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Month: October 2026

Monthly Field Walks

Posted on by Team Jason Schroeder
Read 10 min

Monthly Field Walks: Walk the System, Write It Down, and Come Back Expecting It Done

Here’s the deal. Monthly field walks are crucial. If you own a business, if you are a general superintendent, if you are any part of the leadership team of a construction company, or if you oversee multiple projects, you have to do monthly field walks. I have talked about this before, but not in this light, so let me take you through it.

Short answer: A monthly field walk is a structured walk of each project, measured against the Integrated Production Control System, not a casual pat on the back. Walk from one end of the job to the other, write everything down, send each item to one of the four winds (do it, delegate it, schedule it, delete it), leave with an action list with names and dates, and come back in a month expecting it done.

The Rhythm of Daily, Weekly, and Monthly Checks

Every month you walk each project and check key things. If you need checklists on what to check, we can typically get those to you pretty quickly, so reach out to me. Here is how the checks stack up across the three rhythms.

  • Daily, a leader, project executive, or general superintendent should make sure communication is scaling from the teams, roadblocks are removed, there is prompt communication and action on any major owner items, and the team is functioning properly.
  • Weekly, we check team health and roadblocks again, along with the exposure log, the job cost report, key submittals, and how the relationship with the owner is doing. We also check the status of upcoming quality process items, plus cleanliness and organization, typically around the same time as the team meeting.
  • Monthly, we do a project risk assessment and project check-in, walk the project, do a BIM check-in, and do something for the owner to pre-sell. We dive into a few things, and we make sure the schedule and team health are in good shape.

Most of these checks center on safety, quality, schedule, BIM, cost and financials, procurement, self-perform work, risk, buyout, RFIs, submittals, change orders, site utilization, and team health. Those are always in the back of our minds.

Walk Against the Integrated Production Control System

The main thing you should be walking your project against is the Integrated Production Control System. Go through the system components.

  • Check how the team is working, whether we have won over the workforce, and whether we have a really good system for onboarding.
  • Check that we have a functional schedule, and that the preparation and behaviors we bought out in pre-construction are being implemented on the project.
  • Check that we have a great procurement and buyout system, plus prefabrication and logistics systems.
  • Check that our quality, zero tolerance, and roadblock systems are working.
  • Check that the Last Planner visuals, meetings, and culture are working, and that our Takt system is working with the right schedule deliverables.
  • Check that we are holding each other accountable with zero tolerance, a daily correction method, quality at the source, and contractor grading.
  • Check that we are measuring the right KPIs, including quality, schedule, the financial snapshot, risks and opportunities, buyout, material procurement, roadblock removal, and team health.

When we walk a project each month, we do it according to the Takt, Last Planner, Lean system components and the accountability systems that keep the project online.

What People Typically Do Wrong

Here is what people typically do wrong. They say, I will go do a project walk, and then they walk, say, I like this and that, and say hi to the team. If that is all you do, you have not done anything.

There need to be expectations for the project, and those expectations need to be clear, established, scaled, reinforced, and taught. When you walk, the huddle boards, visuals, and meeting systems should be there so you can actually measure things. Because the system components have been made clear, scaled, standardized, and taught, you then measure against them. It is not a negative, big brother kind of thing. You say, we have walked the buildings, we have looked at your schedule, and we have looked at the finances. This month, we really need to improve onboarding. What is your plan? Let’s make a plan.

The next big step might be weekly procurement meetings. For roadblocks, you are doing great, so now let’s start tracking due dates. You leave after your walk with key things that, a month from now, should be up to speed. When you come back, you expect them to be done. That is how you start to scale. When people know you are coming, they know there is a need to implement. You create a need, and you drive progress.

How to Do the Walk

There is a way to do a walk, and there is a way not to. Get the team focused and clear, with no distractions, and start at one end of the project and go to the other. As soon as something comes up, it gets written down. I tell the people walking with me not to be on their phones unless they are writing something down. Do not take radio calls, and do not go squirreling on me. Let’s focus, and we are going to do everything in one piece flow.

One time, somebody said, Jason, you do not want me to squirrel, but you want me to do it one piece flow? I explained that everything you see goes to the four winds. Here they are.

