Failure is a Potent Teacher

Failure is a very potent teacher for construction contractors if:

D. Brown Management Profile Picture
Share
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




Five Stages of Adult Behavior
The larger your team gets the more important it is to learn as much about talent development as you have learned about construction means and methods. These are not skills that can be delegated to someone in HR.
TOOL: Growth Inflection Point Summary + Self-Evaluation Worksheet
At certain growth inflection points, you must re-evaluate your strategy, systems, structure, and leadership focus. Use this worksheet as a guide to help you determine if you are at an inflection point requiring change or focus on refinement.
Cash Flow Explained
Contractors run on very thin profit margins however cash flow is even more important for sustainable growth. Poor cash flow is a primary reason for contractors failing or their profitable growth being seriously constrained.