This article Reprinted from Western Roofing magazine, March/April 2007, Volume 30, number 2

Mobile Management

Management By Walking Around & What it Means for You

by Chris Margarites, technical director, EternaBond

(Editor’s Note: Chris Margarites has been climbing on roofs since 1975. He started as a repair technician, was named service manager, and then became a partner of a contracting firm. He later sold that company and started Eternabond with an idea to create a product that would make a roofing technician’s job easier, the customer’s repair more permanent, and the company profitable. Margarites may be reached at (888) 336-2663.)

When the building that my company occupies is in need of any electrical changes or repairs, we use the services of an electrician. The electrician, “Joe,” is technically a very good electrician and a real friendly fellow, but he is not very efficient at his job. Having had the opportunity to watch Joe at work, I have seen that his work habits tend to be self-defeating. If he is not forgetting a part, he is missing a tool. And if he is missing a tool, it is usually because he intentionally left it on another job thinking he wouldn’t need it, a poor and expensive decision on Joe’s part.

Being self-employed, Joe’s poor decision-making habits are a huge disadvantage to being able to grow his business. And because Joe is his own boss, he lacks a manager to point out the areas in which he needs to improve and help him break those habits. If you, like Joe, are a business owner or a manager, there is no doubt some of your employees have work habits that could use improvement. As their manager, what are you doing about it?

If your answer leans in the direction of ‘not much I can do,’ here is a simple management system solution that you can implement immediately that can result in your business being more profitable, your managers more effective, your employees more efficient and your customers more willing to remain your customers. It is called MBWA, or “Management By Walking Around.”

Management by walking around is exactly what the name implies. It is the act of visiting your employees, wherever they may be, and inspecting how they work and their work habits, good and bad. Doing so enables you to reinforce the good and eliminate the bad through spotlighting their bad habits and re-training them by being in the exact right place at the exact right time to give them clear direction, positive encouragement and, if necessary, just telling them directly that you do not want to see a particular act anymore.

MBWA is wonderful for managers who are actively engaged in the day-to-day activities of the business. It works best when you or your managers have made a commitment to spend a dedicated amount of time with the employees or in various areas of the business each day. When walking around, look for opportunities to polish your employees’ work habits and methods. Look for opportunities to share your knowledge with a less experienced co-worker. If you are accessible and there to help them, you will receive input and feedback from them that you probably would not have received otherwise. The MBWA approach allows you to see everything going on and it allows you to listen directly to the employees.

When I was a service manager, the first area I assessed for efficiency in the field was whether the technicians surveyed jobs properly. Efficient technicians were forward-thinking and prepared, had the proper tools, materials, and equipment to do the work at hand, and were mentally prepared for potential issues. If a technician was ill prepared, too much time was spent running back and forth to the truck for materials.

If a technician demonstrated a lack of planning, I addressed the situation by asking thoughtful questions such as, “What are you trying to accomplish? What will you need to accomplish that? What are the potential problems that are likely to arise? If one does arise, what will you need to remedy that? Does it make sense to gather all the items you just identified and bring them all in one shot, or divide it into a couple of groups and make a trip or two if needed?”

By asking the questions, it allows the technician to experience the thought process associated with planning and performing with maximum efficiency. Helping that technician with the answers, especially if it is a matter of experience, allows the employee to learn to organize thoughts and develop good working habits. Once this practice is put into place, I revisited the process with that technician the very next day to discuss this new systemized approach to working, and at the end of the day, I made time to see or call and asked specific questions like, “Did you use your new system today? How did it make your job easier? What did it save for the company, for the customer? How do you feel about being more organized?”

Finally, I encouraged the employee to keep it up and made plans to visit on the job again. I also warned, in a positive manner, that I would be dropping in on again in the near future, so that I could determine how the new system is working for him/her and for the company. This serves as a follow-up to support the changes, or to make an adjustment if the employee has reverted to old habits that are unproductive. Be positive whenever you can be. If your technicians are making progress but are not 100% where you want them to be, tell them so with a word of encouragement.

MBWA can help all employees within your company become more efficient. In the office, walk around and listen to how your customer service agents relate to and address your customers. Spontaneously review your warehouse supervisor’s inventory control records. Do not be shy about looking, listening, and inspecting someone’s work. The prize will be when you, more often than not, catch someone doing something right, which results in an opportunity to give a person positive feedback. Those positive acknowledgements from the boss help people feel good about themselves, and people who feel good about themselves produce good results. •••