START Faster and Smarter ©
One expert in the construction industry has found that the least productive hour of the workday is the first hour. In that first hour important decisions are often NOT made, there is failure to insure critical maintenance has been applied to equipment and tools, and field leaders, in a hurry to get going, fail to review critical project plans and documents.
Every contractor knows first hand the real action starts at the “front-lines,” where actual crews and leaders execute project plans. Yet this is where we lose too much firepower, productivity, and precision after hard fought jobs have been estimated, won, and pre-planned. Sure there are always surprises on projects, but the contractor who can prepare his or her crew leaders to consistently follow a sequence of preparation steps will empower their crew leader, and their crew members, to perform “No Bad Jobs!”
Ok, let’s consider a sequence, placed in an easy to remember order, which will raise your crew’s ability to hit their daily numbers. Let’s jump START your workday!
START is an acronym that you can teach your crews in fifteen minutes. The secret isn’t the ease in which they learn START, it’s building it into a daily commitment for them to adapt and execute each new day. Here we go…
Schedule Your Day
Sounds almost too simple but it’s sadly not completed every day, much less by the crew. Sure, many contractors may have their crews meet in the “shop” each morning and the Supervisor may talk to the Foremen about their day’s efforts. That’s good and needed. Yet seldom does the actual Crew Foreman sit down and actually line out just what he intends to have his crew work on for the day, much less set any targets that need achieving.
The Crew Foreman, hopefully working with a formal one or two week “look ahead,” should focus 15-20 minutes each morning working through his plans for that day specifically. Enlisting his Lead Man or several members from his crew will bring even greater insights to the days needs and thus, improve performance. This process allows the crew to leave the shop more confident about what they are doing, what they will need to complete their work, and how much work will need to be completed. (Please read some of my previous articles about job site planning and use of a look ahead for more information.)
- Look and Review the “Super” Schedule
- Identify the “Times of Need” to Be On-site
- Involve the Entire Crew/Team to Discuss That Day’s Plan
- Crew Leader Prepare Their Decisions to Make That Day
- Break the Day’s Plan into “4 Quarters” For Greater Attention & Faster Adjustment
Take Daily Inventory
This second action directs each Crew Leader to insure that their trucks, trailers, and workers have exactly what they need to complete their work. Leaving the yard without every piece of equipment and tool secured and confirmed is a leading reason why workers fail to achieve needed production rates and targets. Waiting for the company’s “hot truck” to bring something from the yard because the crew did not inventory the missing shovels, or oil cans for the equipment is simply a waste of time and drives profit margins south.
An inventory list should be created for work crews that list all of the equipment and tools, materials, safety equipment, etc., needed for each project. For many contractors, this can a list that remains constant as their crews may perform the same type of work each day. However, such consistency of work often breeds complacency among the crew members, each thinking someone else got the needed tool or component needed on the job.
There may other forms of needed inventory for field leaders to employ such as the requirements for a particular customer involving an inventory of what is needed to complete at the site, a list of contact information, and a list of what workers have been cleared to work on the project due to security requirements of the customer, i.e. Clearance documents needed to perform work on a military base.
In short, any inventory list for any reason is too simple not to create. Possessing an inventory list doesn’t guarantee your workers producing quality results but it sure makes it easier for them to achieve needed results by first insuring that they have the needed tools of their trade in their possession when leaving your company’s yard.
- Use a Quality Audit Document that Lists Non-Negotiable Process to Follow
- Implement a Daily Inventory of Trucks & Trailers AND Confirm Needed Items are Secured Before Leaving Yard
- Push the “Star” Process: Assign Crew Members to Provide Extra Attention on Quality, Safety, Tool/Equipment Preventive Maintenance, etc.
Ask Questions Daily
In the rush to get going every morning there is usually little time to solicit questions. Crew Leaders often feel the need to just get the crew out of the office and to the job site. But more questions may need to be asked prior to leaving than after the crew has arrived at the job site.
Simple questions such as…
“Who is setting up the chalk lines today?”
“Where are we going to park the trucks today?”
“What area of the site are we going to begin working today?”
“Do we need to bring any extra forms or anchor bolts today?”
