Site Supervisor: A Day in the Life

Our final day of work was Thursday. We do have a final debriefing coming up on Monday with the staff, but in regards to the house, we wrapped everything up there. We've created a Day in the Life as part of a reflection, and I figured I'd include here as well to give you an idea of what the average day was like for a site supervisor. Enjoy!

Site Supervisor: A Day in the Life

What is for breakfast?

Should I pack a lunch or an MRE?

Where are we working?

How is this done?

How many volunteers will I have?

How can I teach them when I just learned last week?

What's a chop saw?

These are just a few of the many questions in the heads of Badger 6 site supervisors, and this is before we've even arrived at work. The typical day of a site supervisor on the St. Bernard Project tends to get fairly busy, and just one day is an experience that can be so positively overwhelming and productive that breeds a new story that is shared with the rest of the team on our van ride home.

The role of a site supervisor, to start out with, is to train, supervise, and work with a group of volunteers at a specific house that is being rebuilt. Each house is at various stages of the rebuilding process, and we have been (and are throughout) trained on each stage of construction. Because we are working with volunteers of different ages and skill levels, we begin each day with many questions to think about, especially considering anything can happen and everybody works differently.

Objective Number 1: Unlock the house, organize our tools, plug in the electricity, and break out the plan.

We've got about 15-30 minutes before volunteers arrive, and a plan needs to come to fruition.

Objective Number 2: Introductions and Orientation

Typically, we have very little to no information about the people now standing in front of us. It's time to break out the duct-tape name-tags and break some serious ice. These people are probably excited to get going, but we've got a mission: to immerse them into our world and the homeowner's story and get a grasp of what will be happening and what will be accomplished this week and why. Trust us, by the end of the week these folks will be happy when they can remember everyone's name and install dry-wall while feeling comfortable enough around each other to sing their guilty pleasures from the radio out loud and proud.

Objective Number 3: Train

So we just learned this yesterday. Now we've got to show our volunteers how to stagger a butt seam and feather mud over tape. What does that mean, you ask? Good question, you'll have to ask our volunteers, because now they know, and somehow we've managed to teach them.

Objective Number 4: Supervise

So now the volunteers have gotten the hang of it, right? Wrong. Our job isn't done. There is always that one person who wasn't paying attention, and couple of others who have already done this before and will start doing things their own way. It's time to keep an eye out and work alongside until everyone is on the same page. The process in which we rebuild is important, and as a site supervisor, we've got to emphasize that while also recognizing volunteer strengths and weaknesses. Everyone is an asset, and we can only work efficiently if we are working as a team.

Objective Number 5: Safety

This house may have a homeowner, but for the moment, this our house. We've got to keep things organized and clean, make it a safe environment for volunteers, inform them of safety precautions and gear, understand volunteer allergies and restrictions, and make sure they know how to use the tools and take plenty of water breaks.

Objective Number 6: CAP

We wouldn't be Badgers if we didn't love talking about how incredible we are. Typically, we'll talk about about this during our introductions and orientation, but it's always fun to talk about NCCC. In most cases, volunteers will ask many questions anyway, so its best we stay on our "A" game. Pun intended.

Objective Number 7: Keep Everyone Busy and Having Fun

There's typically a lot to do, but a big part of our job is to make sure people aren't bored or just standing around. "Getting Things Done" applies not just for us but also for our amazing volunteers. Crank up the radio, get messy, and work together, and you've got the essentials for a fantastic work-day. In short, your volunteers will be requesting a break so you can reteach huckabucks so they can go home and show their family and friends what they learned from their site supervisors.

-- Follow all these simple objectives, and you've completed the average workday for a St. Bernard Project Site Supervisor. 4:00pm will roll around, and its time to begin clean up. We wrap up with our volunteers 4:30pm, give our congratulations on a job well-done, and take a breather as we do some final clean-up and lock-up until 5PM, when we wait for our fearless Team Leader to arrive in the van lovingly referred to as the DuckBoat. Our van ride back consists of stories of our day, our volunteers, our frustrations, and accomplishments. It's been quite a day, and as we look at each other in astonishment over what we've completed, we realize what we're now capable of. We can totally do this! So, did anyone find out about that chop saw thingy?