Tag Archives: training

Audio: Coaching and Mentoring

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Today’s post focuses on Coaching and Mentoring, which is  step four of our “7 Steps to Worker Retention Series”. 

While all great contractors and field leaders see the need for coaching and mentoring, there is still so little of it being completed today. With the shortage of really great talent beating on most contractors’ doors looking for work, it is even more critical that a clear, consistent, and thorough effort is made to both incorporate coaching and mentoring into the fabric of any construction company. Enjoy!

 

 

TRANSCRIPT:

In The 7 Steps to Worker Retention series of Podcasts, we look at seven steps or efforts that contractors must incorporate into their future strategies or risk losing everything that they have built.  A quick reminder for you is presented below of the seven steps.  We’ve presented the first three steps up to this point.

Step #1 – “On-Boarding”

Step #2 – The 90-Day Plan

Step #3 – Skill Training

Step #4 – Coaching & Mentoring

Step #5 – Engagement/Participation

Step #6 – Responsibility Enhancement

Step #7 – Performance Review

If you thought that some of the previous discussions about “On-Boarding” or Skill Training were heavy, you’d better prepare to use your skid-loader to move Step #4 along.  Coaching & Mentoring is not for the faint of heart…if they are executed appropriately.  Talked about widely, but practiced…inconsistently!

While all great contractors and field leaders see the need for coaching and mentoring, there is still so little of it being completed today.  With the shortage of really great talent beating on most contractors’ doors looking for work, it is even more critical that a clear, consistent, and thorough effort is made to both incorporate coaching and mentoring into the fabric of any construction company.

  • But what is coaching?
  • What is mentoring?
  • Aren’t they really just the same?

Well, NO!  They may be distant cousins of each other but they are not synonyms.  Not all coaching involves mentoring; and not all mentoring necessarily involves coaching, although there is a better argument that when one mentors, they are making use of similar coaching skills or strategies.  (No argument on this from me!)

Let’s address what the subtle differences might be between the two leadership efforts, Coaching & Mentoring.

Coaching is the act of bringing a critical eye while observing the performance of an individual and making timely suggestions, corrections, and, just as timely, words of encouragement.  While both coaches and mentors seek improvement in others, it is the coach who more often breaks down the “game film” of performance and addresses specific “skill step by skill step” work effort to redirect the individual toward improvement.

Mentoring is the act of bringing counsel and wisdom to an individual in order to lead them to see the bigger picture; perhaps assisting the person to see where they “could go” in their current job, career, etc.  The “mentor” might perform some coaching with their “protégé,” such coaching is more short-lived and more narrowly focused on assisting the individual to expand their boundaries about their potential and future possibilities, including the recommending to the individual resource areas and people who can assist their professional growth.

Now, there are probably a hundred ways to define Coaching & Mentoring, however the definitions provided above will keep us close to the role’s main priorities.  Let me now raise just two more questions that most contractors should be asking about now:

Why should I include Coaching & Mentoring in my

 present leadership approach?  I mean…is this effort

 really going to pay off?

Both questions are fair to ask!  In fact, another question that I often get from contractors is, “Why should I spend the time coaching and mentoring a ‘high potential’ worker only to have them quit me and take on a job with a competitor?”

Again, suffering from such experiences can put a sour taste in any contractor’s mouth.  However, my response to this is the same as my response to the same question asked in the “Step #3 Skills Training” Podcasts.  (For more information re-read “Part 3. in this same series.)

“If you think education is expensive…try ignorance!”

Same line of thinking fits here.  You don’t coach or mentor your staff and employees…you eventually get a bunch of ignorant and poor performers working for you…if not worse!

So, let’s go back and answer briefly the question I posed earlier, “Why should I include Coaching & Mentoring in my present leadership approach?  And, is this effort really going to pay off?”

