by chriscrimmins on November 2, 2009
in Leadership
In the world of construction, what gets you in the door is not what keeps you in the door.
I run across two types of contractors that make me think about the idea that product is king.
1. ”At least the end product was good!” These are the guys you can’t get on the telephone, that won’t come in budget, that won’t move you in on time. But they found the loophole that product is king. Their drywall work is perfection, their restoration abilities untouchable. The problem is that I hate this approach, I don’t think it promotes pride or trust in our industry. More than that it stresses people out. If you are this person, bring a marketer alongside of you, allow a proper manager to run the scene. The success will only be dwarfed by the praises spoken about your team. To me, the product is harder to come by, I think deep down we all know that.
2. “They look good on paper!” Once in a while I will come across a great looking sub or contractor who seems to have it all together. Clean vehicles, proper tools, they even show up on time. The problem is their product took a back seat to their image. Restaurants can be this way. Books, vacations, well anything I suppose. Don’t hire based on looks alone. I’m glad my wife understood that principle.
So spend initial energy on the product. Before the doors open, before a page is read, a bicycle rode, make sure the product will win. If you follow Seth Godin at all, you are familiar with what marketing can do for any item or business. Good marketing gets you in the door, but if the product bombs, or is incomplete, or lets you down, the negative chatter will soon expose the marketing mask.
So lets churn out high quality products. Your product could be your voice, a service, a product, or ideas. If the product comes first, you will be noticed.
I want to bring special attention to a Herculine effort on the part of our crew. This inner circle of our team shows that they have much more than just knowledge, they have a passion for what we do.
If you live in Middle Tennessee, you know we have had major rain this week. So much rain that it is easy to justify staying home. We are currently running two projects, one a small basement bathroom install for a repeat client of ours (West), and kitchen remodel addition (Fields/Newton) . Friday night about 8:30 I received a call from Fields/Newton letting me know that the side door was not locking and that there was rain water accumulating in the unfinished basement. Now to set the scene, Tuesday we excavated and placed footers, Wed and Thur we laid block. All of this in between bouts of rain. Our goal is to have them back in by Thanksgiving, so keeping time is of importance.
I myself am in Kentucky camping so the first thing I did was call Eric (project manager) and Jeff (carpenter) to see where they were. Unbelievably on Friday night at 8:30 they were just heading home after working through some kinks at the West project. I got ahold of Jeff and he volunteered to turn around and head to Sylvan Park. Eric called shortly after, he was having dinner with West, and said he was heading over there too. I touched base about 10:30 and they had solved the problems and were chatting with our clients.
Jeff and Eric get it. They had been working since 6:30 A.M. and still had the desire to make sure things were right. What they get doesn’t have anything to do with working a 16hr day, it has everything to do with why we are here. Not only is the quality of a project necessary, but the client experiences is of equal importance.
I have always dreamed of construction being an experience you can’t wait to be a part of. Skilled artisans, well thought out plans, impeccable design (thanks to Mary) and clients willing to enjoy the process. I see that dream becoming a reality on weeks such as this. When our inner team steps up and is willing to help build that goal.
For those of us in the building industry, don’t settle for what you can get away with. Embrace quality construction and thoughtful planning. Allow the client on your team. Most importantly tell the story of your entire team, from accounting (Thanks Kurt) to cabinetmaking. (Thanks Chris Barber).
For clients, you can be a part of this too. Allow construction to be an art. There are men and women working harder than they should be striving to make your home a better place. Celebrate the wins, laugh at the kinks. Most importantly join in the experience and become a part of something that matters.
Eric and Jeff, you rock. Your work this week has been exemplary.
Questions:
Who do you need to acknowledge for their efforts? Be specific
What are you a part of that matters?
When I created Crimmins Construction, I wanted to flee the norms. I wanted to embrace new methods, create magnificence, and work alongside true craftsmen. Not only that, I wanted team. True synergy worthy of rivaling the greatest companies out there. I wanted to use this synergy to change the experience for the clients we worked with, from previous disasters to the positive anticipation for future project. I wanted to bring out the best from the workers around me by placing them in appropriate roles and calling out of them the greatness that resides in our profession and in themselves.
From my previous experience in the construction field, all to often workers and leaders use negative means to elevate themselves to a greater position than the one laboring next to them. This is carried out in a multitude of ways.
1. Constant bickering or inward fighting.
2. Withholding important knowledge or information from co-laborer for selfish gain.
3. Badmouthing the co-laborer to foreman, head boss or team member.
4. Resisting new information that contradicts their existing knowledge.
For leaders it is easy to blame this behavior on outside influences. “Lack of education, their lower middle class ways.” The lack of action has a few consequences: Continued stress, reduction in energy, and ultimately discarding the failed relationship. How will those around us change if greatness is not called out of them. The dissolution off the relationship only enforces their incorrect attitude towards the world. This then is our challenge, to call greatness out of all people we interact with.
The definition of a leader that I hold on to is how many lives you change for the positive. Changing lives by calling greatness out of those around us not only takes guts, but it takes energy. Here are a few ways I want to do this:
1. Teach and model celebration for the successes of our employees and subs.
2. Creating a team mentality that will foster a mentoring attitude.
3. Never discipline a failure where the aim was to invent and create new.
If performed correctly, this will spread much further than our immediate company. I spoke with an architect a while back and was recounting a lunch meeting with another builder that I had. The architect said, “I can’t believe you want to know them, whenever I meet another architect I think negative things about them.” Even though this particular architect delivers a decent product, he will only ever produce, not multiply!
What are ways you use to replicate greatness?
