MY NAME IS NELSOND72 AND I AM SOMEONE. In my 20+ years in the construction industry I have seen many changes come about, some good and some not so good. I have seen some people resist the change and others at the forefront of change leading the charge. I have seen some changes that have stayed while others went by the wayside. One thing holds true, when the majority believes in the change it will stay whether it is good or not. Not all changes are good some of the changes that happen are not for the betterment of the whole; many times they are only good for a small handful of individuals.
When I was a much younger person my Dad would tell me, “if you see that something needs to be done do it” don’t wait to be told to do it. He also told me that I shouldn’t have to be told that some things i.e. taking out the trash, washing the dishes, mowing the lawn, etc. It was explained to me that part of being a grown up, that I so desperately wanted to be, was being responsible and not having to be told what to do. My Dad has been gone for several years now but his words still resonate with me, for example I heard his reminder just yesterday.
As I was driving down the county road on my way in from work I came across an object laying squarely in the middle of the North bound lane that I was traveling in and I thought to myself that this could potentially cause an accident. So I looked in my review mirror, this is a busy road, to ensure there was no traffic behind me, pulled to the side of the road, turned on my hazard lights and proceeded to remove the large piece of drywall from the road. All the time I could hear my Dad saying, “If you can see something that needs to be done, do it” ringing in my head as loud as it was all those years ago. As I was pulling away another thought occurred to me, how many people had already traveled past that road hazard without removing it from the road? How many times had I done just the same thing because I was in a hurry or because I could safely navigate my way around it with no thought to anyone that was traveling behind me?
I often hear people say, “Someone should do that”. My question is “Am I Not Someone”? In my work life I hear Project Managers, Superintendents, General Foreman, Foreman, Safety People, Journeyman, etc. state that “Someone should do that”. In the beginning of my career, as a helper, I never heard “Someone should do that”. Even if they weren’t talking to me it was always a direct order, “You go do that or this” it was never a volunteer basis as “Someone should go do that” implies. When we say this not only do we recognize that a there is an action that needs to be performed but that it is not important enough to us to either do it ourselves or assign a person to do it.
Part of being a supervisor is directing what others do and at the same time as a good supervisor we lead from the front of the pack instead of behind the pack. If we expect others to take the initiative and perform task without being told to then we should be setting that example ourselves. Often times I see upper supervision walk right past a piece of trash or garbage on the ground and complain about the housekeeping issues but rarely do I see them reach down and pick the trash up. When our employees see us performing task such as picking up a piece of trash it sends a strong message to them. We are not saying that “Someone needs to do this”, we are doing this and if I can do it then so can you. Changing the culture of a company or industry starts with the people directly involved; if they are not bought in it will not succeed. So many different messages are sent when employees see that we are as engaged and invested in our company’s culture as we are asking them to be. Such a simple task as picking up trash from the site should not seem like such an enormous undertaking. For the most part everyone in our industry has two hands and if we reached down and picked up two items each just think of how clean our sites would be and the example that we would be setting for others. I understand that people are busy in their jobs and don’t always have time to run outside and pick up trash, this was just my example. I have decided that I am going to change the world, mine at least, and stop saying “someone”. I am going to either do the task myself or assign it to a specific person to complete. From this point forward I challenge everyone person that reads this to do two things. One, share this with as many people as possible. Do it electronically, verbally, write it in the sky with airplanes for all I care but share it with others. Two, be someone today. I challenge you to be that “Someone” in everything you do. When you go out there everyday remember that you are “Someone” and show that to each person that is out there on a daily basis. It will become a habit and you will begin to do it without thinking about it but be “Someone” today.
MY NAME IS NELSOND72 AND I AM “SOMEONE”
I am the original author of this article, it has been previously posted on LinkedIn