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Contigencies
We had thought about this possibility leading up to the weekend, but were still not as prepared as we could have been. I believe our subconcious mind was telling us we would have great weather and not to worry too much. Coming up with several hours of activities for kids with short attention spans is a challenge, even with the best planning and preparation.
Two minutes into the first activity, three kids came up to me and said "I'm bored". Fortunately this was not the norm, and the others seemed to enjoy playing in a room full of balloons just fine (some of the balloons even had air in them).The day worked out and everyone seemed to have a good time - even Mom and Dad. But it reminded me about the importance of truly having contingency plans.
To often, whether at home or at work, we don't really plan for contingencies as thoroughly as we should. And the lower the chance (in our minds) of something happening, the less time we spend thinking about alternatives. Even if there is only a 10% chance of a certain event or interruption happening, we need to have a plan for that situation just the same as if there were a 50% chance of it happening. The 10% that we don't plan for is often what ends up costing us 30 or 40% in lost time and money.
As it turned out, our project (birthday party) seemed to be a success, but our customer success measurements (enjoyment by the kids) may have been even higher with a little more thought on the contingency end. There would definitely have been less anxiety on the part of the project managers. When the parents began to show up for their kids, there was a scramble to find their shoes in the big pile by the door. After all the kids were gone, my son's shoes were the only pair that remained. When he tried to put them on he observed that while they were exactly the same make and style of shoe, one was considerably smaller. Someone had gone home with a wrong shoe. It wasn't until Sunday that we also noticed they were both for the right foot.
What is Ignorance Costing You?
If there were ever a time to be educating workers it is today. Why? First, most observers of our public education system claim our kids are not getting the education that they were twenty to forty years ago. Second, more of our workers are coming from non-agriculture backgrounds where many workers in the past were schooled on the basics of mechanics and fixing things. Third, a greater percentage of our construction workers will be retiring over the next 3-5 years per our own government statistics on the aging workforce. Fourth, it is even more costly to find the "right" employee in today's increase of poor performers who may have been laid off from other companies.
When I challenge contractors about the need for educating their workers to their tasks, roles, and how to be more professional in their conduct I often get back, "I don't have time to train." My response to that is...you don't have time not to train. Briefly, consider how many days you may not have your guys working due to inclement weather? For many contractors that might add up to 2, 4, 6, even more days a year. Some, if not all, of these days could be used for training. The problem isn't that we don't have time for training but rather we are not prepared to train!
Commit today to educate your workers. Take just one task that most of your workers may be struggling with such as the proper handling of material or how to operate a piece of equipment. Might even be the proper pre-work maintenance checks on tools and equipment. Whatever it might be gather your thoughts, write down a few notes, and on the next rainy day spend 1-3 hours training your folks on the needed skill.
Educating your workers is actually quite inexpensive if you are reading for it! Get ready!
Positive Discipline
It's always interesting to me that the methods that are used to modifiy children's behavior are often quite similar (if not exactly the same) as the methods that we want to see employed by our construction leadership. I believe most people out in the workforce want to do a good job, and the reasons they may not are vast and complex. But how we deal with our people, teach them, and discipline them is going to directly impact the quality of work we get from them.
Dr. Jane Nelsen has written several best-selling parenting books on positive discipline, and Beth has this quote of Dr. Nelsen's hanging in her office:
Where did we ever get the crazy idea that in order to make children do better, fisrt we have to make them feel worse? Think of the last time you felt humiliated or treated unfairly. Did you feel lik cooperating or doing better? Children do better when they feel better.
The same goes for adults. Think of the last time (maybe long ago) that a supervisor embarrassed or demeaned you, even if it wasn't in front of anyone else. Did that get you excited about giving your best? Did you look forward to getting up the next morning and heading to work? In the high-pressure construction world, we often overlook how our leader's behavior affects our employee's behavior. If we want to get best from our people, we have to treat them like they are the best.