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Bill, why make such a commitment to supervisors and managers at Hopkins County Coal? We’ve
got relatively inexperienced supervisors, people in supervisory roles that I think need
to be strengthened and encouraged to improve their skills. And professional help is needed
beyond what we can teach them here just by seat of their pants. So being successful in
a coal mine is more than just digging coal and getting it out of the ground? It’s very
challenging. It’s a very challenging environment with a lot of people that work unsupervised
and a lot of inexperienced people both in the leadership salary ranks and in the ordinary
ranks as well. Anything that we can do to advance peoples’ skills is necessary. We
do the same thing for mechanics, maintenance people like that and we need to do the same
thing for other underground managers as well. Well, in a coal mine besides the fact that
it is producing, it is ongoing, a lot of heavy equipment, but there’s also a safety issue
relative to coal mines. Tell me about when you pick a supervisor, when you advance or
promote a supervisor, what are some of the qualities that you look for that make an effective
supervisor you’ve learned over time in the mines? It’s the same thing in any industry,
I’m sure, when your best workers that has the best attitude that doesn’t miss work
and has respect for the people he works with. We probably capitalize on that and make that
person an official leader of the company. Now, I know from our previous conversations,
you’ve been in the mines for over 30 years yourself. You started, I guess, when you were
in college and have never really left and just advanced through the process. Over the
years, tell me some things that you’ve seen, generally speaking of course, but that have
been mistakes that otherwise good supervisors made that somehow ruined their opportunity
to be more effective. Well, that’s a good question. A lot of supervisors I think go
into with the expectation that if they work hard, that people will follow their example.
That’s not necessarily the case. People that have been really good, hard workers sometimes
will continue to work hard while the people that are around them that they’re supposed
to lead will stand by and watch. It’s hard for a supervisor to sit back and be patient
enough to let somebody else take the chance and learn. Well, on the flip side then, what
have you seen over the years, that if we could nail it down to one characteristic that’s
one characteristic that almost always proves to be the advantage that a supervisor has
over others? In other words, what makes a supervisor really good? I think honesty. I
think if a supervisor comes in and respects the people he works with, respects the people
he leads, is honest with him, he makes judgments that are in their best interest, I think they
support him in the follow. So in other words, it doesn’t make any difference if you’re
on the surface of the earth or beneath the surface of the earth, honesty still is paramount
wherever you go. I think so. I think people pick up on that and they know it’s a matter
of trust. And I think effective communication comes with that only if you have trust. Yeah.
Well, Bill, I’m looking forward to making my first trip beneath the surface here in
a few minutes. I appreciate you for making that available to me. I hope you enjoy it.
It’s going to be fun. And I’ve enjoyed working with you guys, too. Likewise. Alright,
we’ll talk again. Alright.