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Fostering creativity

Do you encourage creativity and initiative within your team, or do you just want them to follow your instructions and get it done?

I once had a boss tell me that he would like to run his company like a sergeant in WW1 so he could order his workers out of the trenches and shoot them if they refused! Now this is an extreme example of a narcissistic boss, and you will not be surprised to here that his staff turnover would average near 100% p/a, but in some ways I think he is verbalizing what a great deal of team leaders really feel; "I know best, do as you're told".

But what happens when the Sergent gets shot? Or takes leave, or decides to work on a new initiative?  Do you really want to develop a team of dependants that rely on you for every decision they make?  That is surely going to limit the effectiveness of both you and your team, and severely reduce the level of commitment and job satisfaction within your team.

The alternative is to develop a team of independent creative thinkers and problem solvers who come to to the office each day to stretch and push themselves and work at their art!

weighing up the options

So you've got a tough decision to make, you list out your options, give them each true consideration and decide the best course of action......... or did you?  Did you really consider all the options available to with the belief you could actually follow each of the paths?  Or did you discount those options that seemed out of reach, or too hard, or a place you just don't want to go?

So maybe you didn't really make a decision at all, maybe you followed your default path, the one you're comfortable with, the well worn path that's got you to where you are today.

Until you are willing to to go to the place that a decision will take you, you haven't considered it, and by doing so you are limiting your options and fooling yourself in the process!

finding your super power

Too often we do too much, spread ourselves too wide and our focus too broad and by doing so we dilute our efforts and results.  

When we start out, whether in our careers or businesses, we spread ourselves around by necessity, we don't yet know what we want to do or what we're good at so we try our hand at a bit of everything......but if you want to achieve something worthwhile sooner or later you'll need to find your superpower; that is the thing that you, or your business, does better then anybody else.

It's not always early to find your superpower but its the first step to achieving real success in your career or business.  For a few clues on where to start your search,  click here.

building a career

There's a golden rule to career progression in the building industry (or any other industry for that matter); PERFORMANCE PRECEDES REWARDS.  If you want to advance your career you simply have to show the willingness to do more than you get paid for and show that you are capable of performing a role or taking on responsibilities beyond your current pay grade.  Once you have shown your capabilities you become more valued by your employer and you are then in turn rewarded accordingly.

This is a simple idea but it’s amazing how many times I've heard people say; I don't get paid for that, or when I get paid for that then I'll do it............. It's never going to happen; you will never get paid to fill an important role without first proving your worth!

So why all the resistance?  Because stepping up is hard, it takes commitment and dedication, it means staying back to finish the project even when you don't get paid for it, or making that tough phone call, or important decision that nobody else is willing to make.  It means becoming a leader instead of running with the pack, and most of all it means stretching yourself beyond your comfort zone!

It's hard yes, but the payoffs by far out-weight the work and once you get used to stretching and working outside of your comfort zone you find it becomes uncomfortable rather than scary!

For a more in depth guide to becoming a leader take a look at this.

the value of meetings.........

Meetings are expensive and massive time sinks.  Generally we tend to hold meetings too often, leave them too unstructured and rarely draw discussions to valuable conclusions.  Most often we hold them because we believe we should.

Some suggested changes to make your meetings more effective;

1. Ask if it's necessary?  Would a call conference or group email be more effective?  What value does it bring to the company, what would happen if we didn't hold the meeting?
2. Give it a purpose.  Let everyone know why the meeting is taking place, send out an agenda and give the participants specific guidelines for their involvement, I.e. a breakdown of what they are to report.
3. Limit it's time. Schedule the meeting with a start and finish time, and limit each individuals reporting time. 
4. Don't call it a meeting. Call it a project briefing or team briefing or financial reporting session or something that describes the main purpose of the meeting.   This will allow participants to arrive prepared and focused. 
5. Assign a time keeper. The time keeper's job is to keep the meeting on track in terms of both topic and time.
6. Hold it late in the day.  People are less inclined to drag out a meeting if it starts to cut into their own time.
7. Keep track of the meeting costs and let everyone know.  For a handy meeting calculator click here.  I would also add the opportunity cost for each participant to get a true value of the meeting cost.

In the wisdom of crowds, James Surowiecki concluded that the combined wisdom of a group is of greater value than each of it's individuals (the group is wiser than the individual).  But there was a qualification; greater combined wisdom was only achieved when each individual had a degree of independence and not swayed by the other opinions of the group.  So this means is that if you want the best outcome for a debate or issue, rather than hold a group meeting and/or open forum where the most assertive of the group sway the ideas of the less assertive, you will achieve a better outcome by giving the issue or idea to each member of your team and asking for independent feedback. 

