People are creatures of habit. We find comfort in following the same routines because we are freed from making lots of small decisions and able to focus our mental energies on more important tasks.
Take my morning routine for example: When I am home, I wake up every morning, wash my face and brush my teeth. Then I make my bed, put on my Ruppert uniform, walk and feed the dog, grab breakfast and drive to the branch. When I am on the road, this routine varies only in that I don’t have to walk the dog and I rely on the closest Starbucks for breakfast. The overall process has certain steps that must happen: brush teeth (I hate morning breath), wash face, get dressed, drive to branch. There are steps that are dependent on where I am located: whether or not I care for the dog, what I eat for breakfast and the length of the drive to the branch. Whenever possible, I stay at the same hotel, in the same room and follow the same route to the branch. This means I don’t have to think about where I am going to get breakfast or rely on GPS on my drive to the branch. This frees me up to think about how I am going to spend my day with the team. Following these routines provides structure to my day, enables me to focus on my job and ultimately, deliver better support to the branches.
The same thing happens when we follow routines in the field. In maintenance, when we think about how to produce work, we think about the Order of Operations:
While this exact list may not apply to our landscape construction division, the principles still apply. When the correct order of operations becomes a habit, we have a team that is flowing smoothly and firing on all cylinders, freeing up our best asset – our minds.