April 3, 2022

So what is the main thing about leadership? I’m connected to many on LinkedIn who are digital. I have a brief story from this week, leading my seriously downsized business in what I would call litter-al.

We have a contract to renovate 5 houses where maintenance habits have slipped. Nothing major in that; it’s what we do.

Whilst training our latest recruit I decided to demonstrate that I wouldn’t ask him to do anything I expect him to do.  Nothing happens much for the first few hours until I show him how to regrout the bathroom tiles. We both stand in the bath and get going, when we are suddenly confronted by an unholy odour.  “Something’s died,” he says.  We both look down.  At the same time we both say “under the bath”.  Silence……………

Yep, you’ve got it; I lead from the front. I ask my new recruit to stand back as I unscrew the bath panel………………………. Sometime later (about 4 seconds to be precise), we see the problem. A rat lair.

I can only say that the picture paints itself although I won’t be looking to market the scratch-and-sniff card anytime soon. The odour, once the panel was removed was 5 times as strong.  I won’t need to trim the nasal hairs for a while as the deposits (you know what I mean) removed all traces instantly.

It was a lot.  A lot. a lot.

So I get the PPE on and clear underneath.  Hands and knees stuff.  Shovels and brooms stuff.

Normally if I come home with some debris attached, I have to change downstairs and put everything in the wash and run upstairs in boxer shorts to quickly shower.  This time we burned my clothes and I slept in the spare room, it was that bad.  The last bit isn’t true….

What did I earn from today?

1. Did leading show my new recruit how I will do anything he would have to do? No; because he wouldn’t do it.
2. Did leading show humility and grace; No

What did it show?

1. Sometimes as the leader, there are things only you can do.  Because no one else will.
2. You find that other businesses’ shoddy work is increased business for you. Great for you but not for the client. We charged for time, materials and the absolute horror of the work.  The client understood that and appreciated the fee.
3. I know now that the shoddy work is rectified once and for all.  Quality has returned.  No more rodents.  Let’s not forget why the rats had inhabited the bath area.
4. The holes cut through the wall were not sealed with either cement or gap filler.
5. The holes from the bath panel pipe cuts were wide and left room for the vermin to enter the property through the bathroom.
6. The pipes propped up with bricks gave way under rodent weight and then became misaligned and leaked.
7. The overflow pipe was too short and had water under the bath.

4. As a 100% customer-focused leader the simple truth of it is that the client now has the deposits removed, the space disinfected, the plumbing fixed and the holes plugged.

Where do I get my satisfaction from?

1.  No one will ever see under that bath.  But I know the problem is truly fixed.
2. I have prevented a problem from becoming an infestation, which may have led to all manner of environmental issues.
3. We saw a problem that wasn’t ‘on the list’ and dealt with it whilst we were there. Saving callout time to the client.
4. We dealt with the cause and not just the outcome.

I didn’t really choose to do the horrible work. I just put the customer first.