KUDOS to The Good Management Teams!

OR

How sad is it when such managers as the latter are so rare that they really stand out from their peers?

On the other hand, it's made me remember that yes I have been blessed to have had two jobs where exceptional was the norm.

One was Strata Corporation out of Grand Forks, North Dakota; the other was Johnny Nolon's Casino in Cripple Creek, Colorado.

I ran into Jim Bradshaw and Gerald Brorby quite a while before I ever even thought about going to work for Strata and had no idea in this world who they were at the time.

I was working for a different contractor on some of the grade raises (trying to keep the roads above water level) that were going on all around Devils Lake (ND) back in the crazy days. On that day I happened to be flagging at my favorite spot - the junction of 19 and 281 (completely submerged now). The junction was a T then, with the lake all around it and construction contractors working like crazy all over the place. Needless to say, alternative routes to the town of Devils Lake were at that time highly recommended by everyone.

*laughing*

I'm going to write a book about life in the construction zone one of these days.

At any rate, here comes a vehicle with two men in it. They stop and ask me how to get into Devils Lake.

Now maybe there's something in that name, I don't know, but my only excuse for what I answered is that the devil made me do it.

I asked the driver, a distinguished looking man with an aura of authority about him, to clarify his question for me.

'You want to get into Devils Lake?'

A sideways glance at his companion, an older man who sat quietly in the passenger seat taking it all in.

'Yes, how can we get into Devils Lake from here?'

'You sure you want to get into Devils Lake?'

A puzzled frown, perhaps a bit impatient.

'Yes, we want to go into Devils Lake.'

So I gestured at the water on all sides of our little junction. Water on both sides of the roads that met to make the T junction. 

'Well, there it is. There, and there, and there, and there, and there.'

A bit of a deeper frown.

'Jump in!' I said, explaining. 'It's right there. All of this is Devils Lake. If you want to get into Devils Lake, all you have to do is jump in.'

Dead silence. 

Long stare.

Then, from the passenger seat, a snort of a chuckle.

A disbelieving look from the driver, then a grin.

Smiling now, I gave them directions to the easiest way to get into town from where we were. It wasn't a short cut because there weren't any short cuts, no quick or easy way to get into town from our junction, not then. 

And off they went.

Someone came over and asked me what I had said to them so I told them that they wanted to know how to get into Devils Lake and I'd told them to jump in.

Can't remember who it was any more, but whoever it was turned a little green and stared at me.

'Do you know who that was?'

'No.'

'You just told the owner of Strata and his right hand man to jump in the lake, Shiela.'

'Oh. Well they laughed.'

I still get a chuckle out of thinking about that day, I tell you true.

The point for sharing that little story is that Jim Bradshaw and Gerald Brorby were on that day doing what they do. They were out there - watching, paying attention, being on site, gauging the overall situation hands on, seeing for themselves what the conditions were that their teams were up against in the battle between the roads and the lake. They were not there to look for ways to criticize their teams but to find out what they could provide said teams with in order to help them get the job done. Years of experience were in that vehicle. They knew what they were seeing and what it would take to win that battle. They were not there to second-guess their team leaders; they were there to back them up and to lend their own eyes and experience to the equation.

I didn't know any of that at the time but I found out later for myself when I went to work for them.

The other employer that ranks right up there at the top of the list is Johnny Nolon's.

When I started working for them my home was three hours and fifteen minutes away. I had to drive around Pike's Peak, down 25 to Pueblo, and then along the Arkansas River on 50 to get to work and back. That's the longest commute I've had I think. A construction project on hwy 85 out by Grassy Butte might have come close.

Anyway, for the purpose of this post it is the commute that comes into play. That, and the fact that my vehicles weren't always the most reliable in the world.

More than once I had to find a way to call them and tell them that I was stranded somewhere or other along the route. Their response? 'Stay right there, we're on the way.'

Commutes and vehicles aside, there was something else I had cause to appreciate about Johnny Nolon's.

When my numbers were coming out all weird at the end of some of my shifts, they didn't assume I couldn't do the job. They looked, using the numerous cameras, for what was going on. They found the problem and fixed it; then explained it to me. Someone had been 'helping' me ... in a way that wasn't exactly helpful and with intentions that weren't benevolent. That person found a job someplace else.

There are lots and lots more stories about both places, which I will no doubt get around to writing one of these days.

So, while I've had my share of working with less than perfect management, which is not a joy, at least I know for a fact that yes the good teams exist and they are a joy to work with!