How are your Interpersonal Skills?

By Bill Beardslee PLS, PE, PP

All of the licensed surveyors who will be attending the TSPS Conference at the Horseshoe Bay Resort this October are skilled in their craft. From the small firm doing primarily boundary and topographic projects to the national firms dealing with high-tech applications of scanning, Lidar and satellite imagery, all the surveyors are very skilled. They all truly can “Walk the Walk.”

But in each instance, do they have the interpersonal skills to “Talk the Talk?”

Usually the situation is that the talkers aren’t walkers. But with these skilled professionals, it is quite the opposite. Before anyone gets insulted because they feel they can “talk the talk”, understand this item: 80 percent of the complaints to state boards about surveyors are on business practices – people who don’t “talk the talk.”  The three main complaints are:

I can’t get in contact with the surveyor. They won’t call back.

They didn’t get the survey done on time.

They didn’t charge me what they quoted.

So here I come on my white horse to help everyone with the interpersonal skill touch-up they may need. (The horse’s back sags badly)

I have the honor of being asked to present four seminars at the conference. The first, and my favorite, is “Client Communication – The Lifeblood of Business”. We will discuss relationships and interpersonal skills emphasizing listening. One of the lengthy sections will be on the pre-proposal meeting – a surefire way to avoid arguments, misunderstandings and litigation. Knowing which of your many communication tools to use at which time is also a focus item.

Once you are firmly comfortable with your communication skills, we will talk about how to efficiently use them in “Managing Your Projects and Your Company”. The one constant issue for skilled surveyors is that they are put in charge of a project or a department or start a small company with LITTLE or NO management training. Thus they initially flounder until, by trial, error, and osmosis, they find a way to become efficient managers. This course should eliminate some of the initial issues and give the attendee some basic guidance to start their ship on the right course.

But management, and becoming a great manager, should never confused with leadership. Those are two very different skills. I’m sure each of you know people in leadership positions who are not good leaders. (Elected officials come to mind). A manager has a skill – a leader has a vision. “Leadership – From Party Chief to CEO” will differentiate these two paths and will offer some suggestions to increase your leadership skills. Even those folks who are said to be “born leaders” need to refine their talents and adjust to new situations.

Now that you know everything one could ever use to run a successful, profitable firm, one question sits on the horizon – how will you know “When it’s Time To Go?”  This course deals with the inevitable concept that one day you will retire as an owner or department head, or some other influential position. Getting ready for that occurrence is not a short term process.

Preparing to sell a business, or buy one for the younger surveyors, is a well planned path that leads to long term security for your family and the buyer. The key is to start early. I receive too many calls every year from surveyors asking “what is my business worth as I want to sell.” The problem usually is that they are 75-80 years old which, except for a “fire sale”, puts them in a poor position.

So please stop in to any, or all, of these seminars. They are all interactive as the attendees always have interesting input for their peers to hear. 

Let’s all leave Horseshoe Bay being able to proudly “Talk the Talk!”