  • Coaching is needed because we have a less skilled workforce entering our industry
  • There are a lot of “diamonds in the rough” just waiting to be discovered
  • Many employees new to the construction industry are afraid of asking questions and need coaches to address issues while building their confidence to ask questions
  • Because the days of just “throw em’ in there and let em’ figure it out themselves” are over…DONE!
  • Coaching & Mentoring has proven to shorten the learning curve…thus making employees more productive sooner rather than later
  • Coaching & Mentoring actually helps to improve the construction industry’s image, allowing more people to see our industry as a possible career choice
  • Mentoring provides a line of sight for employees, assisting people to see where they could be down the road in their career
  • Coaches and Mentors provide that extra touch of interest, investment, and insight that today’s workers desire and need
  • Contractors who do not including Coaching & Mentoring in their growth strategies will simply die a slow death through down-sizing their companies and living on hope that people with skills will hang around

OK, it may not be all that doom and gloom if you don’t fully engage both Coaching & Mentoring, but not including these two key ingredients to employee retention will hurt you in very deep ways.  The “Thoroughbred” employee, that I’ve written about in past Podcasts, will simply not view a contractor who does not coach or mentor as their long term choice of who to work with and for.  They also see that the lack of both leadership efforts almost always accompany lack of training and education.  It’s funny how these two groups go together.

Let’s now present a few ideas on how to make Coaching & Mentoring part of your leadership effort, both personally and corporately.  You, your own success, and the greater retention of your current workers may be at risk.

Tips to Make Coaching Part of Your Retention Strategy

  • First, make “coaching” part of every leader’s roles and responsibilities and part of yearly performance reviews
  • Provide training and education for leaders to learn how to coach (There are some right and wrong ways to coach!)
  • Have “coaches” provide their senior leader with weekly updates on their coaching efforts
  • Support the coaching effort by encouraging leaders to take the extra time “here and there” during the workday (i.e. OTJ-C…On-the-Job Coaching)
  • Conduct an informal assessment periodically with those who are receiving the coaching to ascertain effectiveness
  • Over-stress with your leaders to Prepare – Demonstrate – Observe – Correct (PDOC)
  • Encourage additional 5-15 minutes coaching sessions before and after work (Think position coach commenting on “game film” with their player.)
  • As the owner or senior leader, coach your staff to both serve as a model and inspiration for others to follow
  • Encourage your coaches to learn regularly through reading, listening to CDs, attending workshops, etc.
  • Hold all leaders accountable to coach and simply do not allow “slackers” to propagate; but give coaches a bit of leeway to coach in their own style

The list above is not meant to serve as how to coach but rather how to making coaching part of your strategy to retain workers.  There are a number of books available on coaching as well as a number of Podcasts over the past years that I’ve authored that addresses coaching.  Wherever you find yourself and the leaders in the organization, determine to raise everyone’s level of coaching and be consistent in this determination.

Tips to Make Mentoring Part of Your Retention Strategy

While coaching is now a growing and expected role for leaders in a construction company, mentoring may not always have the same requirement.  Mentoring often engages fewer people since the process requires the mentor to be more seasoned, mature, and sincerely interested in really developing others in their knowledge, expertise, and future.  Pay close attention to some of the tips to making a mentoring effort in your company a solid part of retaining workers.

  • First, identify potential candidates to serve as a Mentor…and educate them on how to mentor
  • Identify potential “protégés” who have displayed some trait or behavior that projects their potential or a deeper interest to rise in the company
  • With selected protégés, educate these individuals on how to learn, to receive feedback, and how to raise questions to their mentor
  • Consider matching a mentor and a protégé based in part on personalities, some common interests, and what both parties can benefit from experiencing, job areas, etc.
  • Beware that a Crew Foreman or a Project Manager is not always the best to mentor a worker who directly reports to them (These same leaders however, should be coaching!)
  • Encourage and allow “natural” mentoring relationships to form
  • Provide some time for the mentors and their protégés to meet periodically to meet
  • Engage mentors to update the owner or senior leaders on how they perceive the mentoring process is progressing; have senior leaders visit with protégés directly to ask for the same type of feedback
  • Keep a formal mentoring process limited to the number of individuals involved; let mentoring be viewed as part of a desired action that not everyone may take part

Similar to learning how to coach, there are also resources to use that provide educating a mentor on the “nuts and bolts” of mentoring.  The role of a mentor is a great role for senior craftsman and older field leaders who can provide more of the “passing the baton” of construction knowledge to the next generation.

