Some of you will know I have been in Hawaii the past few weeks and Marlene and I are having a terrific time. Although we are three hours earlier than at home I am still getting up reasonable early and have had some time for reflection on the business and the Industry.
I have not been in a cocoon here I have been in contact with several people so I have not lost my complete sanity when I wrote the headline for this blog. I truly don’t believe that any dealer any where at any time will thrive without an ambitious and intelligent grooup of talented technicians. I know that I have felt this way for a long time and many of you have heard me make this point before. But it bears repeating now for a few fresh critical reasons.
The new fossil fuel interest. The shale oil developments, fracing techniques, deep well recoveries, natural gas abundance and other exciting things are happening in the oil and gas world. You might wonder what that is going to do to the technicians in our Industry. Well all you have to do is look to our Northern Neighbour, Canada, and you might get an idea. Ft McMurray in Alberta has been a boom town since the 1960’s as a result of the “OilSands” resource. They have wages in that area that will take your breath away. We are seeing similar results in North Dakota. Now the area from San Antonio to Corpus Christi is gaining serious interest. Check out Oklahoma for action. It is starting to be everywhere. Even the EPA can’t seem to stop this strong drive. Between Canada, the US and Mexico the US could satisfy All their oil and natural gas needs for well more than the next hundred years. Of course that is not politically correct these days. Our federal government wants wind and sun power and no more fossil fuels. It appears they are so serious they will kill job opportunities in the process. (Keystone – where for those of you not paying attention that additional oil from Canada is now being shipped by rail and truck which is much more risky than a pipeline) One other comment. The Exxon Valdez oil spill was caused due to us having to ship the Alaskan oil via tankers instead of the pipeline that the envirnmentalists killed at the time.
My point in all of this is that technicians are going to be in shorter supply than they are today in the very near future. The oil and gas industries will take a large number of these talented people and they will do it with higher wages. So I think the message is pretty clear.
Develop your own technicians with good training programs, apprenticeship programs and mentoring programs. Provide a career path that is meaningful and followed for each individual technician. Pay higher wages either with a straight wage or with a strong meaningful incentive program. Manage and supervise the techncians with adequate supervisory density and “good” direct supervision. Operate a “best practices” business unit in service with current and workable tooling and good technological support with tablets and PDA’s and laptops. You have to attract and retain these talented people or you will continue to struggle.
The headline is clear. You need technicians, you need very good technicians if you are going to thrive. The time is now.
Words of Wisdom #11
I am sure that the majority of you have heard of Murphy’s Law.
Anything that can go wrong will go wrong.
I want to add a corollary to Murphy’s Law.
Murphy was an optimist.
Technicians – how can we thrive without them?
Some of you will know I have been in Hawaii the past few weeks and Marlene and I are having a terrific time. Although we are three hours earlier than at home I am still getting up reasonable early and have had some time for reflection on the business and the Industry.
I have not been in a cocoon here I have been in contact with several people so I have not lost my complete sanity when I wrote the headline for this blog. I truly don’t believe that any dealer any where at any time will thrive without an ambitious and intelligent grooup of talented technicians. I know that I have felt this way for a long time and many of you have heard me make this point before. But it bears repeating now for a few fresh critical reasons.
The new fossil fuel interest. The shale oil developments, fracing techniques, deep well recoveries, natural gas abundance and other exciting things are happening in the oil and gas world. You might wonder what that is going to do to the technicians in our Industry. Well all you have to do is look to our Northern Neighbour, Canada, and you might get an idea. Ft McMurray in Alberta has been a boom town since the 1960’s as a result of the “OilSands” resource. They have wages in that area that will take your breath away. We are seeing similar results in North Dakota. Now the area from San Antonio to Corpus Christi is gaining serious interest. Check out Oklahoma for action. It is starting to be everywhere. Even the EPA can’t seem to stop this strong drive. Between Canada, the US and Mexico the US could satisfy All their oil and natural gas needs for well more than the next hundred years. Of course that is not politically correct these days. Our federal government wants wind and sun power and no more fossil fuels. It appears they are so serious they will kill job opportunities in the process. (Keystone – where for those of you not paying attention that additional oil from Canada is now being shipped by rail and truck which is much more risky than a pipeline) One other comment. The Exxon Valdez oil spill was caused due to us having to ship the Alaskan oil via tankers instead of the pipeline that the envirnmentalists killed at the time.
My point in all of this is that technicians are going to be in shorter supply than they are today in the very near future. The oil and gas industries will take a large number of these talented people and they will do it with higher wages. So I think the message is pretty clear.
Develop your own technicians with good training programs, apprenticeship programs and mentoring programs. Provide a career path that is meaningful and followed for each individual technician. Pay higher wages either with a straight wage or with a strong meaningful incentive program. Manage and supervise the techncians with adequate supervisory density and “good” direct supervision. Operate a “best practices” business unit in service with current and workable tooling and good technological support with tablets and PDA’s and laptops. You have to attract and retain these talented people or you will continue to struggle.
The headline is clear. You need technicians, you need very good technicians if you are going to thrive. The time is now.
A Farmer’s Creed
I have mentionned the latest book from Gary Hamel – What Matters Now before here and I would like to quote something he wrote about his in-laws. Mr Hamel’s wifes parents bought the Hamels a starter house and it was a great lesson for the newly married couple. The ability to help their daughter came from a life of good old fashioned hard work and strong character traits learned by them in their home, their church and their schools.
The Farmers Creed.
“I believe a man’s greatest possession is his dignity and that no calling bestows this more abundantly than farming. I believe hard work and honest sweat are the building blocks of a person’s character. I believe that farming, despite its hardships and disappointments, is the most honest and honorable way a man can spend his days on earth.”
That makes perfect sense to me but I also believe that is not a commonly held belief. The interesting fact is that the average age of an american farmer is in the high fifties with no clear prospect for that the go lower. It appears that the family farm has long since gone to the corporate farm and that these virtues of farming are going the way of the dodo bird. The time is now..
Friday Filosophy #12
People only do their best at things they truly enjoy.
Jack Nicklaus
Ninety-nine percent of the failures comes from people who have the habit of making excuses.
George W. Carve
My message is the practice of compassion, love and kindness. Great compassion is the root of all forms of worship.
Dalai Lama
Do No Harm
In operating your business the goals are always to provide a product or service that your customer can trust and rely on. That your offerings are supported by qualified talented trained employees who care about your customers. So in this difficult business climate do your best, do what is right but make sure you know what you are doing. Do no harm. The time is now.
Gary Hamel
You have to get and read carefully the latest book from Gary Hamel. What Matters Now. It is terrific. The time is now..
Mother’s Day
Celebrate with your Mother and Grand Mother and Great Grand Mother and cherish your time with them. The time is now..
Second Weekend in May
Enjoy I will. The sun and the beach in Hawaii. The greatest tonic on the planet. Refresh and enjoy. The time is now.
Friday Filosophy #11
We either make ourselves miserable, or we make ourselves happy. The amount of work is the same.
Carlos Castanada
Never let the fear of striking out get in your way.
Babe Ruth
The smallest deed is better than the greatest intention.
John Burroughs
Blog Navigation
Just a short note to those of you reading the blog. If you click on the category index on the right or the categories at the end of the blog you will receive back all blogs written on that category. Just scroll down through them. I didn’t know how many of you knew that it is tied together that way. The time is now…