We Are Not Constructing Buildings

Several years ago—back when I worked as a training coordinator at the Montana Electrical JATC—we hired a new instructor to teach apprentice electricians.  The instructor, just as me, came into our program from “out of the field.”  In other words, he was a construction electrician about to be thrown into an office environment.

Within a couple days of hiring the new instructor, I sat with him to give him something of a job orientation.

Early in our conversation, I told him this:  “There is something you will notice right away about working here.  Something you won’t like.  I am talking about working in an office and working with other people in other offices outside this one. This is not like construction.  You are going to notice that people don’t respond when you talk with them, call them, or email them for something.  You are going to need to push a little more than you are accustomed to.  You really have to follow up on stuff.  A lot.”

“Seriously?” the instructor asked.

“Yep.  This is going to frustrate you.  We are not constructing buildings anymore.  The sense of urgency will not be there.  Nobody is worried about holding up a concrete pour or scheduling an expensive crane.  When you really think about it, decision making at construction sites is efficient by necessity.  Not so here.  Sometimes, it take a long time to get simple things done. ”

“Is it bad?”

“Well, bad might not be the correct term.  Just noticeable and not like the environment you are coming from.”

Not more than three months later, the instructor reminded me of this conversation and said, “You’re right, Mitch.  You really have to push to get things done here.”

Recently, I have been repeating this same conversation with myself.  This after sending out a series of follow-up emails after previous follow-up emails in an effort to nudge together a continuing education training course I have now been working on for, literally, several years.

I know how this office stuff works.

—Mitchell Hegman