The Right People - Jim Collins

Contracting is not a generally business where the strategies are complex or all that different. What differentiates contractors is their ability to execute the basic strategies consistently.

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Effective execution comes down to people, process and tools - in that order.

Quote: Leaders of companies that go from good to great not with where but with who. Jim Collins.

Jim Collins explores the traits of long-term sustainably growing businesses in his book “Good to Great” where he describes how leaders of the best companies view people and how they simplify their strategies.

  • Put together a high-level scoreboard of the basics you need for a sustainable contracting business.  This dashboard should include basic metrics around customer satisfaction, profitability, cash flow, growth, safety and succession bench strength for all key roles.  
  • Develop a company operating rhythm of key meetings and feedback reporting that address address each area of the scoreboard.  These will include opportunity review meetings, interview slots, project reviews, company financial reviews, evaluations, etc.  
  • Lead a culture where egos are focused on using whatever skills anyone on the team has to improve the scoreboard.  Eliminate ego about position and keep internal competition positive. 
  • Focus on continuous improvement to processes and specific role responsibilities adjusting regularly for the optimum outcomes.  

Schedule a call to learn how we help contractors grow profitably.  




Resource - Stratified Systems Theory (SST) and Timespan 101
All contractors navigate through very predictable stages of growth, delivering larger and more complex projects. Business complexity evolves requiring different capabilities at all levels. Tom Foster lays out some of these key differences very clearly.
Management System Improvements (4 Interlinked Phases)
Many improvements fall short of expectations because steps are skipped in the earlier phases. Following these four phases will result in faster overall adoption of the changes, better outcomes, and most importantly, development of the team.
The Teacher and the Student in All of Us
The rate a contractor can grow is the average speed the team learns and teaches at. We are all teachers and we are all students. There are many things that we can do to improve ourselves on both sides of that equation.