…all seem to be innocent enough but are too often asked later rather than earlier. Crew Leaders need to be asking their workers and company senior leaders questions before start-up and their employees need to be free to ask questions each morning to insure that we’re all on the same page. A work culture that appreciates asking questions, sometimes the most important question at the right time, is a culture that will perform tasks better and do more things right the first time.
- All Supervisors Ask Daily Questions of Their Foremen to Insure All Bases are Covered
- Make Daily Use of the “Process Book” of SOPs for Every Major Work Process Company Executes; Get Sign-off from Users
- Lead “Process Book” Questions, Especially with New Employees Or Employees Not Performing Well
- Circle Back to Your “ADHD” Workers to Insure They Understand
Review Documentation Daily
There seems to be more documentation today required for the simplest of projects than ever. Big or small, your Crew Leaders are often the holders of copies of blue prints, CAD renderings, OSHA and DOT documents, Weekly “Look-ahead,” city or county permits, customer requirements and contact information, location and contact information for local material plants and suppliers, and Standard Operating Procedures or “SOPs,” to name a few.
For the contractor performing larger sized projects with the crew operating out of a job site trailer, the need and reasoning is still the same. Important project documentation needs to be identified in terms of what is to be reviewed and completed daily, weekly, or monthly. Our Crew Leaders can simply not omit reviewing needed documentation.
- Identify “Needy” Foremen and Lead Them to Review Their Daily Documents
- Inspect Training Plans for Employees Needing Extra Training & Support
- Crew Leaders to Engage Other Reliable Crew Members to Assist in Reviewing Documentation for Inventory, Tracking Crew Hours, Quality Audits, Safety Inspections, etc.
- Regularly Assess What Crew Foreman Needs What Accountability and Support for Greater Performance & To Build Foreman Mental Retention
Train Your Workers…Daily
If there is one action every Crew Leader must be fast to start it is to increase the effort to train and educate their workers. At no other time have we observed so many employees joining the construction industry with so few skills for their trade. Thus, it will be incumbent on the Crew Leader, supported by their Supervisors, to make every day a “class room” of learning.
Suddenly every start, stop, and restart has a teachable moment. Rather than take the job back from the new employee, Crew Leaders must take that extra one to five minutes to explain the “Why?” behind a particular technique while demonstrating the “How to.” If there is one daily effort that more Crew Leaders will employ it will be that of training and educating their workers.
- Crew Foremen to Be Highly Active to Train…Even More Active than Performing the Work Personally
- Supervisors to Redirect Crew Foreman When a Wrong Step Has Been Taken; Crew Foreman Redirecting Their Crew Members When a Wrong Step Has Bee Made
- Engage Recently Taught Employees to Train Another Worker…ASAP!
- Slowly Add Little Pieces of Responsibility to Workers
- Drive the Non-Negotiable Importance of Safety & Job-Site Cleaning Along with Technical Training
- Refuse Mediocrity… NO BAD JOBS!
Like my Crew Leaders from Packer-land have begun to do, initiate your own frontal assault on making your project teams and field crews more productive. Gone are the days that we just hope that by pure badgering of our workers things will begin to get better. It takes too long to wait out that method and it also risks losing potentially long-term employees who will give up too soon before a more organized approach is implemented.
Look, to START faster and smarter takes exactly those items shared above. Why wait for the performance to improve when you can START right now!
May you have a great START to productivity records this year!
Brad Humphrey
The Contractor’s Best Friend ™
I want to dedicate this article to a great concrete contractor and his many field Foremen and Supervisors up in Packer country. In their desire to be better, they challenged me to raise my own efforts to create an easy to follow reminder for field leaders when beginning each new workday. The bullet points presented below for each START activity is provided by these fine construction leaders. Thanks guys for inspiring me to develop START, and may your efforts help other current and future construction leaders overcome their own challenges!
Risk Management: Safety First
Risk management is essentially the effort you take as a contractor or construction leader to limit, reduce or eliminate any construction effort that would pose a safety risk.
The legality and science of risk management is quite well known among general contractors and is growing in need to be embraced, understood and practiced by all specialty contractors. Our country is one of the most litigious in the world and, sadly, this certainly has found a home in the construction industry.
Let’s first address safety in your organization. While this article will not fulfill the entire educational
needs for a total safety program at your company, there are some key learning points that have been successfully implemented by many contractors that can bring value to your company.