  • Do it. You do the thing right away, and it is done.
  • Delegate it. You send it in your WhatsApp chat to the foreman, the self-performed laborers or carpenters, a project engineer, or in an email.
  • Schedule it. You put it on a meeting agenda or your calendar to do later.
  • Delete it. You do nothing with it, because it is already being taken care of.

Say we see a pile of trash. If we can pick it up, we just do it. If we know trash pickup is already coming, we include it in the list. If we need a foreman or carpenter to pick it up right away, we send it out with a picture. If the crew is already coming to get it in thirty minutes, we do not do anything with it. When you delegate, be very specific. Put a name on it, name the location, and give a time, such as by tomorrow at 8 a.m.

What Gets Walked

Then you keep walking. We go up to the signage and see which signs need fixing. We look at the lay down yard and make a plan for it. We check the schedule and ask whether we are on our Takt times in the right zones. We look at ladders, the roof, the stairwells, and the elevator. We look at safety, cleanliness, and organization.

By the time you get back to your office, you should have looked at all of the key components of the Integrated Production Control System and actually done something as you walked. You are also teaching the superintendents, PMs, assistants, and engineers how to do a walk, and they mimic the behaviors. There is no, I will remember it later. Everything is written down, acted upon, and dealt with right away. Everything goes somewhere, whether it is a text chat, a to-do list, a schedule, a meeting agenda, or a visual. It does not go up into the ether of your memory.

Back at the Office

Back at the office, you scale the key components. This is our plan for cleanliness. This is our plan for coordination. You are going to start worker huddles next week. This is how you can improve some of these visuals. These are the two or three things you need from corporate, and we can handle them. You leave with an action list with people’s names and dates. Then, when you walk the job again in a month, you continually make progress.

Companies that do this, with real builders evaluating against a real system and holding each other accountable, will win, and you will elevate as a company.

Substance and Dessert

I have seen leaders who just go out and pat everybody on the back, love everybody up, and leave. You should do that, but there is never anything of substance to it. You have to have a standard that says, this is what we want our projects to look like. Scale it, standardize it, and teach it. Then do an actual audit with real feedback, write a list of things that will actually be done in the next four weeks, and come back and expect it to be done.

You cannot just go out and do butterflies, kittens, rainbows, and unicorns. You have to have some substance, some action, drive, grit, and accountability. Then you can have your rainbows and unicorns. It is like not eating dessert until you eat your dinner. You have to have your meal and your dessert, but you cannot just have the dessert.

If your project needs superintendent coaching, project support, or leadership development, Elevate Construction can help your field teams stabilize, schedule, and flow.

So here is the challenge. On your next walk, put the phone down, walk from one end to the other, and send everything to the four winds. Leave with an action list with names and dates, and come back in a month expecting it to be done.

Bottom line: Everything’s written down. Everything’s acted upon. Everything’s dealt with right away.

On we go.

FAQ

Who should do monthly field walks?

Business owners, general superintendents, anyone on the leadership team of a construction company, and anyone who oversees multiple projects.

What should a field walk be measured against?

The Integrated Production Control System, meaning the Takt, Last Planner, Lean system components, and accountability systems, with expectations that are clear, scaled, reinforced, and taught.

What are the four winds?

Do it, delegate it, schedule it, or delete it, meaning do nothing because it is already being handled.

How often should construction leaders do field walks? 

Monthly for each project, with a structured checklist based on the Integrated Production Control System, plus daily and weekly checks on team health, roadblocks, cost, and owner items.

What makes a walk effective?

Focus, writing everything down, acting on it right away, and leaving with an action list with names and dates, then coming back in a month and expecting it to be done.

People Also Read:
The Right Way To Do A Field Walk
General Superintendents Playbook

If you want to learn more we have:

-Takt Virtual Training: (Takt Virtual Training)
-Check out our YouTube channel for more info: (Elevate Construction on YouTube)
-Listen to the Elevate Construction podcast: (Elevate Construction Podcast)
-Check out our training programs and certifications: (Training Programs and Certifications)
-The Takt Book: (The Takt Book on Amazon)

Discover Jason’s Expertise:

Meet Jason Schroeder, the driving force behind Elevate Construction. As the company’s Founder and COO, he’s dedicated to taking construction to new heights. With a wealth of industry experience, he’s crafted the Field Engineer Boot Camp and Superintendent Boot Camp – intensive training programs engineered to cultivate top-tier leaders capable of steering their teams towards success. Jason’s vision? To expand his training initiatives across the nation, empowering construction firms to soar to unprecedented levels of excellence.

