Bridging the office-field gap can transform operations
The plumber that my dad hired came up the basement steps slowly, shaking his head (for dramatic effect, I thought). He sat at the kitchen table and let out a long, loud exhale. He spent the next few minutes working on his calculator. He started to speak but then hesitated and chuckled quietly. Whatever he was preparing my dad for, it certainly wasn’t good news. He made that clear.
As he was explaining the work that needed to be done, he was sure to use technical terms and trade lingo to try to make my father feel stupid and incapable of challenging him. Not all tradesmen do this, but I’ve seen my fair share. There’s a natural conflict between laborer and contractor—in other words, the one who knows what needs to be done and the one who will pay for it or greenlight the work. However, my dad was a metallurgist and quite adept at technical language and jargon. To level the playing field, he asked a few field-savvy questions. The plumber moved his glasses to his forehead and sighed, never letting on that he was rattled but reining in the challenge. His client was no fool. He looked disappointed. I thought Dad was quietly heroic. I was only 10 then, but I remember the lesson. In a battle of unspoken words, the less said, the better, and the quality of what is said speaks volumes about the inevitable chess-game moves.
