Two Restaurants on Saturday Night

Leaders of construction companies have to make many decisions with less than perfect information.

D. Brown Management Profile Picture
Share

On one hand you never want to make a decision without good information.  On the other hand there is value in the timeliness of a decision and many times there will be imperfect information regardless of how much time you wait.

Leadership Tools: 2 Restaurants On a Saturday Night

The best leaders have a complex 5D Model in their heads at all times.  They have mental models of the market with the competition, their projects and their business as a whole. This “Situational Awareness” along with the ability to act decisively is crucial.  

Many times we are looking for perfectly formatted data in some sort of a report but there are indicators all over the place.  Consider two restaurants; Saturday evening; similar locations; similar food. One is packed consistently with a wait and the other is nearly empty serving a couple tables at a time.  

You don’t need detailed financial information to know there are problems and begin the troubleshooting process.  There are many similar indicators on projects and within contracting businesses. The more you train yourself and your team to “see” these then act upon them the better your team will operate.  

Part of the learning process is to see the indicators then to dig rapidly for supporting data to better evaluate.  

What are your main proxy indicators for productivity, safety, quality, morale, etc.?




Scoreboards & Scorecards: Talent Development + Business Results
Once someone understands the basics of the task to be done, nothing will improve performance faster than actionable and timely feedback. People align around common scoreboards (think sports) while more detailed scorecards guide decisions and development.
Incentive Compensations for Contractors - Calculations
It is counterproductive to have an incentive program that is either too subjective or too objective. In order to achieve a perception of equity across your teams, the right balance needs to be found.
CFMA: Effective Interviewing Processes
As part of the talent diagnostics luncheon, 83% of the group identified a lack of qualified candidates. Only 35% self-rated their interviewing process as “Very Effective,” while many cited lack of time to effectively manage the process.