Posted in All

Project Closeout: The Superintendent’s Role, with NCCER

Posted on by Team Jason Schroeder
Read 10 min

Featuring Adam Hoots, Kevin Rice, and Patty Stephan.

Project Closeout: The Superintendent’s Role From Day One to Done

Here’s the deal. This conversation was recorded with Adam Hoots of The Lean Builder, Kevin Rice, Elevate’s Chief Visionary Officer (COO at the time of recording), and Patty Stephan, then a senior product manager at NCCER, which was developing what launched as its Construction Superintendent Certification Program. Project closeout is one of the topics in that program, and Patty wanted to hear it from practitioners. Here is what came out of it.

Short answer: Project closeout starts on day one, not at the end. Build a closeout submittal register at the start, start commissioning early, shift the team from starting to finishing at the two-thirds point, and make the superintendent the timekeeper who drives the job until the owner is happy, not just until the work is done.

The Project Where I Checked Out Too Early

We had an eighty million dollar project. It was beautiful. We finished right on time, and we absorbed changes through thirty percent of the building. The owner was a raving fan, we hit our budget targets, and the team was happy. It was clean, safe, and organized.

At the end, I mentally checked out as the superintendent. I thought, we are good, I am out. But the owner said, no, we are moving people in, I want to change things, I want to redo certain rooms, and I want you to help with the move-in. We did not have a plan. I was close to disconnecting and angering a client we had spent three or four years taking care of.

That is the first lesson. The superintendent is the overseer. We are not done when the project is done. We are done when the client is happy.

What Being the Overseer Means

Adam said respect for people can get confused with just being nice, when it also means taking command and ownership, protecting the plan from start to finish. Kevin said the superintendent is the master facilitator, standing between all the moving parts and making sure they fit into place. We are not in manufacturing, delivering a product. We are delivering an experience, and that goes all the way to moving people in and making sure the space is what they want.

Start From Day One, Shift the Mindset at Two-Thirds

Closeout is more than documents. It is lien waivers, owner training, commissioning with facilities management, and every deliverable in the specs being handed over and accepted. It is like buying a car. Where is the owner’s manual, where do I get service, and where do I get more training?

  • Start from day one. Create a submittal register for the closeout documents as well as for procurement.
  • Commissioning starts on day one too, not at two-thirds of the project.
  • At the two-thirds point, change the mindset from starting up to finishing. Confirm the substantial completion requirements, get the documents ready, and make sure commissioning is on schedule.

Patty added that you should gather documentation as you go so you are not scrambling to build a turnover package at the end. I think of it as plan, build, finish for each scope. In planning, the pre-construction meeting covers the contract requirements. In building, you build for turnover and facilities management. In finishing, you reconcile change orders, punch the work, and collect closeout documents before releasing final payment and before the trade demobilizes. One of the guests heard one piece flow in that, and another heard Little’s Law. Small batches, limited work in progress, finish as you go. Accurate documents also matter for the safety of the people using the building, and rushing at the end hurts accuracy.

Who Drives It

Adam asked who is responsible. I would build the team and set targets as a project executive. The project manager and project engineer should track it, but superintendents often say, that is an office problem. It is not. Superintendents are engaged in procurement, MEP systems, commissioning, final inspections, and the definition of completion, and they are the timekeeper who drives it to the end.

Kevin described teams that play tennis, hitting the ball back to the PM and then back to the superintendent, until nothing gets delivered. It has to be a team effort, and the question is how you move the ball forward in your role.

Closeout Meetings

Hold intentional closeout meetings, scaled to the scope. A small scope might get an email, and a large one a series of meetings. Hold them close to the completion of the work, with the right people, and send the agenda ahead, filtered from the submittal register: turnover, warranty, and training documents, plus the spec requirements. A good meeting covers the following.

  • Completion status and the punch list, including engineer, architect, and end user walks.
  • Lessons learned, and whether we met the owner’s top ten conditions of satisfaction.
  • Warranty documentation, maintenance information, attic stock, training and training videos, and commissioning status.
  • How we will help the owner use the information as they move in.
  • Next steps, lien waivers, contract terms, and closing out change orders.

