To Be of Use
Instead of thinking add value or value added, think: to be of use.
Isn’t the concept of adding value just about the most overused saying in the Universe? And what does it mean anyway? Does it mean that the value you were providing in the first place isn’t good enough. And how can you even get your mind around it without thinking about an extra large Coke and fries? Okay, lets let the corporate types keep the value phrase and sayings and try to get our minds around something that makes sense: to be of use.
Here is a simple way to determine if you are of use to your company. If you had to miss a couple of weeks, would your manager miss you? And herein lies the secret. You want your manager to consider you of such use, that if you were to miss that much work, he would wail like a banshee, gnash his teeth like a maimed-monster and vomit violently.
It doesn’t matter what role you fill either. You could be a top technician or a parts truck driver. The key is to do your job so well you will be of use.
Forget the fries, forget the Coke (We haven’t spoken about nutrition around here, have we? We will), think in terms of to be of use, and you will.
Living in More Than One World
I read like a fiend…books, magazines, newspapers and online. But The Technician Shop is not about me. As much as I’d like to shout out what I’ve read, for the most part I will not*. Technicians are inundated with information. Maybe more like bombarded. I am most sensitive to the time you have for personal development. So when I recommend a book or resource, it’s with this in mind. The books I do recommend will be bite sized and easy to read, or I’ll point to certain parts of a book that are relevant to you.
Today, I’m recommending the whole darn book. Living in More Than One World by Bruce Rosenstein. Bruce’s book is based upon the teachings of perhaps the greatest management teacher of all time, Peter Drucker. Living in More Than One World is all about you, not your manager (though it would be to him in his own sense).
Bruce’s book is centralized around what he calls a total life, which consists of family, friends, work, education, associates and affiliation groups. What caught my eye is how this philosophy parallels what I described in It’s All About You.
In an interview with Bruce, Peter Drucker described people who were satisfied and content as those who lived in more than one world. A quick view of the book’s chapters will provide more clarity:
- Designing your total life
- Developing your core competencies
- Creating your future
- Exercising your generosity
- Teaching and learning
- Launching your journey
Early on in the book you will note that Bruce writes this book for knowledge workers, a term that Drucker coined back in the 1950′s. Here is his definition:
People who work with what they know and can learn and who thus own and control their own means of production. Their knowledge is portable and not dependent on any particular employer or industry.
You might have heard that knowledge workers are white collar workers. They are, but technicians who are frequently described as blue 
collar workers, also fall into this class. Maybe even more so, as continuing education is almost mandatory for technicians who must engage their minds before they can engage their hands.
Living in More Than One World is an excellent, MUST read book! By the way, Bruce’s book is hot off the press. Recommend a copy to your coworkers and manager.
*I have read extensively on marketing, writing, design, management, personal branding and leadership and would be happy to recommend books, learn your point of view or trade information away from this forum if you’re interested.
Image by NASA / Goddard Space Flight Center
Inner Excellence
What in the world is inner excellence? In order to learn about inner excellence, I need you to do me one favor. Please turn me off for a moment. Inner excellence is all about you. Although it will have an effect on family, bosses, coworkers, associates, vendors and everyone who you come in contact with, it really is only about you.
If you have the least amount of inkling to improve your lot in life, your career, your work and education, it starts with inner excellene. If you desire to be better than you are now, it will start with inner excellence. Here are a few examples:
You just finished up a job and cleaned up the work site. You’re about to leave the area when you notice a pile of dirt a few feet away. Due to its location, no one would ever equate this dirt with your work. You decide to clean it up anyway. This is inner excellence.
You worked on new technology today. You went home that night and spent fifteen minutes on the Internet looking it up and reading more about it. This is inner excellence.
You have decided to be a go to technician and outlined a small plan that will take less than twenty minutes a day to get there. This is inner excellence.
Once you begin to pay attention to inner excellence you’ll notice it taking on a life of its own. Its voice will get stronger. It will simply not let you walk by that pile of dirt, it will encourage you to develop and to be the best you can possibly be.
How Does Your Passion Play Out?
Let’s say you have a passion to work on certain kinds of systems. But the company that you work for doesn’t work on these systems. Or your company does service them, but you aren’t quite qualified or experienced enough to work on them.
For you to experience satisfaction, you’ll need to break down what it is that you love and see if there are other types of work in your company where it will apply. This will require a focused discussion with your manager. If you are not experienced, you’ll need to put a concentrated effort into building the experience and education to eventually work on it.
Along the way, most technicians have had some sort of discussion with their manager as to what they love to do. Problems arise when:
- the technician doesn’t get to do anything close to what he loves
- work assignments start off in this direction but fall by the wayside
- the technician doesn’t maintain communication with his manager to stay on track with desired assignments
- the manager doesn’t communicate with others to keep (or try) the technician focused on work he loves
- the manager is indifferent and does not take the technician’s desires seriously
Be Realistic
If you love to work on a certain piece of equipment and your company services two of them, it’s not realistic to expect your company to suddenly bring on a hundred more pieces just because it wants to help you with work you love. When equating passion with work, it’s best to look at it through a broad lens. You like to work with your hands, you like work that is challenging, you like to work with customers etc. Do you get to do this or not?
The key to going down this road is to identify what you love and to go in that direction with your manager’s help. It’s your responsibility to keep it on track. Make sure you place yourself in a position to do the work in the first place and maintain vigilant communication with your manager to keep you moving in the right direction.
Who You Gonna Call?
Your company has had two different technicians out to take care of a customer’s problem. They can’t. Your manager tells Sue to get Bob on site right away. Why Bob? Because Bob is the go-to-guy. Bob makes problems go away.
Do you think Bob is valuable to your manager and company? And if someone is valuable to you, would you take extra special care of him? I am thinking you’d pay attention to this person’s needs. Is he getting:
- the proper education
- the right tools
- a decent amount of time off
- proper wages and benefits
- your (the manager’s) cooperation
- important resources
- help with relationships
- access to inside company or industry goings-on
So, doesn’t it make sense to get into a position like Bob’s?
You don’t have to be a senior technician to be a go-to guy. Your manager needs go-to people at every level. Your manager needs someone who he can depend on and someone who cares enough to do the job the right way. A key to filling this position is to be continually improving. Always try to make yourself better.
You need resources, education, tools etc., to develop and grow. Your manager needs someone who he can depend on and get the job done right. Isn’t this all about finding out what the other needs and then trying to give it to them? You bet!
So, when they gonna call you?
