Grow Sustainably with Great Talent

The contractors who want to attract and retain the best talent must provide opportunities for their career growth and that comes from having a strategic growth plan.

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This means a tough and scary strategic leap of faith for many contractors who are already suffering from labor shortages at the craft and management levels.  

Leadership Tools: Which came first? Chicken or Egg compared to Talent or Growth. You can't grow sustainably without great talent.
  1. Design your future state 2X org chart for where you need to be 5 years out.  Look at it with the assumption that you will be able to find internal and external candidates to fill key roles as well as to build your field workforce if applicable.   
  2. Identify those who will likely be leaving on their own or with some help in the next 1-3 years and 4-7 years.  If you are a self-performing contractor include a percentage of your field workforce that you know will or needs to be turned over.
  3. Review your internal team for accelerated development opportunities to fill larger roles on the organizational structure while providing them the scaffolding of training, coaching and mentoring from both inside and outside the company.  
  4. Clearly identify your talent gaps that need to be filled roughly by year - both recruiting and training requirements.  
  5. Invest more aggressively than you ever have before in building your capabilities around the 9 Talent Processes.  You will close those gaps if you develop a plan and execute relentlessly towards your goal.



Contractors Are Like Sharks
Contractors never get to slow down. They must always be moving forward on the hunt for the next high-quality project, the talent to build that project and always improving their operational capabilities to deliver that project successfully.
Racing, Equipment, Heart Rates, and Contractor Growth
The fastest marathon runner used shoes costing $300 and is 2X as fast as an intermediate runner. The fastest 100-mile bicycle time is about 2.5X faster than the fastest marathon runner, going nearly 4X as far. Contractor and career growth is similar.
What is Lean
Labor productivity in the construction industry impacts all contractors and project owners and has become even more challenging with the craft labor shortage.