Efficiency is a word that gets thrown around a lot in arboriculture. Efficient scheduling, efficient climbing, efficient cutting, efficient report writing, efficient management, etc. Not to sound cliche, but time is limited, so at the very least, we need to make the most of it if we want to be successful arborists.

Luckily, there’s a secret to this process of efficient decision making, and it’s a one step solution to keep the wheels of profitability turning.

Ask this simple question: is it [am I] being useful?

This question has a magical ability to calm, declutter, and positively affect everyone around you. Coworkers, colleagues, clients; artistically, emotionally and professionally. If we manifest our decision making process in the context of usefulness, the role we play as arborists, and ultimately as humans at large, will positively affect the environment we live and work in.

It’s also a relatively vague concept, because it’s rather subjective, right? What’s useful for one person may not be very useful to another. And so I’ll highlight some scenarios.

For example, Tony has a handsaw that is, in his own opinion, completely dull. Tony makes mention of this to Christina, his colleague. She takes the handsaw, makes a cut with it, and states that the handsaw is still cutting fine, and has life left to it. For Tony, the handsaw is not useful any longer. For Christina, it is. Therefore, we see in this case that usefulness is a very subjective concept when we apply it to certain objects. But that’s not important. What’s important, in this scenario, is that it aids the decision making process regarding the object, rather than having anything to do with the object specifically. Christina can take the handsaw, and give it new life. Tony can relax better on the job with a new, sharp handsaw that makes him happy. Each person answered the question of usefulness, subjectively nonetheless, and each person benefited by utilizing the solution to be profitable.

Another example is this: Rhonda and Robbie have a removal to do at 101 Ash Lane. The tree is located in the back yard of the house. There’s plenty of space to fell the tree either to the left or to the right. It’s not very large. Felling the tree either way would create the same cleanup and the same distance brush drag path to the chipper. Rhonda states that she’s going to chap up and fell the tree towards the left side of the house. Robbie hears this, and in his mind, prior to talking over the work plan with Rhonda, had the idea in his own mind to fell the tree the other way. But, utilizing the secret method of usefulness, before Robbie changes the plan, he can ask himself the question: Am I being useful? If Robbie realizes that he won’t be useful conversing with Rhonda and changing the plan for no efficient reason, then he can make greater contributions to the job site and also to the production of the work being done. Robbie may come up with more useful options such as: setting up a safety zone around the project while Rhonda preps her gear, setting a tagline in the tree to be felled for a greater and safer leverage advantage, unloading the stump grinder from the trailer, or talking to the home owner for a brief job site overview. All of these things would create the potential for Robbie to be more useful than making a case for a situation that wouldn’t add to the overall efficiency of the project.

Am I being useful? Am I being useful to what, exactly?

I think that it’s important to have a clear objective before you start asking that question, or the air can get even cloudier. In fact, the goal in which you are trying to achieve constitutes the usefulness you are trying to justify. And let’s be honest, maybe you can’t always truthfully answer the golden question.

Especially when it comes to the foggy world of plant health care, and even more specifically, curative and preventative pest treatments.

Let’s take the current and common case of Emerald Ash Borer. Some people have made a statement for curative treatments, and some people have made a case for preventative treatments. On either side of the argument, each respective arborist asks themself the question: Am I being useful? or Is the product/service being useful? (pertaining to their philosophy regarding the IPM plan). On the surface, to answer the question rightfully so, you need to consider this: is the pest active or not? Because that’s the main objective, or at least on the surface it is. But there is a deeper layer to usefulness in this example, and maybe it’s rooted in ethics, I don’t know. Usefulness in its application to pest management can’t simply stop on the surface. It leaches through many horizons. That same usefulness can be applied to the tree as an organism, to the client and their needs emotionally or monetarily, and also to the overall environment that the tree is located in. Now we have multiple layers of usefulness, each one requiring there own answer to the universal question in order to support an efficient arboriculture experience.

Some practice questions: Is managing old trees useful? Is strategically designing the urban environment useful? Is tree removal useful? Is client education useful? Is personal development useful?

It can be argued either way, certainly. And will be, forever. But when the objective is clearly laid out and highlighted, the idea of usefulness is streamlined and becomes the sharpest tool we have in the decision making shed.

Unfortunately, being useful isn’t always fun or easy.