Ever said, “I wish my people (managers, foremen, and crews) were as good as me”? Do they often struggle and fail to do things the way you want them done and regularly miss completion deadlines? Are your people as efficient and productive as they should be, or do employees sit and wait for you or their boss to make simple decisions for them? Do you have a plan to get your people to improve, constantly hit their targets, finish on time, and be safe?
I’m sure you agree that a regular training program will make a difference in your company’s performance. People tend to keep doing things the same way as they have always done before, and don’t like to try new ideas. Training is the best method to encourage and make your people want to change and improve.
I recently surveyed more than 2,000 contractors. Over 98 percent said their people would do a better job if they provided more training. But this admission doesn’t lead to action! For field personnel, 51 percent of companies provide less than 8 hours of training per year, and only 12 percent offer 40 hours or more per year per field employee. For management personnel, 32 percent of companies offer less than 8 hours per year, and only 24 percent train 40 hours or more. Contrast this with the top 500 major companies in America who average more than 40 hours of training per year, per employee. Contractors also tend to offer more training to management than to field talent. This doesn’t make sense, as construction companies lose the most money on labor when jobs finish over the estimated labor budget. It’s common for managers to get regular ongoing training while field production people get little or nominal training. I often hear contractors say they don’t want to “waste” money paying their field people to attend training sessions.
THE 2.5-PERCENT INVESTMENT
Most smaller contracting firms don’t dedicate time and resources to formal training programs. Stop and consider the old method of distributing information and blueprints versus today’s job-management software, computers, and websites. In today’s high-tech, high-speed business environment, people need to learn and continually improve just to stay even. Maybe your firm is “too busy to train” because you expect people to learn on the job using a trial-and-error method. But another problem is most foremen and supervisors don’t take any time to train their people, either.
A better plan would be to invest in 40 hours of training per year for every employee (less than 1 hour per week). This cost is only 2.5 percent of your payroll. With a small training investment, your return will generate a minimum 5- to 10-percent improvement in bottom-line labor productivity and efficiency.
You can’t afford not to train. The first decision to start an effective companywide training program is to train during regular working hours in regularly scheduled mandatory sessions. Getting started is simple. Call a team meeting to select and prioritize 25 training topics which will give you the biggest return to increase profit, improve performance, save labor, reduce call-backs, eliminate punch-list items, standardize technology skills, maintain equipment, supervision, leadership, scheduling, planning, and innovative ideas. Allocate 45 minutes weekly for training. This can include job-site task training and regular formalized training sessions at the office.
For example, field concrete workers need to know how to form a building slab properly, where to install slab expansion joints, how to install steel anchor bolts, how to utilize project-management software, and how to fill out an online timecard properly. Design learning sessions for each area and repeat them every six months to reinforce the basics plus new initiatives, changes, and improvements. To develop your talent improvement training program, email gh@hardhatbizcoach.com.
TRAINING INVOLVES DOING
Conduct training sessions in an interactive visual hands-on format versus the old classroom style of teaching where the teacher only tells the people what to do. Think coaching, showing, and mentoring versus teaching via telling. Coaches explain, show, use examples, and get people to do exercises to encourage real learning.
In group settings, select different people to lead your weekly training sessions. This method will allow everyone to get a chance to teach and be responsible for an area of workmanship. Assign topics to individuals based on their experiences and skills. Get people to stand up, participate, use tools, install materials, use equipment, think for themselves, and do it until they get it right.
In other words, tell people how to do it, show them how to do it, and then let them do it. Watch the results, coach the participants until they get it right, and recognize those who do a good job. Bosses, step back! Share training duties among your crew, so everyone gets a chance to be a teacher.
about the author
George Hedley CPBC is a certified professional construction business coach, consultant, and speaker. He shows contractors how to double their profits, grow, get organized, and get their company to work like a machine! He is the author of Get Your Construction Business To Always Make A Profit! available on Amazon.com. To talk, start a personalized BIZ-BUILDER program, or get his free e-newsletter, email gh@hardhatbizcoach.com. Visit his YouTube channel to watch his videos. To download online courses or get his contractor templates, visit www.constructionbusinesscoaching.com.