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Leadership in the Field: Essential Tips for Crew Leads
89 Plays1 year ago
In this episode of The Better Contractor Podcast, Brent Oberlink shares valuable leadership tips for crew leads, foremen, and all contractors in the field. From leading by example to setting clear goals, Brent dives into actionable strategies to help you build respect, coach your team, and create a strong, goal-oriented crew culture. Whether you're stepping into a leadership role or looking to sharpen your skills, this episode offers practical insights to elevate your leadership game on the job site.
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Transcript
Introduction to Leadership in Contracting
00:00:14
Speaker
ah Welcome back to another edition of The Better Contractor. So today we're doing another one kind of like the last episode is more geared towards those of you in the field. So Foreman, uh, in this case, so this is an episode more for you crew leads. So Foreman, four persons, whatever you want to call that, that role. And basically it's a little bit of a leadership short podcast, I guess.
Challenges of Transitioning to Leadership
00:00:39
Speaker
Um, I've got just a few tips to kind of pass on to you guys. I know in the contracting world in general, there's a lot of times where.
00:00:47
Speaker
You are moved into a foreman role a lot of times with not a ton of training. Uh, you may be someone who has been at a company for 10 years. You've done an excellent job as an operator or kind of a second and lead. Um, and you may have been put into this role because someone above you quit, you were someone who's got a ton of experience, therefore can run a job, but you may not have had a whole lot of leadership training to get there. And that may be something you struggle with. Maybe it's not, maybe you're a natural born leader.
00:01:15
Speaker
Um, and if so, I still think there's some points in here that will
Leading by Example
00:01:18
Speaker
help you. So kind of a shorter podcast, we'll get kind of to the point. Number one, lead by example. That's a little bit of a cliche normally used term, but I'm going to add to that a little bit and say that that is actually personally and professionally both. So I've seen some people do a very good job at work leading by example, but when it comes to their personal life or how they treat others, how they interact with people at the hotel in the evening.
00:01:44
Speaker
how they interact with someone at lunch, that may or may not be their their strength. And to me, if you're going to be a leader, you have to lead by example all of the time. It cannot be, oh, why do it here? I do it while I'm at work or i I work my butt off. Therefore, you you know, that's how I'm leading you. But then how I treat people that aren't working for me or how I do these other things or how I live my life personally.
00:02:09
Speaker
that is not something you respect. So for me, to me, when I say lead by example, I'm basically talking about you need to earn the respect of of the people working under you and around you. Because if you do not have the respect to me, no one probably gonna listen to you all that well. I know I wouldn't. I'm very picky about like people that I look up to. And I need to kind of like you as a whole person, it can't be a partial thing. So leading by example, personally and professionally is their first point.
00:02:39
Speaker
be aware that you are being watched and people are are watching your actions. And kind of what I've said before is just imagine living your life with a camera that is basically live streaming you all the time. If you like yourself that way, then you're probably doing a good job of leading by example. If you do not, somebody's probably going to find those there not so good things about you.
Setting Standards and Goals
00:02:59
Speaker
So number one, lead by example. Number two, set a high standard and deliver upon it yourself. So what does that mean? Basically it means Not just with the crew or job site, but for today we'll talk mostly about that. But if you do not have a high standard and you are the crew foreman, it is going to be very hard for you to ask your crew to live up to a certain standard if you are personally not doing it. You will be seen as a fraud. You will be seen as someone who, their word does not really matter.
00:03:31
Speaker
So you have to set that high standard for your crew. You have to deliver upon it. You need to give your crew the tools to also get to that level and to be able to meet that high standard. And that is how you will get respect. Number three, set goals, set a plan, and then provide feedback. So what I see a lot of people not do is basically go in and set goals every single day. um They don't set a plan and they don't provide feedback.
00:04:02
Speaker
So those three things to me need to actually be done every single day. So when you start your project at the beginning of the day, let's say, well, there's so many different scenarios in the contracted world of what you could be doing. You could be building a house, you could be clearing right away, you could be taking out a backyard tree, whatever it is, there is a goal that you have at the beginning of that day. You need to share that with your team and set a plan for how that can actually be accomplished that day. And at the end of the day, provide some feedback, say, hey,
00:04:28
Speaker
This went great. You guys killed it here. This here, we as a team, we kind of failed in that regard and and then talk about how that can be improved upon before the next job. That helps your team to have a plan that helps them to think, Hey, we need to be here at 10 o'clock. We need to be here by lunch. We need to be here by two. If we can accomplish that, that we will probably achieve our goals.
