Some Conclusions About My Job

Friday, April 15, 2016
Some Conclusions About My Job
This is a very rough draft written for the most part (as always) to gain perspective and clear my own head. It is not written to make sense to anyone but me really, so there's intentionally no systematic punctuation or capitalization in here
oh well

So here we go
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this is a difficult job
it may not be the job for you
it certainly isn't the job for most people
it is a test of character on a daily basis often times
it is demanding more than it is rewarding most often
it requires persons who can take stock in personal satisfaction as their reward more than most any other reward they might think should be had
it is a difficult virtue to find in most people
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personal ownership of the job at hand must be the nature of any individual that takes on the role of the scheduler at rhino
it can be both burdensome and liberating that what to expect and what is expected at rhino are not things that have ever clearly defined, and certainly not at the outset
it can be a very confusing state of being if you are not comfortable, confident, or competent enough to work within those non-parameters
expectations...
they are not directly stated
they are not written anywhere
they never have been
they never will be
every individual must decide on their own what they expect from rhino, and what they believe rhino should expect from them
[longevity and sanity in this case requires a great sense of self and one's individual limits
more than any other job i have ever experienced, this is a recurring test of character and strength]
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so success and failure will not be found in some measure or mark as such
they are for the most part simply matters of personal perspective
thus every individual must take stock of what they are realistically able to offer in order to be fair to both themselves and rhino
every person must take ownership of their responsibilities and role within that process in order to ensure that it functions well and if it doesn't it is not for lack commitment and follow through
this in itself is a difficult and probably an impossible task at the outset since a realistic picture of what this job is and requires cannot be had without experiencing it

there is no shame in leaving having reached the conclusion that this is not be the job for you
there is a great deal of shame in concluding it and remaining
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whatever the case, we are all here by our own choosing and it is our choosing to stay as well
since have chosen to stay then here are some things, i have found over the years, that i believe are very important to know and consider about this industry and this job if we are to be in it for any length of time in this capacity and especially at rhino...
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by virtue of the sheer volume of time sensitive tasks required to function effectively the job as a whole can be overwhelming without those defined expectations, both individually and as a team
each individual task involved is in itself never all that difficult
however we are not [seemingly] afforded the liberty or luxury of dealing with individual tasks, one by one
any monkey could do that
we however must do them all, seemingly at once

we must do them timely, thoroughly and accurately
we must do them, and do them well
teamwork is how the only way they can be done that way

here's my two cents on that:

- do not over complicate things, confusing what must be done necessarily with what you might like to do ideally, thus making a simple tasks insurmountable problems
    - assess and define what must necessarily be done to resolve a problem and don't be distracted into doing peripheral unimportant things instead

- with experience you should attain the ability foresee and to avoid potential complications
    - until then, listen to and trust those who have attained that experience as those who are teaching the methods to reach the best possible outcome

- ask questions and listen to the answers, retain them
    - don't ask questions you could answer on your own, it's a waste of time and deprives you of a learning opportunity

- take time to focus on individual tasks in order to see them through to completion
    - don't believe that you will remember or will have more time later than you have now to do them

- prioritize!
    - do now what must be done now, do later what can be done later
    - there are things that will only get done if you do them and things which will get done because they must, do what only you can do, what you have committed to doing
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it is said that every industry is a service industry
so it is with rhino since service is at the very crux of everything we do
we do not produce a tangible product
people are our product
it is what clients are looking for when they hire us
it is what crews are looking for when they get hired by us
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if people are our product then it is our responsibility, to both our clients and our crew, to produce quality product
this is what we do, even if we only do it for ourselves, it will benefit everyone in the end
time will prove this trust me

to produce quality people, we must be quality people
we are the leaders, so we must be the examples
we set the tone, we define expectations
we manage time and resources in unimaginable magnitude for most people i would imagine
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the nature of our crews (and sometimes clients) is very transient in nature
crews are not the 9-5 type of people who hold steady long term jobs with the expectation of steady work and pay
so we should not expect or treat them as though they were
crews and clients will come and go no matter how well we do our jobs, or how much we pay /bill anyone
this coming and going will happen if people feel undervalued or feel they are lacking in personal/professional growth, regardless of the occupation
the level at which any one person may feel undervalued, underappreciated or lacking in growth varies greatly between individual expectations and maturity
it is up to us to do our best (whatever that may look like at any given time) to express our value and appreciation of both our crews and clients
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our industry is made and broken by virtue of relationships and reputation
relationships are built on trust
relationships are maintained through honest communications, follow through on commitment, and mutual (if not undeserved at times) respect.

we must maintain integrity in our words and actions, holding a higher standard of ourselves than other may hold themselves to
we cannot lower the bar for our own standards by contrasting it to those standards which others may choose for themselves
thus is imperative that we treat people with the expectation that they will do their best, and have done their best, but we should never assume the worst of anyone without certainty that it is warranted, ever

if their best isn't enough to warrant continuing the relationship we should have guilt in ending it, but should do so with (again) honesty and integrity
this applies to firing and employee or declining to work for a client, but we must ensure that fault is not found in us for that decline, as much as we can

we will at times fail, but we should always try to be fair if not generous in our dealings with either clients or crew, by virtue of our communications and actions

keep this in mind always, if you don't have integrity you don't have anything that's worth having
live it

we are the rudders of these relation-ships and they will move in the direction which we steer them,
however intentional or unintentionally that may be
so how do we must decide how it is we intentionally steer these ships in turbulent waters, as is often the case during our busy seasons.
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although, as previously stated, there has been no defined expectation for or from us individually there is a very clear expectation of us collectively
there are clear bench marks of success or failure as a result of our collective performance
to perform well as a collective, we must then function as a collective
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if the strength of the team lies in the individual so too the strength of the individual lies in the team
we are a team, so we must function as such
every member of the team must own their individual roles and commitments, to make the collective successful
just as the team must own those collective roles and commitments, to make the individual successful as well
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if we win, we will win as a team
if we lose, we will lose as a team

that's how it must be seen because that's how it works...
... or not
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