7-5-10 What's In A Job Description

I’ve been asked many times over the years --- what is it, exactly, that you do for a living? For executives, that can often be a tough question to answer. Depending on the day, the point in my career, and of course, my mood, the answer can range from --- “I sit in meetings for a living” to something like “I run the 737 strut factory”. But honestly, that doesn’t really describe what the executive does.

So after reflection, here’s my cut at a job description for the executive. As an executive, my job is to get the crap outta the way so that the people who do the “real work” can actually get their jobs done -- on time and correctly. Remember, in the past, I’ve said that I don’t buck the rivets that go into the airplane. I only help out those that do.

So what does “getting the crap outta the way” mean? Actually, it can mean anything, depending on your industry, company, organization, people and the circumstances. Here is an example of what it meant to me.

My very first factory assignment was as the general of a sheet metal organization. The area included a mixture of machines and bench work. It was in a VERY old building. And while the company tried very hard, in the summer, to keep the temps moderated, you can imagine how hot an old building can get in a Mid-Western summer.

One group of machines were called Modigs -- NC extrusion mills for building aircraft parts. The operators were skilled machinists that could frankly, make those pieces of equipment sing. The great thing about NC machines is that they can produce quality parts, reliably and quickly. But they don’t operate on their own. The machinist’s job required him (yes, in this industry, they are all guys) to be at the machine constantly. If he wasn’t there, it wasn’t running.

Picture 25 or so of these machines lined up down the floor of the factory. And then imagine how much heat the machines and their operations threw off. Yep, it got pretty darned warm in there during the summer.

Apparently in the past, the machine operators had asked for shop fans. These are large, industrial, pedestal-based fans. Those babies could move a bunch of air. Unfortunately, their past requests had been ignored.

In any new job, I would always spend the first few weeks listening -- to the managers, the mechanics, the support staff. In one of my walkabouts, the mechanics brought up the subject of fans. I was surprised to learn that they had asked for them repeatedly.

Honestly, it didn’t take much more that a few phone calls on my part and fans started coming into the shop. Within a couple of weeks, there was a fan pointing at each machine operator --- cooling him and making his job easier.

My reward? Well of course, happy employees --- which always results in higher output and higher quality. But the real reward is shown below.

As rewards go, original artwork by a talented mechanic is pretty darned good.  In fact, it just doesn’t get much better than this.

Cheers!