In this podcast we cover:
- A question from a listener.
- How to get leaders to plan.
- What it means when they don’t.
- How tools them accountable.
If you like the Elevate Construction podcast, please subscribe for free and you’ll never miss an episode. And if you really like the Elevate Construction podcast, I’d appreciate you telling a friend (Maybe even two 😊).
Also, here are links to our YouTube Channels:
· Jason Schroeder YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4xpRYvrW5Op5Ckxs4vDGDg
· LeanTakt YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/leanTakt
· LeanSuper YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzQDevqQP19L4LePuqma3Fg/featured
· LeanSurvey YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-Ztn3okFhyB_3p5nmMKnsw
Welcome everybody out to Podcast #1155. In this podcast, I'm going to cover a topic that was brought up to me by text today, and the question was how can we get superintendents or project managers to plan in pre-construction stay with us. This is the Elevate Construction Podcast delivering remarkable content for workers, leaders, and companies in construction wanting to take their next step. Get ready to step out of your comfort zone with Jason Schroeder as he encourages you to do better, live a remarkable life, and expect more. Let's go! Welcome everyone. I hope you're doing well. I've got a really cool podcast for you right now. I just got done doing 20 videos for the YouTube channel. Most of them were about how to help construction companies, how to successfully run a construction project, and then whether or not superintendents can get fired, and if they should be fired in. So there's lots of really interesting topics on the YouTube channel coming out. Hopefully you subscribe to that. I really appreciate those who have. Let me go ahead and read some feedback from our listeners. So here we go. This is truly a hidden gem to be sought after, to be read many times, and to be implemented in the lives of those who want to raise their own level of leadership on the construction sites, as well as teaching these amazing gems to those fellow workers around us. Thank you, Jason, for compiling such a wonderful resource with which we construction management men and women can look to time and again for those meaty teaching methods and brilliant insights. This is my first time reading this amazing book, but it certainly will not be the last. So that was, that's really awesome. I believe that that came from the book review for elevating construction senior superintendents, also titled elevating construction project teams. So I'm just going to keep reading these down the list. Absolutely fantastic content. By the way, I'm in a Waymo in the passenger seat, heading home from my trip, probably going to get home sometime around 839. So I am availing myself of this wonderful privilege of being in this car driven by AI, and I'm going to get these podcasts out to you. So anyway, let me get right into the podcast itself, because I'm really interested in this topic. This might take me just a little bit. So I got a text. Let me go ahead and read the text. Here we go. Hi, Jason. I have two of my guys coming to your September superintendents workshop. We are a design build. This gives the team unfettered access to the design team. The guys still don't look at the plans, even though I repeatedly asked them to until they get to that point in the project. I wanted to get your advice on how to get the guys to plan ahead better, and after your training, how do I support the transition? In other words, do you have any advice for me as the owner on how to get them to follow the system? If you're available for a quick chat, please text me sometimes. Thank you. So after a little bit of phone tag back and forth, we finally got together and had a really great conversation. First of all, the thing that he's looking for is in the new book, "The First Planner System," and I just leaf through it on the plane on the way back when I didn't have internet. It talks about the lean system, how to engage with trade partners, and it talks about how to do this kind of planning and pre-construction. So it is the resource that he's looking for. So that was number one. And I said my exact feedback is to require the project manager or superintendent to do the right planning according to that book before we start the job. I don't know what the ramp is. I told him six weeks, three months, six months, whatever, but there's definitely a period of time in there. And I would schedule two fresh eyes meetings. And probably the first one would be just a sketchy bit earlier, but also realistic for people to do the planning. Second one would be enough time for us to make corrections, but a little bit later on in the process. And I said, "Here's what I would do." I would say, okay, tack plan, zone maps, logistics plan, your accountability chart, risk and opportunity register, trailer layout, procurement log, the whole nine. All of these planning documents, according to the book, I want them done before the meeting. And I said candidly, the first meeting will probably go pretty badly, meaning it's not going to be done. They'll say, "I didn't have time." And they're good people. I'm not criticizing them. But I didn't have enough time. How is this relevant? Why can't somebody else do it? I don't need to do it right away. And you're going to get a lot of that. And I said, we could provide a template of what a good plan looks like with all of those deliverables. Actually, it's already in the book, so it's not a big deal. But, and say, "Hey, this is what we need and needs to be thoroughly vetted. This