Increased Value by Lowering Variability

A construction business is capable of providing a very high return to the owners who have their capital at risk as well as the team members that work there.

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The leadership teams of contractors must constantly assess where the business is at in the growth cycle and whether their current strategy, structure, talent and management processes are ready for the next stage of growth.  

Leadership Tools: Increase Business Value by Lowering Variability. Sustainable Growth through Balanced Execution.

As a business is growing; especially with a strong leader in place it is easy to become what we call a hollow contractor.  A hollow contractor typically has performed extremely well in some years.  

What they are typically missing is a depth of talent at all levels supported by scalable processes and training that enables sustainable growth.   

  1. Get your market strategy right ensuring consistency through various economic cycles.
  2. Set up your organizational structure to support this market strategy.  Focus on the roles and capabilities that are necessary; not the people.  
  3. Know where your talent gaps are in both bodies and capabilities.  
  4. Aggressively fill those gaps through training, recruiting and when necessary by terminating.    

Only after this foundation is well under way should you focus on the next steps.  




Cash Flow Tip 17 - Cascading Reporting Systems
Developing rigorous weekly Operating Rhythms in your business will help everything run smoother just like they do at the project level.
Process Improvement and Cycle Times
When contractors grow inefficient processes usually get substantially more inefficient dramatically changing the Return on Investment (ROI) model. Saving a few minutes over 1,000 cycles per month means $60K+ potential savings over a couple years.
Lean Principle - Value Add vs. Non Value Add
For specialty contractors the field workforce represents most of their competitive advantage as well as their biggest source of variability. Making improvements to field productivity requires deeply understanding what truly adds value to the customer.