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Improving Results Starts With…

G Hedley Web Box PhotoIt is always a good time to reflect on your personal and business performance, effectiveness, and results. In other words, how was your year? Did you accomplish what you set out to achieve? Like most contractors, I am sure you are busy, but does that transfer into delivering the results you want? And did the last 12 months also deliver personal freedom, financial freedom, wealth, work/life balance, and fulfillment?

Take a moment to rate your past year on a scale of 1 (extremely bad) to 10 (perfect) on each of the following:

  1. Sales and revenue
  2. Markup, margin, and net profit
  3. Financial management and cash flow
  4. Your role: Priorities, effectiveness, and workload
  5. Customer relationship development
  6. Job cost results and field production
  7. Project management and supervision
  8. Estimating results and accuracy
  9. Management team and employee development
  10. Quality work and scheduling performance
  11. Safety program
  12. Investments
  13. Financial freedom
  14. Work/life balance

Areas for improvement

Looking to the new year, which areas need to be improved, enhanced, and increased? How will you create the extra time required to invest in these areas? How does your role affect the performance and results your company achieved? (To rate your business, email GH@HardhatBizcoach.com to get a BIZ-Builder Business Evaluation Test.) As I like to say, “Your current results are the reflection of your leadership, priorities, and focus, and how you interact, lead, manage, mentor, develop, and coach company managers and supervisors and spend quality time developing loyal customer relationships.” Your calendar tells the story—what you do and how you spend your time equals results.

Several years ago, my construction company had grown significantly, and I was at the point of doing as much as I possibly could myself while working way too many hours. I took time to rate my overall company, personal performance, and results using the above exercise. From the ratings, I made a priority list of things needing improvement. I was dissatisfied with our company’s overall performance, my effectiveness as the leader, and how I had let being busy overtake my professional and personal life. Therefore, I decided to attend a time management goals workshop to get control of my super busy calendar and business priorities and try to balance them with my personal life. At the workshop, I learned how to get organized and put my top priorities first. I left with a clear list of where to start and how to say “no” to things I should not be doing.

The following Monday morning, I arrived at work early and reviewed my priority list for a few minutes and decided where to start. Then things happened like they always did. After too many phone calls, emails, interruptions, urgent discussions, crew scheduling crises, customer requests, and an emergency jobsite meeting with a project superintendent, I got back to my desk around 3:30 p.m. I realized I had not done one thing on my must-do priority list. Then, at 4 p.m., my best customer called and invited me to play golf the next morning to discuss signing a new construction contract for a large job. I did not have time to play golf, as I had too many fires to put out and things to do. I had forgotten my priorities and list of improvement areas I had committed to work on. I was overwhelmed with the pressures of running a construction business, trying to do too many tasks myself (e.g. estimating, project management, etc.).

Improvement starts with me

To really improve and make results happen, I finally committed to stop running any projects and doing the estimating. To reduce my “do-work” load, I hired a senior project manager to take over the projects I was managing and an estimator to perform the takeoffs, update our cost history library, enhance our subcontractor database, and prepare our bids and estimates. I also hired an executive assistant to help me get organized, handle some of my personal activities, and enhance my meetings calendar, which afforded me the time to be a better business leader. The hardest part of this commitment was making a decision to invest money in people to build a better company. Guess what? It is impossible to get to the next level by trying to work harder yourself and hoping things work out. Remember, you are where you are because you are where you are!

As a result, I was able to commit to spending two hours per week developing new business systems and eight hours per week building stronger customer relationships and holding regular manager meetings to hold people accountable to achieve results and complete their tasks on time. I realized my previous role being busy doing the wrong things did not equal performance. And my pride—being the first to arrive at the office and the last to leave—was also not translating into results. In fact, I was hurting our ability to grow, find new high-margin customers, and hire and mentor future leaders, and I was holding back our team from becoming the best they could be.

What results do you want to achieve?

What do you want or need to improve to produce better results? What do you want your role to be? What about your personal life? Most construction business owners have a trait that forces them to sacrifice and put themselves last versus doing what they need to do. Rather than hire, they try to postpone the decision, save money, and just work harder. Or, if they do hire, they hire cheap and inexperienced people, which really does not help them with delegation or time management. Rather than take customers to lunch, they sit at their desk working on things they should not be doing. Rather than mentor their managers and supervisors, they continually do their jobs for them, allow them to make excuses for poor performance, and expect less than they need and pay for.

