Learning While Listening: Recent Episodes
Pinnacle Development Group
Learning While Listening is the go-to tool for contractors wanting to grow professionally while maintaining the hectic pace required in the construction industry. Led by 30-year veteran Brad Humphrey, you'll take in actionable information that you can use to grow and advance in your career.
At the very heart of better work, safer work, more profitable work, is to do our jobs right, the first time. A huge key to this happening is to have your PMs, and Estimators, pull together the Job Folders correctly, and have each Foreman committed to reading through their Job Folder. Don’t be bashful, but quick to highlight something that is difficult to understand or write a question that you want to ask your PM to ensure you have the right perspective of the project. But no matter when you are given the Job Folder, read and study it before every even leaving for the site if possible.
You really can learn a lot from other industries and even some kids’ sporting events. Next time you go to your kid’s soccer game, or baseball game, or basketball game, take some good notes on how the event’s organization. Remember, when it comes to making your construction company better, you might be surprised where you can pick up some valuable tips.
Remember, you may hold more power than you think when it comes to raising our next generation of workers entering the construction industry. Give it all you can and you may just retain some of the biggest surprises to our future construction needs!
Here’s to being a great Foreman!
Bringing the eight actions presented here to life can better prepare the new worker for their possible full-time status. Now that the new worker is a known entity, the Foreman should be confident on where to use the new worker, whom to team them with at times, and what they can count on from the new worker in terms of their attitude and performance.
As the Foreman continues to work with the new employee, it will be important for them to continue emphasizing many of the following efforts. Remember, this new worker is still new to the company, the crew, and many will be new to construction. Therefore, it is vital that the Foreman continue the new employee’s learning experience but in a way that is also enjoyable and confidence building.
Foreman can greatly impact the new worker in the first week of work if they will determine to engage the worker. The foreman must adjust what they ask from the new worker based on what early signs they see of the worker’s current skills and knowledge level, always positioning the new worker to be in a safe situation. Not merely assuming the new worker will be “worthless” during their first week of work can go a long way to stimulating the new worker to like the company, like what they are doing, and to see the long-term benefits to staying with the company.
With the number of workers looking to construction as a career choice dropping, contractors must pull out all of the stops to give a new worker every excuse possible to stay with their new contractor, learning more about the many benefits of construction, and to continue their learning immediately.
Here’s to making the very first day at work for a new employee the same day they determined that construction and your company was right for them!
Be aggressive and creative on welcoming your new workers. Have some fun and make it clear that you are glad the new worker has accepted your job offer. Remind them that you are there to help them be the best that they are capable of becoming as a worker, professional, and person in the community. That sort of commitment, made by Owners and Senior Leaders, can go long in getting that loyalty and commitment that all Contractors want from a worker!
What moves a Work Process to a Work Procedure is the step-by-step efforts that must be made in order to be successful. So, in short, a Work Process names what we do, while Work Procedures document “How” we do it.
Learn more in this episode from Brad Humphrey, the Contractor's Best Friend!
To perform every project with such proactive and positive effort is reflective of people who take pride in their work, their preparation, and their reputation. This is what most contractors need to direct their time and attention to, the raising of the ordinary things as needing and benefiting from exceptional work efforts.
In the spirit of believing that we work in the world’s best industry, listen as Brad shares a few thoughts on why contractors are exactly the right medicine for bringing back not only the middle class but our great country too!