Scenario: For some reason, Zenith Homes seemed to be taking longer and longer to build their houses. John Hanks, the CEO, didn’t understand why. A year ago, when the market was humming, production times lengthened due to shortages of subs and the number of homes they were building. But now the market had slowed, and the slower schedule remained.
A week ago, he had asked Phillip, his insulation contractor, if they could stop by on Friday to add some insulation to the garage of a house they had recently worked on. “No problem,” Phillip told him. Then Friday afternoon, when he talked to his superintendent, he asked how the installation was going. “They never showed up,” the superintendent said.
When John called Phillip, the sub apologized. “I should have called you,” he said. “We got a little busy on a job yesterday, and I figured we could wait until Monday to start.”
“Weren’t you the same sub that called me last week and asked if we had another house ready to go?” John queried.
“Yeah, that was me,” Phillip ruefully admitted. “Normally we’re not too busy, but some of my people took off on Friday for a long weekend.”
When John sat down with his superintendent he discovered his homes were taking an average of 15 days longer to complete than originally scheduled. That was 15 extra days of overhead and financing construction that was cutting into his profit. John wondered if his crews were actually less productive now—stretching out the work to fill the extra time available. If that were the case, his final labor costs would also be higher.
Given the lack of urgency due to the slowing market, John wondered how he could re-instill a sense of urgency in his employees and subs, and reduce construction time to a more cost-effective number.
When demand slows, often the job slows down to fill the time allotted. The lack of a sense of urgency isn’t affecting only John’s subs, but his employees as well. The superintendent should have called John first thing Friday morning to alert him the sub had not shown as promised.
Solution: Creating a sense of urgency is critical to maintaining productivity and efficiency throughout the company. Motivating employees and subcontractors to be highly productive starts with the right people: people who want to succeed, who understand teamwork, and who are capable of change. Managers have the responsibility to motivate associates through reward (praise and financial remuneration) and education (providing the tools and skills to become better). Neither of these will be effective, however, if directed at employees who are intellectually or emotionally incapable of improvement. Once you have people who respond to motivation, here are some ways to create a sense of urgency:
Lead by example. Unless you demonstrate a sense of urgency, no one else will either. If you expect your people to perform, then you have to perform. If you’re out playing golf every afternoon, don’t expect the staff to feel an overwhelming need to finish now!
