IN THE TRENCHES: Common sense in short supply these days
IN THE TRENCHES: Common sense in short supply these days
Major League Baseball is heading into the best part of its season, as the race for playoff positions gets more competitive. Knowing that I am a baseball fanatic, my wife ordered the MLB cable television package, and I'm now in baseball heaven.
I must admit to being a channel surfer, as I switch from one station to another to try to keep pace with every ball game. We have one of those giant flat screen TVs on the wall, and it actually makes you feel as if you are at the ballpark.
While watching one of the games, I couldn't believe my eyes when a player committed a huge base-running error. There were runners on first and second with two outs when the batter hit a ball that dropped in front of the right fielder. The runners advanced to the next base and held up as the fielder rifled the ball into second base, but the batter kept running with his head down and wound up at second base with a runner already there. Duh, hello! The batter was easily tagged out to end the inning, and the team later went on to lose the game by one run.
What was the batter thinking? Here is a guy getting paid millions of dollars. Stupid plays like this cause most managers to bang dents in the clubhouse wall with their heads.
I'm speaking about common sense here. Some people leave home without it, just like this particular ballplayer. They start out in the right direction, but seem to veer off into the pinhead zone, where common sense is dropped off along the way like clothing at the cleaners.
Work habits have changed and some people are just not thinking right as they go through each day. To get a better idea of this, look around and you'll cringe as numbskull incidents happen in every business office, store, warehouse, airport, restaurant or event.
Have we created a work force that thinks less due to cutbacks? It seems exactly that way in the more stressful business world today. Like the player in that ball game, we often overrun our targets. At work, some people do first and think last.
Although produce is a fast-paced industry and all about doing, there are times when each of us has to cover so many bases that it's almost impossible to concentrate on any one assignment. There are a multitude of meetings to attend, phone calls to take, people to see, decisions to make, trucks to chase down and families to raise. Doing all this with lightening speed is the going trend these days.
Here is a zany example of the hurry-up-get-out-of-my-way business world we are all in today. But before I begin, you need to understand that I'm not alone when it comes to these everyday occurrences.
One morning, after answering several e-mail messages from my clients, I was eager to get out of my office and get to the airport to catch a flight. As usual, time was of the essence. I grabbed my luggage, laptop, cell phone, wallet and sunglasses. In a rush, I was out the door, in the car and on my way to the airport.
But hold everything! Here comes the part where I entered the pinhead zone. After driving five miles, I reached for my cell phone to call my client and was stunned as I looked down and saw, low and behold, the TV remote sitting in my hand. I was in such a big hurry with "doing first" and "thinking last that this incident caused me to turn around, go back to retrieve my cell phone and miss the plane.
Being in a hurry is not always the reason for buffoonery. In another episode, I was in a supermarket with the owner simply observing the produce operation. As we were in a deep discussion, I couldn't help but notice that one of the clerks was walking back and forth carrying one box of cherries at a time from the back room to the sales floor display. When it was suggested that he use a pushcart and make one trip, his response was, "Oh yeah. I didn't think of that.
Think that's bad? Last year while inspecting produce quality in a warehouse with a buyer, I saw a selector picking an order of watermelons one at a time. When I asked the buyer why they don't just ship them by the bin, he said, "We always did it this way.
Examples like these are happening right before our very eyes, and it isn't pretty. Some companies and people simply do not use common sense. So, what's the solution? Obviously, we're not going to slow down from our hurry-up syndrome or get any additional labor. The answer still sits in the laps of management.
The biggest problem is not only with common sense alone but also with management not recognizing it quickly enough. Too often, top executives become brain dead by paying more attention to controlling yesterday's problems rather than coaching people not to overrun the bases of today's business.
If you're in management, you need to recognize and bust your butt to make things simpler for people in order to move the company forward. By doing this, you will frequently hit a home run and prevent base-running hazards.
