Slow days build better leaders

MCS Influencer Anthony Ortega reminds contractors that sometimes productivity means investing in your crew. 

In roofing, especially in mountain markets, downtime is inevitable. Weather moves in, schedules shift, projects get delayed and sometimes you simply don't have enough productive work ready for every person that day. The easy answer is to send people home, so we can say, "Let's save some money on labor"! Here at VIOTELL, we want to flip the script on slow days and build our people into better leaders. One idea from Good to Great that has always stuck with me is “first who, then what.” Get the right people on the bus, get them in the right seats and then figure out where you're going. In construction, I think we sometimes focus so heavily on filling today's manpower needs that we forget to develop the people we're going to need two or three years from now.

Downtime gives us an opportunity to change that.  Especially in today's tight labor market. Instead of treating a weather day as completely lost production, we can use portions of it to develop the next crew lead, foreman or superintendent. This is beyond just technical detailing (don't get me wrong, that is important), it might look like taking the blinders off and helping them see the forest through the trees.  Reviewing plans together, walking through quality-control standards, teaching someone how labor hours affect profitability, practicing documentation or having an experienced leader explain how they would plan and sequence an upcoming project.

Technical ability and leadership ability are two different things. One of the mistakes our industry makes is taking a great craftsman, giving them a new title and expecting them to suddenly know how to lead people. Leadership requires communication, planning, accountability, financial awareness and judgment. Those skills need to be developed intentionally. That's a point John Kenney at Cotney Consulting makes well in his writing on developing field leaders. 

We've also found that training doesn't always need to be formal. Pairing an emerging leader with a superintendent to plan next week's manpower can be training. Reviewing why a project performed above or below its labor budget can be training. Having someone lead a safety or quality discussion can be training. The key is being intentional about it. We still need to manage labor and stay productive. But productivity isn't always measured by what was installed today. Sometimes the most productive thing you can do on a slow day is build the person who will lead your next crew.