00:04:55
Speaker
um manage and lead. So the last podcast, we briefly mentioned that as well. That's part of this number three point. But managing is basically what we just talked about. You're setting goals, you're delegating, you're making sure that job site is structured in such a way that it can productively get to where it needs to be by end of day or end of the week or whatever your production goal is. But then you also have to lead, meaning that the crew, you know, respects you. They they want to actually follow you you know, and do the stuff that you're trying to get accomplished. Because if it's one or the other, and I've worked around both and seen both, and we've employed both, sometimes you have guys that are great at managing, awesome at leading, or one or the other, the best ones will always be able to do both. Number four, evaluate your crew members.
Evaluating and Coaching Crew Members
00:05:44
Speaker
You need to set personal goals. You need to talk the good and the bad. You need to set non-negotiables. You need to coach them.
00:05:52
Speaker
People, so I see a lot of four persons, four men that don't like to do number four. They do not like to evaluate their crew members. And I think it's because that has generically been viewed as a negative all the time. It actually does not need to be, and it actually should be positive and potentially a little bit negative or constructive, I guess I should say, all in the same. Your reviews with employees or your crew or whoever don't need to just be, hey, this is what you are not doing well at. It should be, hey, what are your personal goals? Where do you want to be within this company? By how soon do you want to get there? By doing that, you're setting goals, personal goals, not even professional goals at that point. You're finding out who they are. You're finding out where they want to go, where they want to be. From there, you will talk about, hey, this is your strengths. These are your five strengths, whatever it is, four or five.
00:06:46
Speaker
Name those off so that they know, Hey, this is what I'm good at. And my crew leader, whoever sees this and then go into the ones that need work and say, Hey, your personal goal was, let's say you want to see a $5 an hour pay bump. You want to be it to the operator three, whatever it is that you want to be to in one year. Then you say, Hey, for you to achieve that goal, which is a possible goal. You have these three things that you need to work on in order to get to that point.
00:07:14
Speaker
And then you're giving them the bad, but you're also relating it back to their personal goal. Set non-negotiable. So if your review is something where there's something they're doing that you're just like, Hey, this cannot continue. Then you need to be real about that and say, Hey, this is actually a non-negotiable. This can only happen one more time, but this can't happen anymore. But be honest about that. And I would do this after you do kind of the good and the bad, and then you set the personal goals. But set those non-negotiables.
00:07:43
Speaker
So that's out there. And so the employer, the crew person knows exactly where you're at with it. And then the last point in number four is coach them. So to me, your job as a crew lead is to help your team get to where they want to be. So those personal goals, if they are a decent operator, but they could be a lot better, it is your job to coach them on how to get better at it. If they are someone who stands around a lot is well, ah i'll I'll take that point a little further. I've,
00:08:13
Speaker
worked around enough people, led enough people over the years. And I can think of some people who naturally they just knew what needed to be done and they went and did it. I can think of people who would do what needed to be done, but they kind of needed to be told, Hey, when you get done with this, go do this. You need to understand that about those people. You need to help coach them to be successful in the job. You know, so if it is someone it's like, you know, they actually will go do the work. They're not lazy, but you you need to tell them.
00:08:41
Speaker
and you need to let them know that. So this is your opportunity to coach them, help them get to the next level, help them succeed.
Communicating Core Values and Culture
00:08:47
Speaker
Number five, talk core values and talk culture. um Basically, in a nutshell, you need to be the cheerleader for your crew. If you are not the loudest voice, if you are not that person, what I have found is someone else will take that spot for you. And that person may not have the core values, they may not have the aspirations, they may not view the company or the job or anything exactly like you do. So if you're wanting to set the tone for your crew, then you need to be the one setting it. So go back to the core values of the company. If the company does not have core values, then set core values for your crew. Like you can actually do that. Talk culture with them. Like, hey, this is the mindset I want my team to have. And you have to live it yourself, like we talked about earlier. But you can talk culture and core values with your crew and take things back to those. So let's say you have a disagreement.
00:09:42
Speaker
with a with a person in your crew or someone's not meeting, you know, production or safety or whatever, if those things are part of your core values, pull them aside and say, hey, we all kind of agreed to living this job site, living these core values app out at work and maybe hopefully personally as well, but take it back to that when you talk to that employee. It does change the dynamic of that conversation from being more of an, from an attack, more to a coach and I'm helping you type of thing.
00:10:11
Speaker
So again, if your company doesn't have core values, uh, or it needs some brought to it or added to it, then by all means add those for your crew. Uh, number six, communicate honestly and effectively. So as another thing I've seen a lot where people are afraid to just be honest. Um, and where I see that is when those harder conversations are needed.
