I like being a handyman. Put tools in my hands and give me a project and I am as happy as a pig in mud. There is a start and a finish point and when I’m all done I can stand back and admire what I’ve done. And make gorilla noises like Tim the Toolman. I think it’s a male thing.
The problem with being like this is that often I have a hard time asking/telling/delegating other people to do projects that need to be done. And as the boss, that’s not a good trait. Because I like to do “projects” it just seems easier to Do It Myself, rather than take the time to tell somebody what I want done and then check it over when they are done, only to have to fix something that they didn’t do the way I would have liked them to do it.
Yes, I know that the only way they will learn is to let them do it themselves. And part of my job is to be the teacher/mentor. Some days I do have the patience to guide them along. And other days I don’t.
But what frustrates me sometimes is my employees inability to see the obvious house keeping things that need to be done and just do it without being told.
There’s a coffee stain in the carpet – just get the spot cleaner and take care of it. There’s a huge dandelion growing by the front door – just get the magic weedpuller tool in the garage and make it go away. The empty boxes are piling up in the store room – just take them out to the dumpster. The air freshener gizmo is beeping – just go change the can. Sheese, it’s not that hard.
Sometimes it’s not in your job description, but cripe almighty, this is a small family business and we all need to pitch in. Yes, I know sometimes it is somebody else’s job and I (the boss) should tell them to do their job better. But instead of tattling to me that Susie didn’t get all the cobwebs or Fred didn’t fill out the form completely, just fix the problem first and we can deal with training issues at an appropriate time.
I’m Dale Clock. Thanks for listening.
Dale-Time 
Ah, I have been waiting all day for this moment after reading this earlier today.
I will comment with a story.
About five years ago, I fired our cleaning service because the were stealing stuff. When they left and took all their cleaning supplies, they dropped a can of Endust, on the grass, less than three feet from the entrance that all the employees use….at least twice a day, seven days a week.
I noticed it that afternoon and decided to see how long it would take for someone to pick it up. That year, we did a little over three hundred calls, so it’s not like we don’t have a good number of full & part time staff.
Six months later, on a morning that I was already grumpy about something else, I decided to make the point. We have a staff meeting everyday at 0800 where we make sure everyone knows what is going on and what is expected of them that day. We also use it for teaching moments.
I put the can on the table and asked if anyone had ever seen this?….no one did! When I explained where it came from and how long t was there, they looked at me like I was crazy.
The other thing is the ghosts we have at the funeral home. You know, the ones that get in the cars and back into things and the ones that, late at night, move caskets around the building, hitting doorways and walls, scuffing the caskets as they play into the wee hours of the morning. It must be ghosts because no one seems to ever know how the scratches, gouges and dents got there.
If owning your own business, everyone would do it.
You nailed it.
Ray,
I started this blog for comments like yours. To let you and me and hopefully other folks like us know that we’re not alone out there.
I too brought in the magic weed puller tool to a meeting a couple years ago and dropped it on the table and they all thought I was nuts.
I really love and care for my employees. But for years, when things were steady, we got in the habit of hiring people to do the everyday chores. Well the last few years have been tough. No raises, no bonuses, no extra people. So I have been doing lots of stuff myself; planting flowers, adding electrical outlets to the selection room, changing washers in the faucets and other stuff. The staff has finally taken notice and have been bringing in grubby clothes and taking on a few projects themselves. I thank them profusely and I hope it gives them the same sense of pride of ownership that I have.
Dale
Hey, Dale. I feel your pain. A way around this that worked in another firm was to give the clipboard to someone else from time to time. Assign a different staff member every week or two to walk around with a clipboard and make a list of things that need to be looked after. Then in a staff meeting you can divide out the items on the list according to skill level, etc. If the list is too long and nit-picky, you can just pick the best 5 or 10.
This way you get a fresher pair of eyes and you don’t have to be the nag all the time.
Good luck with your blog.
Paul