
Elevate Construction Ep.331 - Accountability will NOT Leave You Shorthanded!
Jason talks about accountability and getting right people in right seats. Fundamental principle: blame process and behaviors, not people, but invite people who don't fit culturally to work somewhere else. Culture is microactions and beliefs (behaviors) of a group. Paul Acres' two second lean journey: half the people left, didn't want to improve. Large companies identify core values and get firm: droves leave. Jason's projects (clean, safe, organized, perfect): 5-10% of workforce and maybe one trade don't want to elevate to those standards. "You are being held hostage by people not bought in." Companies running lean on manpower/staff/PMs/supers make huge mistake, should have one or two or three extra, always hiring/developing/training. If someone's not cultural fit, invite them to work elsewhere, put bench people in those spots. Must quadruple or sextuple training amount. "Expand your capacity before you expand your workload." Jim Collins' Beyond Entrepreneurship 2.0 (page 16): number one metric is percentage of key seats filled with right people—target 90%. Key seat definition: person has power to make people decisions, failure could expose enterprise to risk, and success would have outsized impact. When to shift from develop to replace (pages 18-19): Are you losing other people by keeping this person? Values/will/skills problem? Window vs mirror (do they blame others or themselves)? Confidence up or down? Bus vs seat problem? How would you feel if they quit today? Examples: removed cancerous foreman and superintendent, project started jamming, finished on time; removed PM and PX on $250M project, new leaders came in, team started hitting dates.
What you'll learn in this episode:
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Why you're being held hostage by people not bought in, and why running lean on manpower/staff/PMs/supers is such a mistake; companies should have bench people earning value and expand capacity before workload
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The pattern across all lean transformations: Paul Acres lost half his people when he started two second lean, large companies lose droves when they identify core values and get firm, Jason's projects lose 5-10% who won't elevate
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Jim Collins' #1 metric from Beyond Entrepreneurship 2.0: percentage of key seats filled with right people (target 90%), towers above sales, profitability, cash flow, or any other metric
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Three conditions that make a seat "key": power to make people decisions, failure could expose enterprise to catastrophe, success would have outsized impact on company success
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Seven questions for when to shift from develop to replace: Are you losing other people by keeping this person? Values/will/skills problem? Window vs mirror? Confidence up or down? Bus vs seat problem? How would you feel if they quit?
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Real project examples: removed cancerous foreman and superintendent, project started jamming and finished on time; removed PM and PX on $250M project, new team started hitting dates and project turned around
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The ironclad principle: if you're recruiting, hiring, and training at accelerated rate, being clear about culture, not tolerating bad behavior, and holding people accountable, Jason has never seen companies be short-handed
"Holding people accountable will not leave you short-handed as long as you are recruiting, hiring, and training."
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Also, here are links to our YouTube Channels:
· Jason Schroeder YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4xpRYvrW5Op5Ckxs4vDGDg
· LeanTakt YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/leanTakt
· LeanSuper YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzQDevqQP19L4LePuqma3Fg/featured
· LeanSurvey YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-Ztn3okFhyB_3p5nmMKnsw