Retaining our workers is hard work and Coaching & Mentoring are just one of the steps to keep good workers longer.  The longer workers hang in there with a contractor, and especially the more that a contractor can serve up to the employee about their trade, skill, and the specialty of construction involved, the longer and often, the more loyal an employee can become.

Noting easy about Coaching & Mentoring.  It’s not something that can be read about but instead, both represent very active engagement between experienced and skilled workers and leaders sharing their knowledge, insights, and tricks of the trade with those needed to sustain a company.

Begin your planning on how to build an effective Coaching & Mentoring process today.  Start with Coaching immediately and allow Mentoring to begin to take root over time.  Coaching is needed every day; position Mentoring to provide for greater discussion and career building relationships.

Employee Development, , , , ,

Skill Training in the Construction Industry

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Skill training continues to be in high demand for all levels of the construction industry. With fewer vocational schools, technical colleges that include construction based skills (i.e. carpentry, welding, masonry, electrical, etc.,) and even fewer “shop” classes for middle school and high school students, it is even more crucial that contractors address training their workers on the needed skills of their company.

Listen in as Brad goes through the importance of skills training for your construction firm!

 

 

[TRANSCRIPT]

If there was a greater need for skill training in the construction industry it is today.  This is not earth shaking news for most contractors and construction leaders but it should be noted that this need is in fact, much greater than in years past and doesn’t appear to be fading away anytime soon.

The 7 Steps to Worker Retention series of podcasts looks at seven steps or efforts that contractors must incorporate into their future strategies or risk losing everything that they have built.  The steps are:

Step #1 – “On-Boarding”

Step #2 – The 90-Day Plan

Step #3 – Skill Training

Step #4 – Coaching & Mentoring

Step #5 – Engagement/Participation

Step #6 – Responsibility Enhancement

Step #7 – Performance Review

As I’ve noted in previous podcasts, not every contractor excels at each of the steps but at some point they realize that all seven of the steps are critical to any serious attempt to retain workers.  While approaching the seven steps in the order presented here is recommended, I’ve seen contractors approach a later step in my list and address it earlier.  There’s no perfect order to follow but rest assured, if you don’t strive to integrate each of the seven you will begin to see a fall-off from strong employee loyalty and performance.

This article’s focus is on Skill Training.  With fewer vocational schools, technical colleges that include construction based skills (i.e. carpentry, welding, masonry, electrical, etc.,) and even fewer “shop” classes for middle school and high school students, it is even more crucial that contractors address training their workers on the needed skills of their company.

As one good friend and client of mine informed me several years ago, “Brad, if I didn’t start my own apprenticeship program for workers I would be out of masons in less than 3-5 years.”  For some contractors, assertively training on needed job skills may be the only thing that prevents them from locking the doors and shutting down.

Why is there so little actual skill training completed by contractors?  Good question.  Consider a few of the reasons I’ve observed over the years.

  • First, the owner just isn’t overly committed to training;
  • Most contractors would rather hire the experienced worker
  • Contractors are better “doers” not trainers
  • Contractors are not prepared to train
  • It’s just not been a priority of past generation of owners
  • “My dad and grand-dad never trained
  • Contractors do not know how to train

Skill Training comes in many forms and “flavors” including:

  • On-the-Job Training (OJT)
  • Personal Coaching
  • Class Training
  • DVD Training
  • Webinar Training
  • Self-Paced with Workbook Training

While any training approach that works is good with me, I know that most construction workers need training that allows for communication, back-and-forth discussions, and as much hands-on practice as possible.

Now, what sort of training should be conducted with construction workers?  Remember, our focus here is to position Skill Training as a tool for retaining workers.  Let’ share a slogan that I have shared before and that certainly fits our topic today.

“If you think education is expensive, try ignorance!”

Ouch!  Boy is this slogan true and just as applicable today as it has ever been in the past.  In fact, with so many of constructions past education outlets now no longer available the cost for hiring ignorant workers has never been higher.

So, let’s take a stab at the training that might be completed for construction workers.  Let me very clearly share an exhaustive list of training topics that should be presented to three different groups of construction workers.

First I’ll address the Front Line Employee or Laborer; Second, I’ll address the Supervisory and Management level of our workforce; Thirdly, I’ll address the Senior Leaders and Owners of a company.

