Shift Supervisor for a Day

You know those in times in life when you experience things and you’re not really sure why, and then the moment comes when you realize that you had been preparing for another more important moment? Yesterday was one of those moments.

For my department our crunch time is the preparation time period when all the testing occurs. We can only really begin final testing when circuits and wires are in place at each venue. That can’t happen until all the crews are in place. When the Olympics crews are scheduled, the thought is, guarantee product delivery whatever that is, at greatest profit. So hire enough people with enough time to know delivery will happen, but not a moment sooner. Now imagine hiring several thousand temporary employees to all perform at a high level for a month. Each person doing a slightly different job under slightly different conditions. Each job dealing with variables that can’t be predicted before hand. Now imagine millions of dollars at stake on those performances.

For Commentary Switching, we rely on each venue’s crew arriving, understanding their job, and having minimal obstacles to overcome. When that equation doesn’t play out, it makes for a lot of stress. So with less than a week to go before the Opening Ceremony, our shift supervisor had the day off yesterday. He left the oldest guy in charge. This guy didn’t want to be in charge. I picked up on that, and went to speak to the guy. I asked him if he would rather me run our main desk, coordinating everyone’s efforts. He thanked me. So now all this capacity building and project management I’ve been working in was going to get a good test. What had to be overcome was language barriers, a multitude of tasks with 44 different locations, some special tasks that would occur during the day including the first real live unilateral broadcast by a rights holder, and finally, everything we did had to be handed off clearly to the second shift, which had yet to happen so far, even under the real supervisor.

We started with a morning briefing, in which I had everyone briefly share their experience from the day before, suggestions, issues, etc. After 20 minutes of that, I divided venues between crew, and gave specific questions for them to answer for each process they were carrying out. Once they finished with a venue, they would report back to me, where I would then log info into the computer. The computer log is the key component to our setup. It is an online spreadsheet that is viewed by top boss all the way down. I kept a close eye on each person in their station throughout the morning, noting who was light on load and could take an incoming issue. The live standup happened without a problem, we got about 75 percent more testing done than the previous two days, we did three sessions of special commentator unit training on the side, and had an updated report for the second shift coming in, letting them know the status of every sports venue. What made it work? Two things. I kept encouragement constant for each shift member, letting them know the importance of the job they were doing. Second, I kept communication clear. If they couldn’t explain what they had done, I helped them understand what needed to happen, and helped them talk through the procedure with the venue manager. Those elements had been missing before. Guys didn’t know the relevance of their tasks. If something seems irrelevant then why do it? I gave them a chance for feedback throughout process. Even the interns. Finally, I prayed. I knew I could do it, but I knew I needed to have God give me wisdom and patience throughout the process.

Most of the time, the Olympic gig for me is show up to work, do the tasks, then maximize the experiences out of the office. However, this go around I got the opportunity to have a new experience, that had nothing to do with China. At the end of the day, its a good feeling to know you’ve played an integral role in pulling off the largest event in the history of the world.

Misc update: The Olympic common area has opened up and so today I’m going to go check that area out. Also I’ve shifted work times from 7-4 to 3:30 pm to midnight. So the blog will get posted at a different time.