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What are the top 5 things a Survey Party Chief needs to know…
bill93 replied 2 years, 10 months ago 25 Members · 63 Replies
“I want things done my way.”
That is an important thing for a PC to remember. It isn’t generally their stamp. If they have a “better” way, they can offer it, but in the end they need to be able to do what and how they are instructed and do it in such a way that they don’t sabotage it because they don’t agree with the method.
One day at my previous employer, I went to the job site with the crew because I knew would be difficult. I gave specific instructions on how to proceed. When they got back, they hadn’t finished because they chose an “easier” path. They needed to cut line for half a day and finish it. and instead traversed around for a day and a half, then still had to cut line for half a day to get to the corner…like I knew would happen.
The PC was an experience guy, but he didn’t see the situation clearly. If he had done it my way and it had not worked out, it would have been MY fault we missed the budget…
When I was a PC there were all sorts of things that GPS would have been fine for, but one PLS didn’t trust it. Whether he was right or wrong, didn’t matter. He had to put his name and stamp on it, and he had to write the notes and narrative. I did it his way.
-All thoughts my own, except my typos and when I am wrong.- Posted by: @dmyhill
“I want things done my way.”
Id go so far as saying
” I expect and need it done my way…
…because my stamp isn’t a trivial thing nor are lawsuits,sanctions, and potentially going bankrupt”
I always understand that I work under the stamp, until someday I actually find the way to my own.
Its been a ridiculous challenge this far….
Don’t forget the tripod.
“I want things done my way.”
I think there is a fine line here. You want employees who are engaged at work, but if you rule with such a heavy hand that they don’t even have to think, well, then you’re going to be left with low-effort guys who are only there to punch a clock. Then again, maybe that’s all you need. I just know I’ve seen multiple posts around here about not being able to find quality help. If you treat guys like idiots then it doesn’t take rocket science to connect the dots between these things.
Good point. I like to discuss with the crew prior, and especially if they call me from the field saying that things might go better doing it a different way. I’m cool if it sounds like a good idea.
As said, trust and respect go both ways.
What I don’t want, similar to what I wrote above, is that something different was done, and they made a questionable decision, and I’m only finding out the next morning when I’m looking at their field data.
@norman-oklahoma
No lying…except we always made sure the construction workers thought we made way more and we made every effort to appear to be working far less. Made for a better relationship on the job site.
-All thoughts my own, except my typos and when I am wrong.Of course, but we were talking about what a PC needs, not what a PLS should be.
I do need people that are willing to submit to the instructions. Ideally, the person signing the product will teach and explain, and hopefully the PC will be able to understand the WHY. The key is that there are multiple ways to skin a cat (from what I hear). Being able to understand WHY and HOW isn’t the same as agreeing that it is best.
If a person can get over that hump of “Don’t tell me,” and if they can willing submit to the process, then they are useful to an organization and can be mentored. This is one reason I like to hire military guys. That experience appears to produce people that can be mentored.
I am not talking about heavy handed authoritarianism: you do not want people to make MISTAKES willingly, and that will happen in that case. You do not want people to turn off their brains.
An example is a PLS wanting an auto-level line run both ways through a traverse, while the PC knows that he is hitting the spec with his total station. The PC may see it as a waste of time, but the ability of the PLS to sleep at night knowing it is (done right) is not a waste of time.
Many times I have had a discussion where a guy doesn’t get it, but after a few times, maybe a few years, they understand why it is done a certain way. There is a reason we have experience requirements for a license. I know there are all sorts of things like that in my professional experience. I did something a number of times simply because I was told to, and it seems silly until the one in a hundred when it saves your butt.
This thread is discussing what a PC needs, but building trust and a mentor relationship between the PC and Project Surveyor is critical. It may go both ways (the mentoring) in many cases. That mentoring is the core of our professional tradition and history. There are very few survey courses in the country, of those, I am not aware of a single one that produces a surveyor. They produce Surveyors in Training. Honestly, I am not aware of a single one that I would put straight in the field as a PC, for that matter. The job of the PLS is to make sure those working under them have useful and growing experience, not experience in doing the same thing incorrectly 1000 times.
-All thoughts my own, except my typos and when I am wrong.Amen!
- Posted by: @bstrand
I think there is a fine line here. You want employees who are engaged at work, but if you rule with such a heavy hand that they don’t even have to think, well, then you’re going to be left with low-effort guys who are only there to punch a clock.
I’ve held a number of jobs in this business over the years. Had quite a few bosses. Every one had some unique ideas about how he wanted the work done. But only one actually clearly communicated just what those things were, and enforced them without mercy. All the rest where trial and error exercises to one degree or another. That one guy held onto his key staff for many years until he eventually sold the business to them. It is still going and growing 30 years later.
Finding stuff is more important than measuring stuff.
Batteries still hold a charge.
All TS are set to record in either meters or feet.
Whew! Some pretty deep thinkers.
1. Where to get the best ice cream sandwiches.
2. Don’t screw the help. Crew members or bartenders.
3. Don’t park the company truck in front of a bar.
4. It doesn’t matter what time you get off work, but get to the job by 8:00AM.
5.Party chief always drives the rig.
There’s a few more, but I don’t tell everything I know.
- Posted by: @skeeter1996
..3. Don’t park the company truck in front of a bar..
Back in the ’80s work dropped off significantly. We were scratching the dirt trying to come up with billable endeavors. Someone called my office to report one of our trucks was parked at a beer joint and I answered. My reply was, “Thank God they’re parked. For a minute I thought you were going to tell me they were driving around wasting gasoline..”
🙂
#5 is flat out wrong. I pretty much stopped driving once I had a second to do the task.
-All thoughts my own, except my typos and when I am wrong.Agree. I can use the drive time more productively if I’m not driving, if for nothing else to just decompress. If the PC insists on driving we may have a PC who is just a little too controlling.
@norman-oklahoma
If the second worked hard at construction staking or whatever, I would reward them with a nap on the way home while I drove, but usually they are young guys that like to drive. I used to cause concern for guys that are awake when I drive, so they usually embraced the task.
One guy I scared to death the first day, he always offered to drive afterwards.
-All thoughts my own, except my typos and when I am wrong.I strove to drive from my fear of the moron brothers who claimed that they grew up driving baja like in southern California….and we’re the two most destructive employees the company ever had….I often reminded my parents that if I was killed in a truck accident and either one of the two idiots was driving It was absolutely their fault.
I had one second that could never find his way back to the office after the job. I would be sending emails, or playing angry birds and look up and we would be going the opposite direction. He didn’t come across as low IQ, but he struggled. I always wondered how he got to work in the morning.
-All thoughts my own, except my typos and when I am wrong.As long as he stayed out of jail, showed up ready to work can’t be too hard on him…. ????
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