The greatest improvement in 2022 we see for our clients is to invest heavily to scale leadership impact by hiring, developing, and retaining leaders who can perpetuate the company vision at a larger sustainable scale. Make middle management great again!

There’s no lack of work out there. There’s a serious lack of engaged talent. Leadership is the solution. The vision, alignment, accountability, and mentorship is what defines special companies. Companies that are fun to work in and make solid sustainable profits.

The average company owner starts a company, gets work, and grows because of that work. Many will never realize they are not in the X widget-making business, they are in the leader-making business. Many “leaders” are actually the “technicians” referred to in the great book E-Myth. More doers than leaders.

Sure, they can tell people what to do. Sure, they can feel like they are in charge. But they cannot lead through layers of leadership without losing their company mission if there clearly was one. They cannot protect their company culture and core values in growth. Their people see little morale good in their work. It’s a means to an end for everyone. Money.

For those at the top, leadership development means starting with yourself. This means aggressive accountability for your own faults and weaknesses. Some of those weaknesses are simply the other side of a strength. Some are blindspots. They are costing you time, money, and happiness.

As a leader, you are NOT the total solution to solving all your company’s problems. If you think you are, you will build a company that requires exhausting micromanagement, fails to retain developing leaders, and experience less joy at work.

This is how I watched my father run his business for 20 years. 20 years of grind. Brutal. It’s no fun, even if you can work hard enough to make it work-ish.

You ARE the people developer. You are the human investor. You are looking for a good return on your mentorship. You are helping other people go further in their career/life/development than they thought they could. You are an encourager, an advisor, a help, an asset, and a trainer.

You are building a team of people that can accomplish FAR more than you ever could.

The tyranny of the urgent will hamper you. Fires always need to be put out. Reading books, hiring coaches, mentoring leaders can always be pushed off.

“I have work to do.”

Leadership is your work.

Some leaders run around telling the time. Some leaders build the clock. Are you a watchmaker or a timepiece?

Step back. See the whole picture. Elevate others. Don’t take easy ‘I’ll do it myself’ shortcuts to productivity. You have to stay on the sidelines, in a sense.

Turn your org chart upside down. You are the chief enabler. Your customer-facing people are the most important people in the company.

Are you doing enough for them?

PRACTICAL STEPS

Leadership only develops when one realizes how much more a lack of leadership will cost.

  • Leadership podcasts
  • Books
  • Coaching
  • Emotional intelligence development course (recommend Kelley Ashby)
  • LEAP Leadership Acceleration Course (recommend Kim Liefsen)
Questions, answered

The short version.

Why should a construction owner turn the org chart upside down?
Because the owner's real job is chief enabler, and the customer-facing people are the most important people in the company. Flipping the chart reframes leadership as serving and equipping those people rather than commanding them, and it forces the question every owner should ask: are you doing enough for them?
What is the biggest growth lever for a construction company?
Scaling leadership impact by hiring, developing, and retaining leaders who can perpetuate the company vision at a larger sustainable scale, especially in middle management. There is no lack of work in construction; there is a serious lack of engaged talent, and leadership through vision, alignment, accountability, and mentorship is what closes that gap.
What is the difference between a technician and a leader in a construction business?
A technician is a doer who can tell people what to do and feel in charge, but cannot lead through layers of leadership without losing the company mission. Many owners never realize they are not in the widget-making business but in the leader-making business, and staying in technician mode leaves them unable to protect culture and core values as the company grows.
What happens when an owner treats themselves as the solution to every company problem?
They build a company that requires exhausting micromanagement, fails to retain developing leaders, and produces less joy at work. The alternative is to see yourself as the people developer and human investor, building a team that can accomplish far more than you ever could alone.
How do construction owners start developing as leaders?
Start with yourself, through aggressive accountability for your own faults, weaknesses, and blind spots, because they are costing you time, money, and happiness. Practical steps include leadership podcasts, books, coaching, an emotional intelligence development course, and a leadership acceleration course, and the discipline to treat leadership as your work instead of letting urgent fires push it off.