Kevin added having the owner grade us, with an evaluation form. That is one of the best marketing and sales techniques we have. It is also why I tie final payment to completion. If an ice cream shop handed you a cone without the caramel and asked to be paid, you would not pay. We want to help trades with cash flow, but final payment waits for punch, closeout, training, and documentation.

Punch Lists

Kevin said it plainly: I hate punch lists. If you give crews what they need to finish within their zone, and check the work before they move on, a punch list goes from twenty-five or thirty pages to two. Walk the last five units, punch them right there, and have the foreman grab the workers. A list is for things like missing hardware. Otherwise, you get the whole chain of taking photos, uploading, emailing, reminding, and verifying. A list of fifteen hundred items should be two or three hundred or less.

Takt gives a measurable standard each Takt time, so you can QC as you go. Adam said it comes down to respect for the worker. Assign specific responsibility for list items, and follow up.

Missing Materials and the Scrum Board

Somewhere between two-thirds and halfway through that last third, have the PM and project engineer flip all the drawings and specs and do an inventory count of what is missing. It may be a Knox box, a transom, or a closure, and you will find ten to a hundred and fifty items. Then use a Scrum board for the big items that will hold you up, like an access panel in a stairwell or a cabinet redesign in a kitchen. If I am a project director at that point and I do not see a Scrum board and a master list of the last hundred and fifty things, I do not know that anyone has a plan to finish. Kevin added that you should put your best guess for procurement and installation durations on paper and see the effect on substantial completion.

Substantial Completion

Very few teams learn the substantial and final completion requirements early enough. Post them on a large sign in the trailer, and put them in your schedule network with buffers. They include the following.

  • Preliminary balancing report.
  • Engineer’s walk and the architect’s punch list.
  • Life safety testing and certificates, including elevator, fire alarm, and sprinkler.
  • A fully functional HVAC system, controls, and internet.
  • Exits, and ADA and life safety signage.

I would move the commissioning and testing mindset forward by at least six weeks.

Contract Closeout and Critical Documents

Close out vendors and purchase orders. Verify contractual and legal obligations are complete, obtain closeout documents, arrange the warranty requirements, revoke access rights and security passes, perform a post-contract evaluation and lessons learned, and archive the records. Adam added that you should pull information for the next project, like how long scopes took. Make sure something in the schedule triggers all of this.

Critical documents include accurate as-builts, especially electrical, low voltage, and site utilities, because inspectors will check them. They also include closing permits, operations manuals with training, regulatory documents, elevator and fire marshal documents, utility transfers, ADA inspections, the crane permit, the certificate of occupancy, notices of substantial completion and final acceptance, and lien releases. Even after all of it, the owner may want change order work, so have a way to approve, track, schedule, and supervise it.

Closing Advice

Kevin said closeout takes a team, and if you realize you are part of it, you deliver a remarkable closeout. Patty said to plan for closeout from the first meeting and start the file, so nothing can get you at the end. Adam said a six-month job once took a year to close, and the owner will remember the last month or two. Respect the craft, yourself, and your owners.

My closing analogy is teaching kids to drive. Two rules. Do not hit the car in front of you, and stay in your lane. Then keep looking ahead. Two lights from now, we turn. Before the curve, hit the brakes. A superintendent keeps the team looking forward, and that moves commissioning, testing, and closeout forward in our minds.

If your project needs superintendent coaching, project support, or leadership development, Elevate Construction can help your field teams stabilize, schedule, and flow.

So here is the challenge. Start your closeout file today, and at the two-thirds point confirm your substantial completion requirements.

Bottom line: We are not done when that project is done. We are done when the client is happy.

On we go.

FAQ

When should closeout planning begin?

On day one. Create a submittal register for closeout documents, and shift the team’s mindset to finishing at the two-thirds point.

Who drives closeout?

It is a team effort. The PM and project engineer track it, and the superintendent drives completion as the timekeeper and is engaged in commissioning, inspections, and procurement.

How do you avoid a huge punch list?

Finish as you go, by giving crews what they need and checking the work in each zone before they move on.

What goes in a closeout meeting?

Completion status, punch list, lessons learned, the owner’s conditions of satisfaction, warranty, training, and commissioning, and closing out lien waivers and change orders.

