THOUGHTS ON: Co-operation BY CHUCK MORRIS
Recently, a colleague of mine was lamenting the fact he once again needed to repair the drywall in his home office. “It happens about once every four or five months,” he cried! Not understanding what he was getting at, I encouraged him to elaborate a little; maybe I could help him out. I really don’t like doing drywall but if a friend could use my help, I was all for it. He began by telling me about a building permit application he had submitted to the Building Department of the city he lived in, and the hoops he had to jump through to satisfy the inspector. He explained he had never seen the level of bureaucracy he has had to deal with when trying to take out a simple building permit for the small renovation he was doing. First it had to go to the planning department; if all of their forms are not filled out correctly, the process stalls. Once completed (if approved), the application then needs go to the building department (a long five steps across the room to a different counter). My friend has to pick it up and submit it to the building department – they don’t automatically pass it over! The other catch is they don’t tell the applicant when it is ready to be picked up.
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I could see his frustration and had to admit that this process sounded bizarre. I wondered to myself how I might deal with it if I worked in that city. However, I still didn’t see how this explanation fit with my pal needing to do some drywall at home. I asked him how this process was responsible for a hole in his drywall at home; was someone careless? Did the inspector crash into the wall for some reason? Buddy went on telling me that although the renovation was a simple job, the city has all these forms to fill out, some of them with required information that is not relevant to the project at all! He did say that after two months of stumbling around unfamiliar territory and really stressing out over the runaround from the planning and building departments, the work finally got underway and was nearly complete. I asked him if the contractor was going to repair his drywall, or did he want me to come over and do it for him? The look I received from my friend made me feel like I had not understood a word he had said! “I am really frustrated; it’s not just the permit application process and length of time it took, but nearly everything we are dealing with,” he panted. “People seem reluctant to do anything now because of fear of someone suing them. Cooperation seems nonexistent!” I told him I concur with that thought, but that I did not think it was with everything we dealt with. “Look around you,” he exclaimed, “everyone deals with a lack of co-operation. Maybe it’s not always because of bureaucracy; perhaps non-compliance with city bylaws drives some of it; maybe someone has had a bad hair day; maybe just because it’s Monday!” He looked miserable. “So then,” I gently asked him, “the damaged drywall at your home is not really damaged, is it?” “You cleverly used a metaphor to try to get your point across, the old ‘banging your head against the wall’ scenario, you old dog!” He looked at me with that quirky smirk of his, and nodded. We all face different levels of what we may perceive to be a lack of co-operation and most of us figure out how to deal with it. It could be we must develop a better relationship with the city to avoid costly delays with time sensitive projects. It could even be with your own staff; perhaps not enough information has been passed along and the unknown to them causes fear or distrust. Co-operation is certainly nice to have and makes everyone’s job easier. If you are not receiving it, figure out what some of the reasons may be and attempt to correct them. We all need less stress in our lives. Remember, I don’t enjoy repairing damaged drywall! ❏
