Automotive Fleet, October 2017

Thomas retired with the rank of major from the U S Marine Corp He served in the USMC from 1988 to 2009 Editor Looking Forward to More I read your blog about Navy SEALs and fleet managers It was very interesting I am looking forward to seeing more of your insight Scott Meltzer Commercial Business Analyst LeasePlan Australia Melbourne Australia Beneficial Lessons The Market Trends editorial on What Fleet Managers can learn from a Navy SEAL offers many lessons that can benefit fleet managers in many ways Stewart Fischer Manager UPS Logistics Technologies Louisville Ky Email Overload I read the Market Trends editorial about lessons fleet managers can learn from a Navy AUTOMOTIVE FLEET I OCTOBER 2017 8 SEAL and youre right about the volume of emails Its become impossible to keep up with the number of emails I receive Prioritizing is a must Bret Watson Manager of Fleet Sprint Westerville OH I completely agree Trying to keep up with a steady stream of incoming email interrupts work priorities You need to practice email triage focus first on the important emails then later on the less urgent ones There is another way to look at this issue however Although everyone complains about the high volume of emails there is the corresponding benefit of a decrease in phone calls Editor Managing Stress Whats the daily work of a fleet manager like How to manage the stress The blog giving advice from a Navy SEAL offers a good approach to do so Learning from absolute stress environments such as those of SEALs operations can only foster the knowledge and skills of every professional In a world of increasing demands and pressure with fleet management being no exception it is really important to make the best out of the limited time available to us by selecting the highest value activities Sometimes it can be a real struggle making those decisions while keeping a sharp and clear mind We need to make use of our full gear and focus like an Admiral Chief to complete the mission successfully Nuno Gaudêncio Sales Team Manager Arval Portugal Algés Portugal LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Military vs Fleet Leadership I read the Market Trends editorial on What Fleet Managers Can Learn from a Navy SEAL with interest especially the parallels between fleet leadership challenges and those of military leaders I too have attempted to link military leadership to fleet leadership by reading similar books such as Its Your Ship and The West Point Way of Leadership to name a few The differences at least in my view outweigh the similarities Unlike fleet operations military missions are shared efforts from top to bottom and the dictum toward following orders trumps any dissent that may exist Every function be it logistics administration intelligence signals artillery or infantry understand their role and are well trained to make their shared contributions Fleets do themselves a disservice by presuming that all levels both understand and concur with their priorities and mission Fleet managers should strive at all times to communicate how fleet contributes to the larger missions and constantly question how they can contribute more Fleets should concentrate more contributing to customer client success rather than their own You mentioned how some fleet managers are stressed by e mail volume In the military delegation is a key success factor Trust in your staff to field and respond to emails I suspect the bulk of the 400 unanswered emails mentioned by one manager in your editorial could be answered by staff members the other manager receiving 60 emails day could very likely delegate most of them to staff for action and response The danger in email concentration is to presume that email volume is a substitute for quality communication Its not Person to person client customer fleet contact Editors Note In the September 2017 issue the article titled Strategies to Keep Your Fleet Forward thinking incorrectly identified the authors professional title Tony Orta is the strategy and maintenance operations manager for SoCalGas and SDG E is more important now because everyone draws that conclusion thus muting the importance of personal contact A fleets support function can only be reinforced and enhanced by person to person discussion and dialogue The volume of emails isnt a barometer for measuring a managers importance to the organization as some perceive it may in fact be a barometer measuring impending failure In the military personnel are seldom if ever called upon to undertake a task for which they havent been trained In business and government at all levels staff is often tasked with unfamiliar and unexpected tasks Youll never see the words other duties as required in a military position description but such terminology is common in both the public and private sector descriptions The military can and should train for every conceivable scenario business and government cannot afford such nor can they even plan for every situation so they often have to make it up as they go Finally the bedrock of military success is principled leadership Integrity honor duty selfless sacrifice are all attributes considered as givens in the military Unfortunately public and private sector businesses have proven time and again the absence of these values by their own actions The term statesmanship has almost faded to black beginning with Congress Forget trickle down economics were all the victims of trickle down value erosion This is why the military continues to rank as the organization with the highest level of trust in our society Therein lies the key differentiator in my view Thanks for allowing me a turn on my soapbox Bob Stanton Retired Fleet Manager Director of Education Public Fleet Summits Roswell Ga