[site]

Today's dilemma- An established customer calls us to do a repair on some old work. He put way too much salt on his bluestone walkway laid in mortar, and the mortar spalled. He asked if we could fix it. I said sure.
I sent a foreman who has limited knowledge of mortar work, but enough to repoint joints on a 75s.f. landing. I never went to scope out this job because its so small, and its fairly far away. I tried to send the foreman with enough info. to tackle whatever he might encounter, but he wasn't satisfied. He wants specific first hand instructions for every job, but I can't deliver.
I'm not sure what to do. I want my foreman to be able to make their own decisions. Also, we all have Nextels, so he can ask questions all day if need be. If I personally visit every job every day including the really small ones I won't have time for much else. I know he was near the limits of his knowledge, but I would hope he would consider it a challenge, and figure it out himself.
We have run into this sort of trouble many times in the past, and I haven't figured out how to get these guys to take a risk. I know Ray Krock didn't check the burgers at every McD's every day, and yet the burgers got cooked. So...what do I try next?

[Stonehenge]

This answer is going to depend a lot on the person you have working for you....

In the past, when he has been forced to make a decision on his own, has it been a good one? Is he generally able to make smart decisions, keeping both the customer and the bottom line in mind? If he is, then your solution is both simple and hard.

Some people get in the habit of asking for help. They either do it because they don't want to get something wrong, you have a habit of always correcting everything they do anyway, or they know that if they ask, you'll give an answer. And for your part, at each situation you probably evaluate it and say - 'if I tell him how to do it, it'll take me 30 seconds, where if I send him out and he screws it up, I could be eating 1/2 a day.' That's the trap that hurts us long term, thinking that giving the answer is the quickest way to go.

Assuming he is a smart, capable person, you need to just send him out into the field. When he says he doesn't have enough information, tell him you trust his judgement and decision making.

I've also told people things like 'Well, then I guess this one's going to be hard for you. Let me know how it turned out.' They usually follow with a look of confusion, then total abandonment. I don't have kids (yet), but would imagine the face looks a lot like when you put your kid on his bike for the first time and tell him to ride. The face you get when he successfully does the job would probably also look a lot like that same child after riding down the block without falling.

Good luck!

[Stonehenge]

I forgot to mention the hard part about that - you have to be like Bill Cosby - each time they come to you, you have to be like a hockey goalie and kick 'em back out into play. You have to let them go and do their thing, which also means they're going to screw some stuff up. But you have to keep sending them out, and break that habit of answering every question they ask.

[Paul]

It sounds like a bit of over managment....... Your foreman is used to you giving him all the info, maybe even showing him how you want the job done....... But you did the right thing, you gave him a small job and told him to do it. As a hands on owner thats the hardest thing to do, now you have to keep it up, tell him what you expect done, then after it's done go see it with him, tell him what he did right and wrong. Praise him for the right stuff, and have him correct the stuff he did wrong. Now you have set the wheels in motion to have a good crew foreman.... maybe even some one that can run his own jobs in the near future.