(Ron Pelger is the owner of RONPROCON, a consulting firm for the produce industry. He can be reached by phone at 775/853-7056, by e-mail at [email protected], or check his web site at www.power-produce.com.)
I must admit to being a channel surfer, as I switch from one station to another to try to keep pace with every ball game. We have one of those giant flat screen TVs on the wall, and it actually makes you feel as if you are at the ballpark.
While watching one of the games, I couldn't believe my eyes when a player committed a huge base-running error. There were runners on first and second with two outs when the batter hit a ball that dropped in front of the right fielder. The runners advanced to the next base and held up as the fielder rifled the ball into second base, but the batter kept running with his head down and wound up at second base with a runner already there. Duh, hello! The batter was easily tagged out to end the inning, and the team later went on to lose the game by one run.
What was the batter thinking? Here is a guy getting paid millions of dollars. Stupid plays like this cause most managers to bang dents in the clubhouse wall with their heads.
I'm speaking about common sense here. Some people leave home without it, just like this particular ballplayer. They start out in the right direction, but seem to veer off into the pinhead zone, where common sense is dropped off along the way like clothing at the cleaners.
Work habits have changed and some people are just not thinking right as they go through each day. To get a better idea of this, look around and you'll cringe as numbskull incidents happen in every business office, store, warehouse, airport, restaurant or event.
Have we created a work force that thinks less due to cutbacks? It seems exactly that way in the more stressful business world today. Like the player in that ball game, we often overrun our targets. At work, some people do first and think last.
Although produce is a fast-paced industry and all about doing, there are times when each of us has to cover so many bases that it's almost impossible to concentrate on any one assignment. There are a multitude of meetings to attend, phone calls to take, people to see, decisions to make, trucks to chase down and families to raise. Doing all this with lightening speed is the going trend these days.
Here is a zany example of the hurry-up-get-out-of-my-way business world we are all in today. But before I begin, you need to understand that I'm not alone when it comes to these everyday occurrences.
One morning, after answering several e-mail messages from my clients, I was eager to get out of my office and get to the airport to catch a flight. As usual, time was of the essence. I grabbed my luggage, laptop, cell phone, wallet and sunglasses. In a rush, I was out the door, in the car and on my way to the airport.
But hold everything! Here comes the part where I entered the pinhead zone. After driving five miles, I reached for my cell phone to call my client and was stunned as I looked down and saw, low and behold, the TV remote sitting in my hand. I was in such a big hurry with "doing first" and "thinking last that this incident caused me to turn around, go back to retrieve my cell phone and miss the plane.
Being in a hurry is not always the reason for buffoonery. In another episode, I was in a supermarket with the owner simply observing the produce operation. As we were in a deep discussion, I couldn't help but notice that one of the clerks was walking back and forth carrying one box of cherries at a time from the back room to the sales floor display. When it was suggested that he use a pushcart and make one trip, his response was, "Oh yeah. I didn't think of that.
Think that's bad? Last year while inspecting produce quality in a warehouse with a buyer, I saw a selector picking an order of watermelons one at a time. When I asked the buyer why they don't just ship them by the bin, he said, "We always did it this way.
Examples like these are happening right before our very eyes, and it isn't pretty. Some companies and people simply do not use common sense. So, what's the solution? Obviously, we're not going to slow down from our hurry-up syndrome or get any additional labor. The answer still sits in the laps of management.
The biggest problem is not only with common sense alone but also with management not recognizing it quickly enough. Too often, top executives become brain dead by paying more attention to controlling yesterday's problems rather than coaching people not to overrun the bases of today's business.
If you're in management, you need to recognize and bust your butt to make things simpler for people in order to move the company forward. By doing this, you will frequently hit a home run and prevent base-running hazards.
(Ron Pelger is the owner of RONPROCON, a consulting firm for the produce industry. He can be reached by phone at 775/853-7056, by e-mail at [email protected], or check his web site at www.power-produce.com.)
