This Company Policy establishes the importance and regular routine of sending by FAX, PDF, eMail or whatever, a copy of the standard Daily Stat Report for Vibrant Life, to BOTH Karl Loren and Clifford Woods as of the close of business (usually 6 PM or later) of every day that Vibrant Life is "open" to do business with the public.

In the recent past this was not done as an expected, routine, daily action and I found myself often wondering what the stats were for the day.

Also, i have a larger purpose in getting more acceptance by VL staff so that anyone should know how to do this, and so that Steven A. (then DED, now gone) or Kimberly W. (then Div 4 I/C, now gone) are NOT the only ones to do it daily, but could do it, of course on a bypass. It would not be too much to consider this an 'honor" for the newest VL Staff Member in the Company -- to be assigned to HIM as HIS primary responsibility to send this report, and others to watch to help or take over only when necessary.

Karl Note on August 16, 2008: This above was done with Luis Martinez, the most junior member of the VL Staff, given the personal responsibility for sending the Daily Report.

At a critical time (a Friday night when the end-of-the-week report is used to evaluate the activities for the whole week, and set the condition of the Company and of individuals for that week), Luis sent his usual nightly eMail report, indicating that the stat report was attached.

Unfortunately, the eMail arrived without the attached report -- same was true for the message sent to Clifford Woods. By the time I read my message, there was no one available to correct the error. All VL Staff had left.

Both Clifford and I generally always work on business matters all through the weekend. One of the most important things we would do every week (same is true of the DED) is to examine the week's statistics.

Fortunately the office had not yet returned to the time when we routinely created PDF copies of the stat reports and could include them with an eMail message -- so Luis DID send the graphs by FAX -- and both Clifford and I received THEM.

This now gives rise to a REVISION of this Company Policy.

With a Company as small as we are, with only 4 fully active staff members, we cannot afford the problems caused by any one of those four making a "small" mistake.

There is a whole procedure, every Friday night, where the DED as well as Clifford Woods and myself, should look at the end-of-the-week statistics, figure the condition and plan on how to implement the needed conditions formulas. If that cannot be done on a Friday night because the person responsible for providing the stats "made a mistake," then it is also likely that there will be no other person who can correct this "no-report." That means, further, that it may well be Monday morning before that critical evaluation is done. (One wonders, too, whether there are other, unseen, mistakes of undone work on a Friday when Staff may want to leave?)

As I've quoted Mr. Hubbard elsewhere:

If an executive is trying to do his or her job and looking ahead and handling things and yet is being hit constantly with bad news and problems and has his in-basket loaded continually.

a. HE IS GETTING NONCOMPLIANCE AND FALSE REPORTS

and

b. HIS JUNIORS ARE NOT GETTING HIS ORDERS EXECUTED

and

c. HIS JUNIORS ARE NOT PUTTING IN ETHICS BUT LEAVING IT ALL TO HIM. (quoted from here)

 

The part of this Company Policy, above, that indicates that the DED, Steven A. (now gone), should NOT be the person who has to personally see to it that the Daily Reports are sent to me and to Clifford Woods -- that part is now changed so that on FRIDAY NIGHTS there must be someone senior to Luis who stays at the office until LUIS HAS CORRECTLY SENT OUT THE DAILY STAT REPORT and checks to be sure it was done correctly. When some period of weeks has gone by and Luis is doing this part of his work smoothly, the DED can recommend to me that I re-change this Company Policy to revert to the earlier intention of rewarding the most junior Staff Member with an important responsibility.

It is often true that when simple alertness is all that is needed, when that simple alertness is missing, executives have to create new Company Policies or mechanical methods of ensuring the Policy is followed.

Mr. Hubbard has indicated that, "Orders occur where responsibility has failed.

Non compliance only occurs when orders have had to be issued.

False reports only occur where ignorance of data or avoidance of orders occurs.

And the down spiral begins when responsibility has failed.

I don't think I need to overrun this by drawing further pictures.

L. Ron Hubbard

Source HCO PL 25 January 1968, Orders and Responsibility, Page 328

It is a bad sign when the retiring owner, on a week end, has to revise a POLICY to enforce a POLICY, and include an order where it should not have been necessary. But while a bad sign, it is NOT a surprise if the Company is still not completely out of the Company-wide Danger Condition it was in.

"Going home early" with the justification of "coming to work early" is not an acceptable practice, as it seems to have become with some -- if that person is the only one who can do something and that something is needed by the Company at 6 PM or so.

This applies to the sending of this Daily Stat Report but also to ANY other normal business function. We work from 9 to 6 (New Company Policy to be added to other normal employment rules) with an hour for lunch. "Eating on the fly" to make it a "9 to 5" work day is OK only with the Manager's agreement and only when we are NOT in a Company-Wide Danger Condition and only when there is SOMEONE who is working until 6 PM to handle incoming Public calls. Whoever is present at work at 6 PM should send the daily Stat Report to both Karl and Cliff.

The 9 to 6 PM is now the normal work day. However, if on any Monday, the condition of the stat (normal daily stat) shows "normal or above" for the previous week, then the senior manager on location may approve a 9 to 5 PM work day for THAT week, with "lunch on the fly" -- being eaten at the desk or at the building lunch room and not taking more than thirty minutes off from work.

When the office was in my home I would look at the stat report many times during one day.  When I used to call my "home" from anywhere else, my home where my office was, every call included my first question of whoever answered the phone:  "How are the stats?"

 

Anyone who worked there when I was not in the home/office, will tell you that that was my question and that they got used to expecting that and most people could start printing the stat report as soon as they knew it was I on the phone.

 

And all staff should realize that if the usual person responsible for sending that stat to me and Cliff, near the end of the business day (not early) then some other staff steps in to do it.  This is not a formal bypass, but the cooperative action by a staff member who notices that the person normally responsible for doing it happens to not be there or has not done it properly.  Without formal ethics action or personal upset, the other person simply DOES the job and leaves a note for the one normally responsible:  "I sent out the Daily Report to KL and CW at 5 PM."

 

This handling is specifically written by LRH for cooperative handling without formal (danger) bypass.