People Also Read:
What Is Project Closeout?
Commissioning Book
Superintendent Boot Camp

If you want to learn more we have:

-Takt Virtual Training: (Takt Virtual Training)
-Check out our YouTube channel for more info: (Elevate Construction on YouTube)
-Listen to the Elevate Construction podcast: (Elevate Construction Podcast)
-Check out our training programs and certifications: (Training Programs and Certifications)
-The Takt Book: (The Takt Book on Amazon)

Discover Jason’s Expertise:

Meet Jason Schroeder, the driving force behind Elevate Construction. As the company’s Founder and COO, he’s dedicated to taking construction to new heights. With a wealth of industry experience, he’s crafted the Field Engineer Boot Camp and Superintendent Boot Camp – intensive training programs engineered to cultivate top-tier leaders capable of steering their teams towards success. Jason’s vision? To expand his training initiatives across the nation, empowering construction firms to soar to unprecedented levels of excellence.

Posted in All

Don’t Get a False Sense of Security

Posted on by Team Jason Schroeder
Read 9 min

The False Sense of Security: A Checked Box Is Not a Working System

Here’s the deal. Today I want to talk about getting a false sense of security, and how it can hide inside almost any system we use. A colleague named Kevin raised this with me on a recent trip, and I really appreciated it. He said there is a similarity across some of these systems. When they are sub-optimized, and not implemented right, they give you a false sense of security. I really like that thought, so let’s anchor it.

Short answer: A false sense of security is believing a system works because a box got checked. A CPM schedule, a pull plan, or a beautiful Takt plan can all hide problems until it’s too late. The fix is to verify them: check buffers, leveling, zones, zone density, procurement, and how the plan ties into the master schedule.

The False Sense of Security in CPM

If you use the critical path method, CPM scheduling, on an activity level and not a phase level, meaning it is too detailed, almost every part of that scheduling system will work against your production system. The reason it is so widely scaled is that it gives the project manager and the project team a false sense of security. Here is what that sounds like.

  • It is in the schedule.
  • My senior scheduler knows what is going on.
  • It is in the contract, so it must be right.
  • We have a legal precedent to protect us.
  • My trade partner signed on to it.

None of those protect us if the project is late. We are still on the hook.

When the Schedule Is Lying

Those schedules also hide trade stacking, and in that way they end up lying to you. A third of the way through the project, you say, we are good. Halfway through, you say, I think we are good. Nearing two thirds of the project, you say, I do not know, it is a little sketchy, let me check in with the team. And then, after that, you are in a full blown crash landing.

This happens all the time, and every builder knows what I am talking about. How in the world did this project take a turn so fast? It is because the schedule was lying. It is non-transparent, and it gives people a false sense of security.

It Can Happen With Last Planner

The same thing can happen with other systems. Say you have implemented the Last Planner system, and people tell you, this is the cat’s meow. You did a pull plan, and now you are implementing from a weekly work plan. Check whether the following are true.

  • The material procurement is aligned.
  • The work has been broken out into the right number of zones.
  • The plan has been looped into your master schedule.
  • You have confirmed that the plan is realistic with the supply chain.
  • Your weekly work plans are based on an overall flow, broken out by zone.

If they are not, then you have a false sense of security. You think, we pull planned it, we should be good. No, no, no. There is so much more to it.

It Can Happen With Takt Too

I will throw Takt in there as well. Someone says, Jason said Takt planning is the cat’s meow, we have Takt, we are good. You are good if you are compliant with the Takt guide on the Takt website, meaning the following.

  • You have buffers.
  • You have leveled your wagons.
  • You have leveled your zones.
  • You have analyzed zone density.
  • You have all of the key components specified on the website.

If you have not, a beautiful looking Takt plan can still give you a false sense of security. Dig in.

A Lesson From Surveying

Here is an analogy from a different scope of work, surveying. I used to teach quite a bit about how to do traversing using the compass rule. There is software that will do it with least squares, and that is fine. We would traverse through a network of points and close the traverse. At the end, it would give you a linear error of closure, and then it would give you your accuracy. If you were one in 100,000, that meant it would take 100,000 linear feet of surveying to be off by a foot. First order accuracy was what we were always targeting.

