For Supervisors and Small Contractors
Treat, Tolerate, Transfer, Terminate.
Every day, you deal with problems hour by hour. The problems may be big or small. They may involve personnel, deliveries, production, or health and safety. Some may take only a few seconds of thought to solve; others demand a major investment in time and effort.
You've got four basic choices in handling problems. These are the four Ts--treat, tolerate, transfer, or terminate.
Treat
This means taking action to correct a problem. Treatment should go step by step.
- Define the problem.
- Get information about it.
- Identify causes.
- Select the best way to eliminate or control the causes.
Housekeeping is a mess in the area your crew has left. You treat the problem by telling your crew to go back and clean up. Then you make sure they understand that clean-up is their responsibility in future.
Tolerate
Minor problems don't have to be dealt with right away. You can put up with them because they don't affect safety, production, or other essential operations.
Only one scaffold is available. Two of your crews want to use it. Their work doesn't have to be done right away and doesn't warrant getting another scaffold. So you tolerate the shortage. While one crew uses the scaffold you assign different work to the other.
Transfer
Problems often have several owners. Make sure the problem you face really belongs on your doorstep. Otherwise direct it to the person responsible.
Your crew can't work in an area because of another crew's mess. You transfer the problem by advising the superintendent that the problem is his because only he has the authority to order the other crew to clean up.
Terminate
Sometimes you've got to draw the line and assert your authority. "I don't want to hear another word about it. We'll proceed as follows..." This means putting an end to a problem in a firm, decisive way.
Every order you receive from a certain supplier is late or incomplete. You terminate the problem by switching to a different supplier.
Remember
- You can't treat every problem or you'll quickly burn yourself out.
- Tolerate is not the answer to every difficulty. You're paid to solve problems, not just live with them.
- Transfer what you can, but some problems are rightly yours to fix.
- Not every problem can be solved by ending or stopping something. Terminate works only in certain cases.
