself there was another monitor, a
supervisor and the project manager for SAIC that had been hired to monitor and
document the work, so that the county knew how much to pay and ask for
reimbursement from FEMA.
Put another way, you have buyers, service providers,
contractors and regulators all at this job site. Each of these individuals and
groups is further bound by ethical and liability issues to do or not do certain
things. So even though I might be capable and willing to do a task, my doing it
might be an indication that I had become too close and possibly co-opted by the
group(s) I was monitoring and could put the company in jeopardy.
While the first lesson pertained to the work and the fact
that so many different entities and interests were involved the second lesson
was even more eye opening. This lesson came during one of the traffic delay
incidents, where a driver honked their horn and went around the truck, directly
under the bucket and the limb that was being removed. It was hazardous,
irresponsible and frankly illegal, but I guess they couldn’t wait.
A 4" 10' branch 30 feet high in the air, could do some real damage. |
It was then that one of the crew members looked at me and
said, “we might as well go back to Georgia, they don’t appreciate what we are
doing anyway.” It was a HUGE statement because it showed the different perceptions
of what was happening. For the driver, this crew and their work was an
annoyance, for me they were a tree crew doing work, but for the crew, they were
doing “hurricane relief” and “protecting the public.”
Everyone was right. However if the limb had fallen on the
car, the resulting insurance settlement and body work would have taken a lot
more than the five minutes they would have been delayed by staying behind the
truck. For me it was a reminder, that while we see the same thing our
perception formed by the path we walked, shapes our attitude towards the event.
There was also a big leadership lesson. Each tree they
worked on before this incident either qualified by the rules or it didn’t. Each
tree after this incident either was detrimental to public safety or it wasn’t,
in which case it didn’t get worked on. By understanding why they were here,
doing what they were doing, I was able to lead better, which resulted in my
being assigned the more “difficult” to control crews which became more
productive and less difficult.
Dale Carnegie wrote that we should not “criticize, condemn
or complain” and that we need to “Try honestly to see things from the other
person’s point of view.” For me those 2 lessons from How to win friends and
influence people couldn’t be any more closely linked. Try the latter and see if
you can really do the former.
Nothing is better with your morning coffee than a dash of Empathy to make the day go well for yourself and all others. Both this post and your preceding one John, demonstrate your empathy for different points of view. Most of us do NOT use empathy consciously and consistently in ways that demonstrate our Intention to have Attention to others, their point of view, their situation, their mood, etc. When empathy is void, hostility and fear play havoc and relationships erode.
ReplyDeleteIf we can put more effort into looking for some small measure of common ground in ANY of our relationships with others, even our most challenging relationships and uncomfortable situations, then there is the possibility of a shared understanding, less reaction, and hopefully the emergence of some movement towards each other's point of view. Even if this is a brief moment of walking in another's shoes, it's a huge step forward and in the right direction.
All of this is an example of how well we truly know our values (what's important to us and others http://bit.ly/tSDKOU ), and taking time to reflect on our values and determine what's TRULY important... is the most challenging aspect of our humanness.
Thanks John for helping us be more mindful of how important it is to at least try to intentionally walk in the shoes of others as often as we are able. EdC