Masonry Magazine December 1996 Page. 20
Playing The Game to Win, Not Just to Stay In The Game
MASONRY
Playing the Game to Win, Not Just to Stay in the Game
By: Tom LaJaune
Tom LaJaune
Here are many ways to approach all we do in life. Who cannot agree with that statement? But not everyone chooses to look at their work day as a series of opportunities and challenges to be met with a positive attitude in order to produce the best possible outcome.
I have been so fortunate in my life and in my career in the masonry business. I have been able to see the positive side of most situations and events that have presented themselves to me. And, I believe that it is precisely that ability to remain open to new ideas like those and that point of view which can make your life different as well.
The concepts I live by are simple but they are not necessarily easy. There's no magic bullet, nothing you haven't heard before in bits and pieces. But, what I hope I will accomplish in the next several pages is to convey a sense that anyone and everyone can adopt parts of, or even most of, my philosophy and my ideas and make them their own in order to be more successful than they are today.
With a spirit of "we" not just "me," I believe success can be yours more quickly and more fully than you've ever dreamed. If your employees accept this notion, then at least your life at work will be more rewarding and enjoyable.
Most of us as children, as adolescents, and even as adults have day dreamed of situations where we would have the opportunity to standout as the hero, the star, as the one who made the difference in some sort of dramatic way. And yet, most of us never get the chance to rescue 30 people from a burning building, or make a million dollars from a brilliant stock investment. What we can do, however, is make the most of situations that present themselves to us each day and in the long run make the difference.
There are no short cuts, no exact formula for success. And those who are looking for an all- powerful computer program that prompts you to simply fill in the 100 most important facts about your current project, push "Enter" three times and will then spit out just the data you need to bring in that project on time, ahead of budget, and with nothing on the punch list, will never find it. What I have found is that attention to some basic areas can drastically enhance productive performance. These areas are documentation, relationship building, respect and delegation of responsibility and productivity.
I also hope to inspire young men and women coming up in the masonry business to adopt a positive attitude as well. A "can do" philosophy, and a sense of working as part of a team with the people who report directly to them, with their supervisors, their peers, with other contractors, and with other subcontractors, in order to produce a better, more cost efficient outcome. How
Documentation
When properly applied, keeping accurate documentation could just keep you from having to hire a costly and ambitious attorney to help you out of a legal jam which could have been prevented. Keeping good records of what happen to who, when and where can save you not only money but a whole lot of grief, to boot. And it protects you, your workers, and the company you represent.
Documentation can seem like a hassle, and even a waste of time when you don't need it. But, when you do need it, and you haven't kept accurate records of your job progress and the barriers others have put in your way preventing you from fulfilling your contract, you'll have nothing to back up your claims. Documentation is allowed as evidence if you should ever be involved in a lawsuit. And it is just like having an eye witness right where you needed him the most at the scene of the crime. You can learn to love documentation.
What does proper documentation look like? It can be as simple as brief notes written journal style in a notebook that you keep just for that purpose. Date your entries. Note when you helped the contractor or a subcontractor yourself, or by loaning someone on your staff, or by loaning a piece of equipment. If the contractor or a subcontractor doesn't complete some piece of work you needed before you can begin in an area, note that and any effort you made to communicate your needs and what the other party's response was, if any. You get the idea. It is simple to do and may take only five or ten minutes at the end of the day. One final word on documentation. Any correspondence-including letters, memos, faxes and e-mail messages--can and should be part of your permanent record of the job. They are part of your proper documentation process and can be valuable in proving that you did what
20 MASONRY-NOVEMBER/DECEMBER, 1996