Remember; a camel is a horse designed by a committee!

lessons from volvo

Volvo's point of difference used to be it's commitment to safety; they were less concerned with looks or performance and more focussed on getting you and your family there safely.  In fact their cars used to be dog ugly, perhaps this was part of their strategy?

At some point the game changed, safety became standardised industry wide, ratings were introduced and safety became an expectation rather than a choice.  Volvo lost their marketing strategy and had to completely change their company image and there-by producing the much more aesthetically pleasing and "outdoorsy" range of cars they produce today.

The Volvo lesson is that when something becomes implied it can no longer be used as an effective marketing strategy. 

In the construction industry quality is implied.  No client wants to hear about your companies focus on quality, they may want to see evidence of a quality assurance accreditation but that’s just a box ticking exercise.  There are standards with checks and measures to ensure your quality of work is up to scratch, so if you're building a marketing plan around quality......back to the drawing board.

Also implied is your compliance to OH&S regulations and soon to be implied (if not already) is compliance to sustainable construction practices.  Not implied yet is early project delivery, great communication and customer service and solid post contract follow on support........but you'd better get in quick!

Construction software; less is more

Most construction software tries to do too much.  Software developers seem to be pushing to create the nirvana of software, one that does everything required to run a construction company and more.  This end is most probably being pushed by requests from construction practitioners themselves and that's where the problem may begin. 

If you consider the reverse, what would you say to a software developer who requested a building tool that did everything required on a building site?  You'd say that although there are some multi-tools available on the market, construction professionals tend to use specific tools for specific tasks; the right tool for the right job!

Often construction software is too bulky and complicated, requires too much training for new users, and is susceptible to glitches and major crashing.  Further, adopting a complete suite option can become risky; if your server of software crashes everything stops.  Also, you make a big investment in your software choice which creates a larger barrier to entry to any new innovations in software that come onto the market.

My preference is to use a few selected software solutions for specific tasks I would choose a solid estimating, cost control and accounting package as my core suite and then use purpose build software for specific tasks, I.e. For a contact manager I would use a purpose built CRM.  For email and general documents I prefer to utilise common software like the MS office suite as much as possible (training requirement zero and hard to beat general performance). 

The most value (the 20%)to come out of your review of your software requirements may be to analyse the way your company works in relation to available software; rather than adopting bulky and complicated software to match your business processes, use simple, streamlined software as a catalyst to simplify your business. 

the pareto principal

The Pareto Principal (otherwise known as the 80/20 rule), asserts that 20% of causes create 80% of results.  Unlocking this idea in your company can unleash huge results and here is a quick rundown of the way this rule may apply to the construction industry;

1. 80% of profits come from 20% of projects  
2. 20% of projects and/or customers take 80% of your time to manage
3. 20% of staff or contractors produce 80% of work or results (or profit)
4. 80% of resources are taken up on 20% of projects
5. 80% of problems come from 20% of causes
6. 20% of your time will yield 80% of your results or outputs

Now this is just a quick example of the most common applications of the rule and it will vary depending on how efficient your team is currently running and the rule may also apply to different degrees. I.e. 90% of problems are caused by 10% of causes or 40% of projects deliver 60% of profits etc.  The importance is to find the imbalances, value and slack and to then act accordingly.

For more detailed exploration into this principle look here.

 

we've changed

I had a visit today from a supplier that I'd dealt with on a previous project,  I'd had a lot of problems with them and was very vocal  with my feedback to this effect.  They produce a very specialized product and going into the project I had very high expectations of them which only heightened my disappointment and level of frustration.  And if you asked me I'd have sworn they hadn't heard a word I'd said!

So when I saw the sales rep walk up the drive to the office today I my first thought was; I hope we haven't got these guys on any of our projects......maybe there's time to warn the appropriate PM???  Imagine my surprise when he requested to speak with me......

"We've changed what we do and how we do it, not an adjustment; a totally new approach!  We've listened to the feedback we've received and decided we needed to make some big changes, and we'd like to work with you again".

Now the easy road would have been to cut their losses with me, make the appropriate changes and move on to new customers and opportunities.  Turning up cap-in-hand to a disgruntled former customer with a strong chance of getting a door slammed in your face takes courage but it's definitely worth the pay-off; my story about this company has now changed from "avoid at all costs" to "I didn't have a great experience but I believe they've made some changes and I'd consider working with them again.  In an ever shrinking world opinion and word of mouth is everything.....

just remember, everybody has a story about you!