Time and money are the ultimate trade-offs

time and money balance Money buys good people. Good people allow the leader to focus on their top priorities like generating loyal customers, coaching key managers, enforcing systems and standards, or going home early to spend time with family. A business that works is “on purpose,” according to its vision, values, strategies, and priorities. It gives the owners what they want. What will make your business “on purpose” for you? I want my business to always make a best-in-class high margin profit, create repeat loyal customers, be 100 percent run by an accountable management team, grow equity, create wealth, and allow me to enjoy the many “Fs” of life: freedom, family, friends, faith, finances, and fun. What do you want?

Generate a high return on your time

A contractor coaching client told me he wanted to take more time off from his business. After we discussed his goal, I asked him to be more specific. He admitted, “I would just love it if I could take at least four hours off on Sundays!” Everyone is in a different place. But to get what you want, start by being specific about what role will generate the highest return on your time. Take a hard look at your company to determine what needs improvement; what systems are needed to improve profitability; and what people need to be hired, trained, or released.

Make a commitment to do the following:

  • Hire two people to allow you to focus on what you should be doing (visionary leadership, sales, customer development, developing systems, building talent, and holding people accountable to perform).
  • Develop and implement one new system
    per week.
  • Mentor and train your top talent one hour per week.
  • Enforce and monitor systems.
  • Hold people accountable to achieve results.
  • Do not get involved in the decisions your managers are authorized to make.
  • Take one or two customers to lunch or to a ballgame, or golfing, hunting, or fishing every week.
  • Stop doing ____________.
  • Start doing ____________.
  • Arrive at the office at 8 a.m. and leave by 4:30 p.m., and by 2 p.m. on Fridays.
  • Take off for a three-day weekend every month.

Be ruthless, stick to your priorities, and do what you know you need to do.

Winners say:                 

“I can and will do it!”

Losers say:

“I’ll think about it!”

Winners say:                 

“Let’s change it!”

Losers say:

“What if it doesn’t work!”

Winners say:                 

“No, we’ll stop doing it!”

Losers say:

“Maybe we should try it!”

What is the best time to try new ideas and invest in your future? (Hint: It is not ASAP.) The best time is now! Trying new ideas and doing new and different things daily is hard to accomplish. Forgetting old ideas and comfortable ways of acting and doing is even harder. Putting your priorities first is tough. Each day of your life involves difficult demands and trade-offs. You must be ruthless about your decisions, choices, commitments, and priorities to improve your performance and results. And accept responsibility for where you are, address the reality of what you need to do, and take risks to get to the next level.

Accept responsibility

The following responses to circumstances have become the norm today: “It’s not my fault.” “It’s just not fair.” “It’s not my job.” When winners take on a job, they get it done. Period. No excuses. No rules. No reasons why not. Need I say more?

Accept reality

Sitting and waiting for “it” to change is counterproductive to achieving results. Accept your current situation as it is. You cannot change the past. However, you can change your future—starting now. Get on with it. Go for it. Make the best of what you have and make tomorrow even better. Start making those slow but steady changes in how you manage your business. You can do it!

Accept risk

Most successful businesses were started by individuals with a clearly defined vision, purpose, and goal. The definition of an entrepreneur is one who “assumes the risk” in a business in expectation of gaining a profit. Step up and step out in both your professional and personal life. Take a stand. Take a risk and act like an entrepreneur. Expect the best to become the best; take that first step to get what you want. Yes, the first step is often the hardest. I encourage people in this predicament to ask themselves, “What am I waiting for? What’s the worst that can happen?” If you never try, you will never achieve.

Falling down is the key to success

As a youngster, my dad often took me skiing at the local mountains. I will never forget his instructions as I watched the expert skiers “wedeling” down the slopes with perfect parallel turns. He would say, “You will never get better standing there watching and wishing you could ski like they can.” With that I would take off and swish down the mountain as fast as I could. My goal was to fall on every run. This way, I knew I was pushing it to the max. You do not get better if you do not fall. You get better when you try new tricks and techniques.

Have you ever noticed in life successful people always get up when they fall? And those who are really successful fall a lot. Be real. Watch for opportunities. Be quick to change. Make your own luck. Always be ready and well prepared. Know where you want to go and let others know where you want to go, too. Ask others how they did it. Seek advice. Stay informed. Keep improving. Stay on top of your field. And always go for it!

George Hedley, CPBC, is a certified professional construction BIZCOACH and top industry speaker. He helps contractors achieve their goals, increase profits, grow, get organized, develop accountable talent, improve field production, and get their companies to work. He is the author of Get Your Construction Business To Always Make A Profit! (available on Amazon.com). To get his free e-newsletter, start a personalized coaching program, attend his webinars and workshops, or get a discount for his online courses, visit his website www.HardhatBizcoach.com, watch his videos on YouTube, or email GH@HardhatBizcoach.com.