How to get the best out of people…

Have you ever sworn at a waiter whilst complaining about the food in a restaurant? Do you get impatient when waiting to check in/check out of the hotel? Do you get agitated if someone cuts past you on the motorway when its goes from two lanes into one…or are you the type who just calmly accepts life’s little challenges and doesn’t rise to any of these issues?

My brother and I are totally different he’s calm and collected, he analyses everything and takes ages to decide on anything. Dave’s been looking to get a new kitchen for years and goes into the minutiae of every part of the potential purchase – often taking so long that the manufacturers of the item he wanted have ceased trading and retired…

I tend to be a bit more emotive in my decision making process – if it feels right I just buy it and get on with things. I used to say that I used my… ‘gut feeling’ …when making decisions until someone told me that ‘gut’ stands for ‘gave up thinking’…!

In the past my brother and I have fallen out over our different approaches to life and my testosterone levels have dictated that we end up not speaking for weeks/months. In my head I used to just be convinced that I was right and he was wrong…simple.

However, over the years I’ve seen my brother flourish with his approach and have been trying to adopt his calm and relaxed demeanour into my life. So now when my wife keeps me waiting to pick her up whilst she has one more coffee with her sister…it’s not a problem. When my car is being serviced and it’s not ready when they said it would be…it’s not a problem. People now push past me in queues at the supermarket and if I let a car in front of me whilst driving, I now find another twenty following suit and ignoring me…

So… either my testosterone has sunk to an all-time low or I’m mellowing…

But which approach is best when managing Japanese Knotweed?…

Our clients tend to fall into the categories I’ve described above – client number one is very relaxed and wants a longer term management strategy putting into place where over a number of years the infestation is gradually depleted and eventually eradicated. Client number two has an instant knee jerk reaction and wants every trace of knotweed removed from his site instantly…

There is mileage in each of these approaches and it very much depends on the end use of the site and the timings of the building or development works planned.

Personally I’ve always been a ‘get in and clear it’ type of guy…this is nothing to do with my ‘gut’ feelings, but more to do with my experience of what can happen to sprayed and treated areas of sites that aren’t managed correctly. If some unknowing machine operator drives through an area of Japanese Knotweed that is undergoing treatment and spreads the viable rhizome all over your development site – your costs can increase massively. So whilst the longer term approach may appear cheaper on paper, you must add back in to your equation the possible risks associated with having a still viable knotweed stand on your land.

It’s all down to ‘risk management’ at the end of the day – every site is different.

We will always discuss your site requirements and will always tailor our strategies to fit both your budget and your development programme – and we will always advise you of the risks to enable you to make the best and most cost effective decisions.

So no matter which character type you fit into, we will ensure that you get the best results.

 

Mike C – the ‘C‘ stands for ‘calm’