In our world of fleet management, we are always hammered from the financial group about what we do, how we do it and how we spend money (it is their responsibility). There are always innuendos putting maintenance managers in the defensive mode. And with that defensive mode come Mr. Sarcasm. (I was once told that sarcasm is the verbal defense of those lacking wisdom and knowledge). We are always drilled about budget, spending and the new term widely used now is singular “Spend”. Our Spend in this area, “Your Spend is out of control.” Now, I have to sometimes agree that lots of fleets that I see the “Spend” is out of control, not necessarily of fleets maintenance dollars needed but on how they “Spend” the money. Because of those pressures to meet budget and certain styles of leadership, a certain amount of job fears are prevalent in easily intimidated people who have certain responsibilities, collapse.
There were a few billion-dollar companies requesting that I go to an out-of-state corporate meeting and, because my son lived in that town, wanted me to split the cost of the expenses: Wow—Big Billions in revenue and the excuse was the budget. “No” was my answer.
Now the reason for some brief explanation on the pressures of budget and finance groups is that “Spend” has a tendency to cloud decision-making processes when it comes to situations when something has to be decided upon. A decision to fix something, a credit to give to a customer, a decision to travel or even raises for employees.
Most decisions, if not all are made around dollars: How much is it going to cost? What are we going to get if we make this decision? If I make this decision, how will I explain to my boss or the finance committee why I gave the credit? Why did I spend the money? Money clouds the decision. Many decisions are made about the money and not what the issue is or whatever the situation may be. When a maintenance provider does not fix a vehicle correctly, there are numerous excuses about the rework that they want us to pay for, creating a so-called fight for what is right.
Years ago, I had a situation where I would not pay a leasing company for jump starting 30 of my trucks; I suggested he check the batteries. He asks how I am going to explain to the owner why I wouldn’t pay the invoices. I told him he should worry abound telling the owner why all the trucks did not start as opposed to why I will not pay; he may find out the PM maintenance on the batteries is the issue and not the open payment problem … pick your poison.
That said, here is a simple process: Make you or your employees first think about what the real problem is, remove the “money fear” from the equation—not that the money is not important, but remove that pressure so that you can clearly understand the issue—find the appropriate corrective action, the root cause, why it failed and what was the cause. Once the what, why and how is clear, it will be easy to say, “Yes, we are wrong. Clearly, it is warrantable. Clearly, it is my responsibility. It is my fault. I own this one.”
Credibility and professionalism will set you free. Now, the money is still a concern and still has to be dealt with, and the questions, interaction and drilling, may not go away, but dealing with a problem that is clouded by the money being the deciding factor verses doing the right thing dilutes your name.
Remove the money, solve the issue, and then apply the energy to figure out the money—not how to deal with the money first. When you worry about the money first, combined with the fear of your boss or owner, the wrong decision will prevail and compromise your integrity in some cases. Do not let the budget control doing the right thing, but do respect the budget. The owner/boss wants you to do the right thing, after all he still has to answer for your actions.
Long after the monies are forgotten, the problem goes away—your name will be attached to the solution forever. Remove, determine and then back into how to pay for what appears to be a tough decision, now made clearer and easier.
