It is not enough to do a good job

Just about every single article you read on implementation of maintenance and asset reliability projects generally carries in it somewhere the issue of management support, or the lack thereof. In fact, over my career the number one issue (whine) that I hear from people is this lack of management support. I riff about this a lot in my new boo. However, one of the underlying reasons that management are not supporting you is because they don't know what you are doing. Not really. It is not enough to do a good job, not by a long shot. People have to know that you are doing a good job! I wish this wasn't true but it is - so get used to it and work out how you are going to deal with it.

• Learn how to talk about value, not in your words but in the managers words. This means that you need to use terms like revenue, net present value and  risk mitigation.

• When you do this you need to focus on what they value, not on what you value. For example, I value risk reduction and knowledge increase. Yet around 80 - 90 percent of my clients far prefer to present revenue increases and direct cost reductions to their management. They feel it gets them more momentum - and they are right! 

• Tell them! Prepare regular presentations, tell them about it, include (strongly) the value that you are achieving, and  what the next steps are. Make sure that everyone is credited with their piece in the project, and give a time frame for the realization of benefits. (I am going to talk about the post-analysis presentation here later)

• Talk, talk, talk! Every single chance you have you need to be promoting the work, the value, the impacts and the efforts that you and your team are contributing to the success of the company. Every time, many times a day, and do it convincingly. Enthusiasm does sell and if you want to have a great career, and be involved in mind-blowing projects - then you are in sales my friend! (Sorry about that)

There is a lot more to this issue than this (obviously) but if you don't have management support, my experience is that it is rarely the fault of your manager!