When teams closed their traverse, they would say, we were one in 85,000, we are good to go, done. Now they had a false sense of security. All a closed traverse tells you is whether you surveyed consistently. To know whether you have the points in the right place, you have to take the traverse coordinates and overlay them with the given coordinates, and see if there is a mistake. We would take an accurate traverse of five points, overlay it with the actual site plan the surveying company gave us, and in some cases a point was off by 0.08, 0.20, or 0.80 feet, and in some cases as much as six feet in the wrong location.

So you did not find out there was a problem when you did the traverse and checked the accuracy. You found the problem when you overlaid the traverse with the given information.

Apply It to Your Schedule

You can create a CPM schedule, hit F9, have it be inside the box, say I trust my scheduler, and have a false sense of security until you check it. You do not know that it is right. In fact, I would ask you to look at it like a liability.

You can implement Last Planner, say we have a pull plan, thank goodness, and check the box. You have a false sense of security until you dig into it and make sure all trades were represented, the durations are confirmed, you have the right number of zones and the right batching, and you have a plan to loop the pull plan into your master schedule and filter it onto the weekly work plan. You then collaborate and implement in a strategic way with buffers. If not, you may have a massive problem.

Do not go to sleep on me. Your team created a Takt plan, and it looks beautiful. Dig in. Does it have buffers? Did it level the wagons? Did it level the zones? Did you analyze zone density? Do you have the key components?

Ask What Happened After “I Did It”

When somebody tells you they did it, the answer is the question that comes next. You created a Takt plan, great, what did the review look like? You did a pull plan and you are implementing Last Planner, great, what does that look like from a production and scaling standpoint? You have a CPM schedule, okay, how are we going to analyze the flow within it? You have to take it all the way to the end.

It is like what I wrote about in Conversations & Consequences. I talked to them, I am good. No. If you stop there, you have a false sense of security. You communicate, and then, when you communicate again and you are not getting what you want, you implement consequences.

Other Resources I Recommend

If you want to learn Lean construction properly, here are the resources I really love and encourage you to dig into.

  • This Is Lean, by Niklas Modig, which is a must read.
  • 2 Second Lean, by Paul Akers.
  • The 14 principles of the Toyota Way, and the book, The Toyota Way.
  • The Lean community on social media, where there is so much more to learn from and you can really make progress.

You can absolutely analyze and compare Lean manufacturing and Lean construction. That is a fantastic resource.

If your project needs superintendent coaching, project support, or leadership development, Elevate Construction can help your field teams stabilize, schedule, and flow. Want your team trained on this? See our Last Planner System and Takt training

So here is the challenge. Pick one system you believe is working, and dig down until you have a firm knowledge of whether it is actually right.

Jason Schroeder said it plainly: “I’m asking everybody to finish the last 5% of everything that they do.”

On we go.

FAQ

What is a false sense of security?

It is the feeling that a system is working because a box has been checked, such as having a CPM schedule, a pull plan, or a Takt plan, when it has not been checked all the way down to whether it is actually right.

Why does Jason say CPM schedules give a false sense of security?

Because they hide trade stacking and are non-transparent. The team feels protected by the schedule, the contract, and a senior scheduler, but none of those protect the project if it is late, and a project can look fine until it suddenly crashes.

What does the surveying story show?

That a closed traverse only tells you the survey was consistent. You find a problem when you overlay the traverse with the given coordinates, where points can turn out to be feet away. In the same way, a system is only verified when you check it against what is real.

What should you ask when someone says they implemented Last Planner or Takt?

Ask what the review looked like and how it works from a production and scaling standpoint, and whether the key components, such as buffers, leveled wagons and zones, and zone density analysis, are actually in place.

People Also Read:
The 10 Myths of CPM

If you want to learn more we have:

-Takt Virtual Training: (Takt Virtual Training)
-Check out our YouTube channel for more info: (Elevate Construction on YouTube)
-Listen to the Elevate Construction podcast: (Elevate Construction Podcast)
-Check out our training programs and certifications: (Training Programs and Certifications)
-The Takt Book: (The Takt Book on Amazon)

Discover Jason’s Expertise:

Meet Jason Schroeder, the driving force behind Elevate Construction. As the company’s Founder and COO, he’s dedicated to taking construction to new heights. With a wealth of industry experience, he’s crafted the Field Engineer Boot Camp and Superintendent Boot Camp – intensive training programs engineered to cultivate top-tier leaders capable of steering their teams towards success. Jason’s vision? To expand his training initiatives across the nation, empowering construction firms to soar to unprecedented levels of excellence.

