great news for me
I got promoted
i have been asked to be the ‘Transport manager’
I have had a CPC for ages and been keeping up to date with rules and stuff
now i have been asked to run a fleet of 21 HGV’s - plus monitor 8 light vans for O license requirements
the office is a bit of a mess and its taken me 4 weeks to catch up with services and MOT’s
BUT
i am now in a posiiton where i am almost up to scratch
has anyone got any advice
Going from being a full time driver to TM is quite a leap so all comments greatly accepted no matter the content
When I cover the office when our TM is on holiday or sick I always work on the theory that if I couldnt do that day easy enough then I cannot ask another driver to do it either. Still get the odd one that sulks but 99% of the time everyone is fine.
Just remember those who you classed as work mates may now be calling you ever name under the sun and when things go wrong it will be youre fault for not planning it right. Our gaffer says that when I do the job im too soft on the drivers, but after a week im one of those drivers again.
Just get on and enjoy it cause when it goes well it`s a very enjoyable job.
Trev_H:
Yes,
Get in half an hour before the drivers and have the tea made for them.
Its took years to train my TM to that standard.
Seems good advice to me
Not been a transport manager, but did used to run a mapping project, the actual business side wasn’t to bad, but dealing with the people working on the project could be a struggle, complaints that others had got better work, or other weren’t working as hard as they were, it was a nightmare at times, but it it was a long time ago and I was quite young, I’d deal with them differently now.
So my simple advice is treat the drivers how you’d wish to be treated yourself, but remember you can’t please all the people all the time and some drivers you’ll never please. You’ll soon work out who they are and just learn to give them the work and ignore the flak. However if drivers who don’t normally give you a hard time start complaining it might be worth taking note.
Thanks for the info and words of support -
As posted when its going right its a very enjoyable job
And i have already experienced the drivers change of attitude - its all my fault lol
on a lighter note - i am home every night
and the dog now wags when he sees me come through the door
It’s not an easy transition; I did it and survived and so did many others.
One word of advice though, is to remember that just getting the job done is not enough. You have to find ways of making sure that your boss knows what a good job you are doing. If you find a more cost effective way of doing something - write to him about it. It may seem like boasting or something; and you may feel that he should know that you are doing a good job because everything runs efficiently, but that is not enough.
Your army experience will tell you that the drivers cannot be your mates. Sure you can buy them an occasional pint, but you also have to be able to bollock them if they stuff up.
I hope you had some training in the employment law too - it’s a minefield if you need to get rid of some waste of space.
Santa:
it’s a minefield if you need to get rid of some waste of space.
Minefields shouldn’t be a problem for an ex-sapper,
and getting rid of somebody shouldn’t be a problem either and he should even be able to dig the hole to get rid of the body.
