The Not-so Merry-go-round

My general superintendent asked us to come to our next meeting with a list of our strengths and weaknesses. So I started contemplating on what mine would be and discovered one blaring weakness that tends to be a strength, that tends to start the Not-so Merry-go round.

My weakness is that I expect that everyone is honest and hard working. I like to think that if I treat all my men like men and that if I respect them and their position and situations, then they'll respect me and earn their money instead of look for opportunities to screw me and milk the job. Unfortunately that isn't how it always happens. So I rely on my foreman to counterbalance any of my mis-judgements. Then I have to wonder (especially now that all my old guys are gone) if I correctly assessed them and their abilities enough to rely on their judgement. That's where the not-so merry-go-round begins.

My strength is that I expect that everyone is honest and hard working. Everyone gets a clean slate when they come on my job and everyone gets the benefit of the doubt. My men don't have to worry about being bird dogged and hopefully that helps them to relax and be more productive. Obviously I'm not always correct and therefore I return to the previous paragraph and begin the not-so merry-go-round.