is what we need here, needs to be thoroughly vetted." Right? And show an example. And basically hold them accountable and say, okay, there's a meeting in another week or two weeks. By that time, I do expect this to be done. The person that I was talking to, who's the owner of the business, was like, you know, you sound like I used to be when I was younger, but I'm a lot softer and kinder now. And this individual is wise and sharp, and so I don't know that I can help in any way. But to back him up, I shared this advice. I said, in my opinion, you're, you know, back in the day, get things done, this was probably attached to a lot of emotions. Probably attached to anger, frustration, urgency, nervousness, whatever the case may be. And that's probably what drove the progress. And then you were told by your spouse or society or business partners to tone it down. So you stop the emotional part. And then you also stop the holding people accountable part. And I said, that isn't the full picture. It's not be emotional and mean or be not emotional and not mean and don't say anything. There's actually an in between where you're not emotional, super kind to the point supportive, but you just say, this is how it will be done. You will do this. Like this, we must plan projects where they will fail and to hold them accountable in that way. And if they don't respond, be like, Hey, I want you here. I think you're great. You will plan this. And if you don't, I'll get someone else or I'll start looking for a replacement or I'll do it myself or whatever, whatever you have to do to get it done, not a threat, not a punishment. It's just matter of fact, middle of the road. This is how we do it. And you know, the frustration for me is like, being a superintendent is not walking around and pointing fingers and telling trade partners things that they already know. Being a superintendent is to do this kind of planning. A superintendent is a first planner. A superintendent is a planner of the project. It is a superintendent's job to create these plans, the tack plan, the zone maps, the logistics plans, all of these things and to think them through wonderfully. I was on the phone the other day with Bill Bilek and he was talking to me about his venture now where he does project planning. And he was showing me all these things and I'm like, Oh my gosh, I love this so much. And he was like, yeah, this is just how it's done. Go to Hansel Phelps. This is just how it's done. You go to any really great builder. This is how it's done. You go to the superintendent. Frank Crow for the Hoover Dam. He would just say, this is how it's done. You talk to the authors of how big things get done. This is just how it's done. This is your job as superintendent PM. It is your job to plan. It is your job to get it done. It is your job to do this thinking. Build it on paper first. That is how construction works. And I told him, I said, you know, I'm not trying to, I was like, I'm going to send a little bit negative here for just a second, but I don't really mean it that way. But they're essentially saying by not planning the project, I'll just go ahead and piss away your money. Hundreds of thousands of dollars because I'm being lazy right now. Yeah, that's not a problem, right? Like you can just give me a couple hundred grand, right? And just let me just do whatever I want and not follow orders. That is garbage. And then I brought it back to a little bit of positivity. The human beings are naturally designed from an evolutionary standpoint to reduce, to remove, to auto filter, to conserve calories, conserve energy, survive, and stay away from uncomfortable environments to keep us safe. And that is natural. It's human nature. And I explained to him, if you start holding them accountable, it's not like they don't want you to do it. They want you to do it. This is a biological process here. Most of the time in different species and especially in humans, that people have to push and push and push the limits until they find out what your limit really is and what the culture really is. And that's when they know, okay, this is serious. This is the culture. This is what we're doing. So by holding them accountable, you are setting the standard and eventually they'll learn to love it because you're raising them from mediocrity to excellence. So the bottom line is PMs and supers. It's project management 101. You plan the job. If you're not doing it, it's like a hairdresser that doesn't know how to cut hair. It's like a doctor that doesn't know anything about medicine, right? It's like a equipment operator that doesn't know how to operate equipment. It's just not done. These are the responsibilities that you have as a builder. And so I recommended to him that they go to the Super PM Bootcamp, read the book, get on the same page, show this as an expectation, schedule their fresh eyes meetings and hold them accountable and see where it goes. I really think that it's going to work. And I apologize for these loud vehicles around here. Apparently, there's a bunch of people with small weiners that are making up for it with really loud exhaust. Anyway, I hope you've enjoyed this podcast. On we go. Please join us next time in elevating the entire construction experience for workers, leaders, and companies coast to coast. If you're enjoying the show, please feel free to share with your construction colleagues and help us spread the word by rating, subscribing, and leaving a review on your preferred podcast. With your preferred podcast listening platform, we really appreciate it. We'll catch you next time on the Elevate Construction Podcast. [Music] [BLANK_AUDIO]
