Failure is a Potent Teacher

Failure is a very potent teacher for construction contractors if:

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Leadership Tools: Failure is a Potent Teacher.
  • You don’t define failure just as CATASTROPHIC events that seriously damage your business.  
  • You define failure broadly as ANYTHING that is not adding value to the customer or slowing your progress.  
  • You embrace failure as part of the learning process diving deeply into the Root Cause Analysis (RCA). 
  • You develop a culture and systems so that everyone on the team thinks about the business as a series of interrelated cycles.  Consider all the interrelated cycles from the installation of a light fixture in the field to to the monthly project review meetings to the annual business planning process.  
  • Your whole team views each cycle as an opportunity to improve (PDCA)
  • You have developed structured processes for continuously updating your Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) as your team learns then rolling them out across the company improving the whole team’s capabilities.  

Book Resources:

The Five Elements of Effective Thinking

Thinking in Bets

Related LinkedIn Posts:  

Churchill - Failure is NOT Fatal

Fail 9 Times to Succeed




Growth and Opportunity
Contractors that are growing profitably, have great reputations with their customers, and have a good culture are able to attract and retain the best talent even with the talent shortages the construction industry will face in the next 10+ years.
Recruit, Develop, and Retain
We help contractors grow profitably by focusing relentlessly on all aspects of talent development.
Weekly Percent Planned Complete (PPC) and Project Performance
Improving the project planning and delivery process starts with improving predictability around the schedule. Nearly every Superintendent and Foreman is familiar with the Short-Interval-Plan (SIP) and typically fill one out weekly looking ahead 1+ weeks.