Safety First
I don’t know what else to call this first point other than safety must be first everywhere possible in your company. I know of no contractor that will admit to NOT believing in the importance of safety — but once again it is in the actions and behavior of our most senior of leaders, including the owner, that sells safety first.
Therefore, what can you do to demonstrate in action and behavior that safety really is first? Consider a few suggestions below:
- Personally invest in safety education… be the “guinea pig” for all new training education.
- Lead safety training workshops personally
- Make safety-related questions part of your daily discussions with field leaders, office workers, field workers, etc.
- Personally investigate when there’s been a safety failure and be the first, or second, to recognize great safety results
- Publicize Safety First via signage, posters, proposals, contracts, “graffiti” on company trucks, business cards, and all marketing pieces and Internet outlets
Resource Safety First
The resourcing of Safety First is to consider all literature, tools and equipment that should be reviewed, updated and replaced as needed as they relate to safety. Again, some quick highlights:
- Commit a budget amount each year to inspect, replace and maintain all equipment, vehicles and power tools
- Inventory your hand tools and consider what needs “sharpening” and what needs to be replaced.
- Make sure your educational materials are clear in their intent to teach safe practices
- Use clear and visible signage in your shop, yard and especially on each jobsite
- Create informative “5-S Maps” that indicate where everything is kept on trucks, trailers, your shop and yard. The 5-S Map can contribute to faster inventory management and keep workers from pushing and pulling tools, cords, shovels, etc. to find what they are looking for
- Keep an ample supply of barricades, flare tape, emergency kits, safety vests, tie-offs and just about every other “safety tool” that can help prevent any issues
Teach Safety First
Teach Safety First most certainly includes actual training workshops and live demonstrations of safe working processes and techniques, but it also affects your company in a few other areas. Consider:
- Purchase of hats and shirts that have a clear reference to safety
- Commit 3 to 5 minutes of stretching for all workers and leaders…office and field employees.
- Require part of your “pre-con” start-up to address every safety “risk” potential on the new job
- Take a brief “safety debrief” after each project from the hourly workers involved with job. If you perform more than one project in a short time span, review multiple projects once a week
- Incorporate one positive safety story a week in meetings or share a learning lesson from another company who may have had a safety problem
Recognize and reward Safety First
Not much secret here, and many contractors are practicing some degree of this suggestion. If you do not or are in need of upgrading your company’s approach, consider a few of the following:
- Recognize all new milestones of “incident free” goals and the people who are making it happen
- Engage rewards to include company logoed giveaways such as shirts, hats, gloves, etc.
- For exceptional safety performance and results look to some cash rewards or tickets, coupons, dinner cards, etc. Be careful here due to the taxing of such items but provide some form of “hard” proof that safety is saving you money
- Engage proven workers to conduct the safety training for newly hired employees
- Consider appointing a “Safety Coordinator” for each work crew and your office. The “SC” isn’t the safety czar but instead another outlet for employees to go to with questions, resource needs, etc. The SC for my old crews used to also assist our foremen on scouting out potentially unsafe work areas, inspecting equipment and tools needing repair, and assisting in placing orders for new safety equipment
Accountable Safety First
All of the previous suggestions and examples are for naught if we do not practice what we preach and hold people and processes accountable. Now for some tough love, consider:
- Hold leaders accountable to invoke safety discussions before every project and at the beginning of each new day
- When leaders do not practice the previous, coach, counsel and discipline as needed
- Clearly educate your workers on safe practice, and when they do not comply with such practice, coach, counsel and discipline as needed
- When “repeat offenders” continue to be non-compliant about following safety rules and practices counsel, document and fire! Do not allow such people to stay with your company. It sends the very bad message that Safety First is really “Safety Whenever it’s Convenient.”
Make Safety First mandatory for every employee. Absolutely no favoritism!
Our industry has indeed come a long way in the area of safety, but our insurance rates continue to be a bit high compared to other physically involved industries. Accidents happen, but there is a tremendous amount of prevention that we really can do
Prevention is the key word here. Prevention in the form of educating, reminding, and having needed safety resources and safe working equipment and tools can reduce your risk ten-fold. But, we need to clearly communicate safety and be consistent in practicing what we are preaching about safety.
This article originally appeared on ForConstructionPros.com .