00:10:39
Speaker
people don't want to have it. And that's natural human tendency. Nobody wants to have a hard conversation. Nobody wants to be the person that says, Hey, this isn't working out or Hey, you're not cutting it here. It is your job as a leader though, to have those conversations. Um, and it is your job as a leader to become and learn and practice being more effective at that. So what does that mean? I can think of multiple scenarios where over time,
00:11:08
Speaker
A hard conversation was needed and one person would have went into that and just hit the person with the negative right off the bat. If you do that and there is no emotion, there's no thought, there's no empathy. It is just boom, here's the negative. And there may be circumstances that warrant that. And if that's the case, and that it is what it is. If it's not that level 10 yet, then there is probably a way that you can as a leader learn how to deliver that news in a way that isn't so off-putting, that doesn't shut down communication, where you pre-frame it in a way to where you're actually saying, hey, I actually care about you enough that I'm willing to have this hard conversation because I actually want to see you get better. That changes the entire conversation as long as it's truthful. It needs to be truthful. um But that changes the entire conversation from being an attack to being a, hey, I know you want to move up at this company. I know you want to do better personally and professionally.
00:12:06
Speaker
and I actually care about you enough to have that conversation and I'm not scared to.
Strategizing and Delegating
00:12:11
Speaker
Communicate honestly and effectively, guys. It is just as important as the praise. Number seven, be a strategizer and a strategic delegator. So I kind of view projects almost like, I don't want to say billion being in the military, but yeah, being in the military. So they are awesome at having a very strategic plan with a few backups built in.
00:12:37
Speaker
To me, your job is a crew lead, and the best crews I've ever seen have a strategizer and someone who's not afraid to delegate people with their strengths. So you pull up to the job site. It's a little bit complex. It's a big project. Whatever it is, it's two months long. The strategizer will day by day, week by week, know exactly kind of their plan of action, and they will communicate that to the crew, and they will delegate. I see a lot of people that don't want to delegate.
00:13:06
Speaker
And that is only hurting you as a crew lead crew foreman. Because if you're not delegating, you're basically not giving your crew that definitive plan that hey, person A, they're over this and they're doing this today. Person B is doing this. When person A finishes this, person C steps in. Now he can do this. He can hang the drywall. Whatever it is for your company, you've got to be able to delegate in a way that keeps that job site running as productively and efficiently as possible. So have a strategy. Don't be afraid to delegate.
00:13:37
Speaker
Number eight, help them. So your job as a foreman, this is kind of the last point. Your job as a foreman or foreperson, whatever, crew lead, is to give your crew the tools to succeed. So do they have the right equipment? Do they have the right tools? Do they have the safety and PPE? Do they have the training that they need? um And last but not least there, are you there for them personally as well?
00:14:03
Speaker
so i To me, and I think back to a foreman we had here, Atlanta court, probably five, four, five years ago, he was someone who was very much there for a lot of the crew members personally. And he had the respect of the people that worked for him more than probably anybody else I can think of. But he was there for them at work. He would call me when someone, he thought someone really deserved to raise. He called her texted me when someone did a good job. He would call me and say, Hey, this person messed up here. How can I help help them? He was a coach.
00:14:34
Speaker
And if somebody needed money, he would usually loan it to him, which may or may not always be a good thing. But my point there is he was there for them personally. He gained that respect by his crew more than probably anybody else I've ever seen. So you've got to help them.
Supporting and Respecting the Team
00:14:49
Speaker
So guys, to kind of wrap it up, obviously it takes a lot more than that to be an effective crew leader. But in a nutshell, if you follow those things and you learn and keep pushing to get better at each of those things,
00:15:03
Speaker
To me, like that is the nuts and bolts of it. If you do those things, people will respect you. But the main takeaway from that, I would say is remember that you're always being watched. People are are trying to learn from you. They're trying to get that feeling of, Hey, is this someone I can respect? Is this someone I can trust? Do they actually care about me? If the answer is yes to that, you're more likely to be successful at leading them. You're more likely to be successful at delegating tasks to them and them actually listening to your delegation. And they are more likely to follow your lead. So guys, if you want to be an effective crew lead, listen to this podcast again, share it with some other the crew leads at your company. If you like this podcast, please share it. If you don't, you don't have to listen to it. Um, but guys, again, we're growing into subscribers. I want to say thank you to those. If you liked this, it was helpful.
00:15:57
Speaker
please subscribe. And again, this is one of those podcasts where we're doing this a little bit more for people in the field, not so much the owners. So if you've got people in the field that, hey, you know, they're wanting to do better as a crew lead, or maybe they're an operator who's wanting to move up the ladder to a crew lead, share this episode with them. This should be helpful. These are the very basic principles that I think, you know, if you do these things and actually live this out to me, your boss is going to to see it. And if I'm telling you right now as a business owner,
00:16:27
Speaker
If someone's doing this, most likely I'm paying attention and I'm hearing about it. So guys share this podcast with others. Um, thank you for listening. We'll see.