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Avoid the #1 Leadership Mistake Contractors Make — Fix It Before It Happens
111 Plays2 months ago
Promoting your top performer might feel like the right move, but is it? In this episode of The Better Contractor Podcast, Brent breaks down why high skill doesn’t always equal strong leadership. From delegation and communication to emotional intelligence and teachability, here’s how to spot (and build) real leaders on your crew.
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Transcript
Introduction to the Episode
00:00:00
Speaker
Welcome back to another edition of the Better Contractor. Today you've got just me, no co-host, no guest, and it's going to be a short and simple to the point.
Why Top Workers May Not Be Leaders
00:00:08
Speaker
So,
00:00:14
Speaker
welcome back to another edition of the better contractor today you've got just me no cohost no guest and it's going to be a short and simple podcast to the point so When I do these, I try to think of something that a lot of contractors, including myself, I've struggled with over the years.
Challenges of Promoting Without Assessment
00:00:30
Speaker
And the one that came to mind was basically why your best worker might be your worst leader than obviously how to fix it. And I can think of a couple stories in the past with our company where someone was an awesome operator.
00:00:46
Speaker
They kicked butt in the field. They traveled. They did everything you wanted them to do as an operator, as a laborer, whatever position they were in. And when the opportunity comes to say, hey we need to promote someone to a foreman, we have a position open. Obviously, we all want to promote within.
00:01:03
Speaker
So you promote that person to it. The issue is a lot of business owners, myself included, especially in the beginning, simply promote that person in that position, assuming that they have the skills necessary to do it. And the fact is they do not always have those skills.
The Need for Leadership Training
00:01:16
Speaker
So what that did with us is basically invited just some issues, you know, so that person ended up causing some chaos. They did not lead well. They did a lot of the work themselves, didn't delegate tasks, did not lead their crew, train new people, coach new people.
00:01:31
Speaker
And since then, we've kind of learned, hey, let's provide that training. Let's do what we need to do, promote the right people, get the right people in the right positions. So we addressed that issue. So I kind of want to share some of that with you guys today.
00:01:43
Speaker
So what is the issue a lot of times? A lot of times it means you didn't train them. You didn't provide leadership skills. You didn't hire or promote them based on leadership skills. There was a lack of expectations given to them. And when you do that, you're basically just pushing the wrong person into the wrong position.
Traits of Effective Leaders
00:01:58
Speaker
So what traits do we need to look for when we, when we promote that person? So obviously it is helpful if they can operate equipment, if they can do all the stuff that you do in the field, that's great for their knowledge. That's great for them to be able to teach. So it is important. I'm not downplaying that importance, but.
00:02:14
Speaker
You also need to make sure they have the ability ability and the willingness to delegate. That is something I've seen with a lot of people that we've promoted in the past, especially the two I'm thinking of. They didn't want to delegate.
00:02:25
Speaker
They didn't want, they felt like that was the wrong kind of boss. And that's not the right person for that position if they're unwilling to delegate and execute the task and plan that project and execute that project daily in the field.
00:02:38
Speaker
Another one, do people want to even follow them to begin with? Are they a clear communicator with a clear vision? That is something I've seen a lot of people have struggled with is the job site to them is so clear and so obvious that they do not think there's a need to go in there and say, hey, person a this is your task. This is what we're doing the today. Person B, this is yours.
Implementing Leadership Skills
00:03:00
Speaker
Here's the overall plan for the project that day. They don't think that's necessary because they so naturally get it and they don't do that with others. But you got to find someone that is able, willing, and sees the importance of doing that.
00:03:12
Speaker
They need to be emotionally intelligent, meaning they need to be able to read the room. They need to be able to to work with different personalities and different crew types on on that crew. um They got to have the ability to execute and motivate others to do the same.
00:03:25
Speaker
You know, there's that saying, you know, to lead from the front. I think that's one of the most effective type. But if that operator, if that labor that you're promoting that position internally doesn't have that even, are they going to be an effective leader? And the answer is probably they're not going to.
00:03:41
Speaker
And then teach ability. So do they have a self-improvement mindset? Do they have the ability to coach? um You know, I've seen some foremen do an amazing job of bringing a new crew member on their team.
00:03:51
Speaker
And then immediately they are coaching them. They're mentoring them. It's almost like it's a little brother or like a son to them. They want them to succeed in that role. I have seen others do the opposite where they view that person as a threat.
00:04:03
Speaker
So all of these things are things that you need to look for when you're choosing to promote from within or you're hired from somewhere else and you're putting that person in that formal position. You've got to make sure that person has these very, very basic things we just talked about.
Developing Future Leaders
00:04:18
Speaker
So what are three immediate things that contractors can do to build future leaders? You got develop a leadership pathway. How do they get there? Do you guys have any training that they need to do? You know, so Atlanta Corp at TBC,
00:04:31
Speaker
For example, we have leadership training courses on our platform, and this is exactly the reason why we have those. so It's because you've got to be able to train those guys. You've got to provide them some sort of pathway to get from labor operator to a four person.
00:04:45
Speaker
If you're not providing that, if you're not doing any training online or in person, then you're not setting them up for success. You need to routinely meet with leaders in your company. to build the culture and to set expectations.
00:04:57
Speaker
The thing you need to do is routinely meet with leaders in your company. This is to build culture, to set expectations and to lead by example. You gotta make sure you're doing that yourself. I've seen some business owners not do that, so you really can't expect your foreman to do it.
00:05:09
Speaker
But those meetings and getting to know your forepersons in the field, I think is critical for you to be able to be an effective leader and then for them to also be an effective leader. Do I do that perfectly?
00:05:19
Speaker
No. But have I learned that that is important? Absolutely. That's why i'm telling you guys. But it is hugely important for you to take, and hopefully you have a good culture as an owner. But a lot of you just like me probably started out, which is a few guys, and you may have had a really good culture with that core group.
00:05:35
Speaker
As you grew and groom and grew and hopefully you did, but as you grew, you may have lost some of that culture. This is to prevent that loss
Transitioning to Leadership Roles
00:05:44
Speaker
of culture. So as you grow, if you can keep those people and keep that culture, obviously it may dilute as it goes down, but if you can keep that as much as possible, man, that is key.
00:05:55
Speaker
You need to set up potential leaders first as crew leads to see how they do, train them, coach them, and prepare them. So one thing we do, and I think it works well and I like doing this, but we'll set up kind of a crew lead.
00:06:06
Speaker
So it's someone who's not yet a four person, but they kind of work underneath the foreman. And what that's doing is letting them just get a feel for it You are training them, but you're also getting the chance for your current four person to say, hey, this person's got it.
00:06:18
Speaker
They don't have it. It allows them to coach. It allows you to see how they do or, you know, give them feedback on, hey, you're doing A, B and C great, but D, E and F, you're not doing so well. And this is what I would do to improve if you're wanting to make it to this position one day. So you're helping them find that ladder to success and you're coaching them and mentoring them to get there.
00:06:37
Speaker
So setting up them as a crew leader or something like that prior to just making that jump all the way. I think is critical. And you can also do the online training that TBC or other places provide.
00:06:49
Speaker
But my main point there is do not throw them blindly into the leadership position unless you want to lose them as an employee.
Closing and Community Engagement
00:06:54
Speaker
So guys, hopefully this podcast was helpful. If you liked it, please share some other contractors.
00:07:01
Speaker
Again, join our private Facebook group and let's all level up together. Thanks for listening to Better Contractor.