Investing for Sustainability - Growth Hurts

“I can’t afford to invest more in talent development or process streamlining because we have a bunch of bad projects.”

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This may come from the different levels - for instance a crafts person who is too focused on individual productivity to train their apprentice.  It may come from the Project Manager who is too overloaded with work to train their Project Engineer.

Leadership Tools: Growth Hurts. How effectively are you investing your dollars?

The only way a contractor can truly grow sustainably is to build a culture that is focused on continuous personal-development and teaching others.  Truly great development hurts - it stretches our brains to grow the same way physical exercise stretches our muscles. Most of your team will resist this level of exertion and insist there is an easier way.  Most of your team will rationalize away performance problems and downplay the need for training.  

The management teams of growing contractors systematically lead their teams through extremely rigorous training building them to dominate tomorrow’s construction environment.


Look at your business and the stage of growth it is in.  

Is your team prepared (or preparing) for the next stage of growth?

What pain are you avoiding today that will be 10X worse in the near future?  




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.
Continuous Improvement - Takes or Saves Time
I am too busy to learn to improve the process! This statement is only funny because it is so true. It is one of the first mindsets you have to break within yourself and then within your team if you want to achieve consistent operational excellence.
Ownership Transition and Capital Basic Model
When a contractor goes through an ownership transition, the business itself is the proverbial goose laying the golden egg. Remember the basic math formula for ownership transitions and use this simple calculator as a starting point.