Is It The Best Person For The Job?

During April, my gorgeous wife and I toured the UK as we were there for a couple of family occasions. While we were in Glasgow, we toured the Clydeside Distillery.

It was a fantastic couple of hours. I learnt so much about distilling, the relatively simple process (which explained so much about Hawkeye and BJ’s still in M*A*S*H), the challenges of making the simple process remain simple and then how to distinguish one whisky from another.

Our guide (you can see half of him in the photo montage above) knew so much about the process, the history of Glasgow, the Clyde river and Whiskey in general. He was also fun and entertaining. Definitely the right person for the job.

Contrast that with my friends neighbour. He had some trees that needed trimming. They were hanging over his cable tv connection and powerline to the house. Not an easy job and one that requires some skill.

… Or does it? …

The neighbour decided to have a go themselves and … well … let’s just say I was entertained for several hours receiving texts from my friend. With things like:

• The cut trees got caught on the power line
• The guy was actually holding the power line
• He fell off the fence he was standing on
• He fell off the ladder with the chainsaw going
• He cut one bit that he could only just reach to find the release of the weight moved the rest of the branch out of his reach
• After 5 hours, great risk to his own life, and too many dangerous situations to consider, he trimmed the trees.

The risk of life and limb, time it took and potential for major damage (if not a fatality) seemed that he had the wrong person for the job. The investment of a couple of hundred dollars to get the right person to do it quickly, safely and easily would seem to be worthwhile to me.

Is It The Right Person For The Job?

Regardless of whether you are hosting tours, trimming trees or running events, you always need to consider, is it the right person for the job?

Too often I have seen conferences hosted by the CEO, the Sales Manager, a Funny Guy from accounts that are OK but don’t give the full impact because they don’t have a professional host. Award ceremonies that are lacklustre because the person who should be in control, isn’t!

No matter what task you have at hand, it is always worth asking, “Is this the right person for the job?”