Managing Expectations

Today again I am writing very late. As a matter of fact it is my lunch time, about 2:30 east coast time. I have spent four hours this morning dealing with employee issues, some of them that are not paticularly mine but that I needed to lend assistance to.

The Camp as you know is expanding, fast. Faster in fact then the flow of construction supplies can handle. The Camp Manager has put a hold on any new employees coming until more bed space can be produced. In an effort to produce more bed space, consolodation continues of the people and their sleeping arrangements.

Where there are bunkbeds, there must be one person on the top and one on the bottom. Nobody wants to sleep on top and many people dont want somone sleeping above them so issues arrise each time the camp does bed checks and begins to rearrange things. Bunk beds become single beds. Mattresses from the top bunks disapear. People don't move when they are supposed to. Any means to avoid the inevitable happens.

We even have the cultural issues. In the States, and in my opinion, anywhere it would be consuidered racism. Now it is most prvelant between the ExPAt (American) and all others but it is within each group. We are not the melting pot that you would think and each culture prefers to be with those that are the same as them. We even have two men from Fiji and they want to be together.

So many issues begin to weigh in to the consolidation and here is where my involvement today comes in. The Drivers all need to be inthe same tent by close of business today. To me, and with all of my experience with Truck Drivers this is a bad idea. But anyway, the Camp Manager made a descision and my responsibility is to make sure it happens. So with announcement being made in the morning meeating to my men the hailstorm of questions, comments, and explatives comes forth.

This resulted in a meeting with the Camp Manager. So shortly after the morning O&M meeting in to the meeting with the Drivers. All of the worries that I described above come out. What about this and what about that. I won't sleep on the top bunk and what about all of my stuff that won't fit in the space if there are two men. Every reason why it should't happen was expressed up until the Camp Manager expressed his opinions. "I hear what you are saying. I understand. But as Mike has described to you the reasons why we have to do this, you will still need to be moved over to the tent by close of business today".

So with that said, the Drivers left, content with what they needed to do. Unfortunately almost within two minutes I was called back into the office to deal with an issue that should not have involved me but because a disgruntled employee wants to come to my department I was called in. See there are issues between the Boss and the employee. Issues that in my opinion go pretty deep and I believe that the employee is afraid of getting fired by a Bss that is way to high strung and angery about everything.

So for another hour and fifteen minutes myself, the Camp Manager and these two men sat and discussed the issues at hand. One man not fullfilling his responsibilities as an employe and another who treats his men a little to strongly. This is not exactly what I signed up for, but I guess duty calls also. In the end we were able to get the men to come to an agreement. We set some expectations for each of them and I assured the employee that they could not come to my Department and that he would need to perform the job duties as he was assigned.

So this morning was filled with dealing with the littel things in a sense. In some ways the things that can not be managed in the traditional sense. Human emotions, desires, wants and needs, steriotypes and predudices. These things need to be handled differently by setting an expectation for behavior, for the job or the task. By setting an expectation as to what can and can't be said on the job and then manageing to that expectation. In this way you make a common level. Something that no matter what or who is looking at it will be able to tell what they need to do.

God does this for us as he has given us His Word, His expectations for our conduct. You may not like the standards but He has set them and explained them clearly to you. You may not like the way He manages them but He is the one in charge, He is the Boss. You may not like the outcome of not living to the standards that He has set, but He has told you up front the consequences of not adheareing to the standards.

As with all of these employee issues, the opinions and the prejudice. The fellings and the failings. In the end there is a basic expectation set by God that we are to follow. It is your choice to live to those expectations or not.

Lord, be here at his Camp in the hearts of these men and woman who struggole daily with our difficulties of life. Allow me to deal with those in my charge and to be consistant in setting and manageing the expectations for this Department. Allow those out there who don't know you to understand that you have also set expectations for all men and that you manage to those expectations. Let them know you and follow you.