Let me remind you that this is an exhaustive list so you may want to back up and listen again.  Also, you may also want to write my suggestions for training topics to share with your other leaders in forming your training strategy.

Now, let’s turn our ears to what training is recommended for Front Line Workers and Laborers.

Group I. Front Line Employees/Laborers

  • Basic task and process of work
  • Safety for personal and team success
  • Tools, equipment, computer, “tablet,” etc.
  • Communication skills
  • Teamwork and teambuilding skills
  • Customer service skills for office or field workers
  • Team problem solving skills
  • Listening skills
  • How to make decisions
  • How to ask questions
  • How to receive feedback

Group II.  Supervisor & Management Leaders

  • Communication, Presentation, & Facilitation skills
  • Leadership skills
  • Building teamwork
  • How to motivate workers without manipulation
  • Planning, pre-planning skills
  • Scheduling and daily “huddles”
  • Business development skills for “non-BD” leaders
  • Construction math and financial reports
  • Managing time and energy
  • Coaching and counseling skills
  • Dealing with difficult people
  • Negotiation skills
  • Resource management skills
  • Problem solving and strategic decision making
  • Networking with other construction leaders
  • Leadership for safety, quality, and continuous improvement

Group III.  Senior Leaders & Owners

  • Professional image skills & techniques
  • Strategic planning and growth opportunities
  • Presentation and facilitation skills
  • Listening without arguing skills
  • Building and maintaining teamwork
  • Financial management & reporting
  • Business development skills
  • Market research and interpretation
  • Client retention and relationships
  • Supplier and vendor relationships
  • Community affairs and public relations
  • Investment opportunities and money management
  • Risk management including insurance, injury prevention, and crisis management
  • Employee involvement and incentive programs

The training topics listed for each of the three groups are not limited to the topics found here, but I think you get the idea of the impact that training can have on any of the three levels.

It’s important for contractors to recognize that providing education opportunities, training classes, and personal development for all levels of the workforce can directly impact the retention of workers.  Simply put, “Thoroughbred” workers, that is, those workers who exhibit great attitudes and work ethic, tend to remain longer with employers who will invest in them personally and professionally.

On occasion, I’ve personally been challenged by contractors, especially at national conferences where the contractor can call me out in front of hundreds of fellow contractors.  They will yell out at me something like,

“Brad, I used to be positive about training my workers but I got tired of training them and then they quit me and take that new skill or knowledge and go to work for my competitor.”

Well, to be honest with you, I too have experienced this reality before and it smarts pretty bad.  However, what are our options as contractors?  To train and risk a few employees who might take their “goods” and go right across the street to our competitor OR not to train any worker and risk having consistently poor quality and productivity?  Honestly, I’d rather take my chances with training my workers.

Skills Training not only raises the contractor’s performance results, it also creates greater morale among the workers as it reinforces a learning environment.  Most workers, at least the type that more of us want as our employees, are more committed and motivated to work for a contractor who is willing to invest in their own professional and personal development.  That’s who will remain with your organization longer!

Finally, Skills Training should not be just done without a plan.  Contractors need to spend a bit of extra time focused on where they want to see their workers achieve in terms of expertise, skill proficiency, etc.

Here’s a final thought about raising the effectiveness of Skills Training.

  1. Have a 3-5 Year Training Strategic Initiative
  2. Focus on Safety, Job Skills, Team Skills, and Lean Construction Processes
  3. Create a Training “College” of Topics and a Training Schedule
  4. Monitor Training Programs Results
  5. Work with Workers to Create Learning Goals
  6. Make Training Part of Employee Reviews
  7. Commit to 20-30 Hours of Employee Training per Year
  8. Engage All Training Outlets (Conferences, In-House, DVD, Coaching, Mentoring, etc.)

There are few secrets to really conducting effective training for people.  Again, I have found that for many contractors it isn’t a matter of being able to train and educate workers but rather, it appears to be more about not seeing the long-term value or benefit to training.

If ignorance is more expensive than education…count me in for providing more educational opportunities for my workers.  And in the process…I may just keep more of my workers…longer!

Go Train!

Employee Development, , , ,