First few days have gone well

Most people are afraid of a messy situation. You always hear of people turning down jobs they feel are difficult situations. These are the jobs I seek out. It's always easy to be a hero when there is a lot wrong with the situation.

Of course, with my Jakarta assignment, there is good news and bad news in this regard. The good news is there are definitely opportunities for some quick turn around - the low hanging fruit. The bad news is, it isn't as big a mess as many perceive it to be, which means I have to put on a marketing hat and promote the successes. Of course, the bad news is also good news for the organization.

I've spent the last two days observing, asking questions, and learning. As suspected, the people here are smart, open to change, and hard working. Having the right people is half the battle and I'm glad I don't have to fight that half. I have also observed a quiet frustration with the impact of some decisions made over the last few years. We have too many people on the team working more than 50 hour weeks consistently, and processes that negatively impact productivity.

One of the first meetings I sat in on, we reviewed a report that purported to represent a snapshot of the effort expended in the prior week. The only problem, none of the math worked in the numbers reported, and little of the information was actionable. This is a common problem I see in teams that are struggling to deliver despite good processes and people. If you report on the wrong information, you don't have the relevant data to make appropriate decisions. This is easy to fix, and we've made adjustments this week that will help us make decisions once we receive next week's report.

I've also had the opportunity to review my key objectives with the Superintendents reporting to me:

1) Focus on quality
2) Improved communication
3) Requiring everyone to give their best
4) Engaging people in their strenghts (we can't make money focusing on weaknesses)
5) Work/Life balance
6) Leading vs. managing - we want to lead

more tomorrow....