Posted in All

Conversations & Consequences

Posted on by Team Jason Schroeder
Read 7 min

Conversations and Consequences: “I Have Had That Conversation” Is Not Enough

Here’s the deal. I had an epiphany on a project site I was touring the other day, and it is really impactful, so I want to share it with you. It came from a simple moment during a field walk.

Short answer: On a construction project, ‘I’ve had that conversation’ is not enough. Construction is a compliance-based industry, so after you’ve informed, trained, coached, mentored, and corrected, the next conversation has to come with consequences, such as stopping the crew or the work, or calling the supervisor. Consequences are never punishment or anger.

The Moment on the Field Walk

I was walking with a group, and we were talking about an area that needed to be cleaned up. I was giving some suggestions. One of the superintendents said, well, yes, I have had that conversation with him. It was an innocent comment, and it was not a big deal. But it dawned on me that every time we have a situation with a compliance piece, there are two parts. There is the conversation, and there are the consequences.

We Are a Compliance-Based Industry

Some people in the Lean community rail against compliance-based leadership. I have been on a few rants about that recently. But here is the reality. We are not Netflix, and we are not YouTube. We are not in the entertainment industry. We are a compliance-based industry, and we have to comply with the following.

  • Safety regulations.
  • The plans and specs.
  • Local standards of care.
  • The authorities having jurisdiction.

I love Netflix culture. But some people say we cannot use compliance-based leadership. Actually, you can, and you should. We are not a go-do-whatever-you-want, fluffy, creative kind of company. We are a compliance-based company.

From what I understand, even companies like Google, Facebook, and Netflix, which give most of their people more latitude and flexibility, run their legal and HR functions, and anything where they must comply with the laws of the land, as compliance-based divisions.

Conversations Come First

Saying I have had that conversation is not enough. And yes, I want to listen to people. Yes, we want to give people the chance. Yes, we want people to buy in. Yes, we want to coach them. There is a scale for this, and you do not jump to consequences right away.

  • Informing.
  • Training.
  • Coaching.
  • Mentoring.
  • Correcting.
  • Consequences.

The Next Conversation

So I said to the superintendent, great, you have had the conversation. But the next time, it is conversation and consequences. They do not get to have you talk to them again about a safe and clean environment and then just decide not to do it. That is not how it is done.

I was not talking down to him. We had a really good rapport. I told him I just want to make sure that the next time you have that conversation, you get results. And if you do not, the second C word is consequences. He said, okay, yes, I will have that conversation again, and if that does not work, there will be consequences.

What Consequences Are, and What They Are Not

Consequences are never punishment. They are never negativity, and they are never anger. Here is what they look like.

  • We stop the crew.
  • We stop the work.
  • We have the conversation.
  • I call your supervisor.

There will be consequences to not doing the right thing on this project. There is always a conversation, and if that does not work, there are consequences. That is what real accountability looks like: everyone knows what was agreed, by when, and what happens if it does not get done.

How to Have the Second Conversation

The second conversation is not a longer version of the first one. It is a different conversation, and it has three parts. You say all three out loud.

First, say what was agreed. Start with facts, not feelings. “Last Tuesday we agreed your crew would clean the level three corridor at the end of every shift.” You are not guessing at motives or digging up old history. You are restating a commitment the person already made.

Second, say the deadline. A request with no date is a wish. “I need that corridor clean and staying clean by start of shift tomorrow, and I will walk it with you at seven.” Make the deadline specific, and make sure you are the one who comes back to check it.

Third, say the specific consequence. Name it before the deadline passes, not after. “If the corridor is not clean tomorrow, I will stop the crew until it is, and I will call your supervisor.” Say it calmly, with the same rapport you had in the first conversation. This is information, not a threat. The person should walk away knowing exactly what happens next, so nothing that follows is a surprise.

Then ask them to say it back to you. That is what the superintendent did on our field walk when he told me he would have the conversation again, and that there would be consequences if it did not work.

Moving From Coaching to Correcting to Consequences

Here is how the scale plays out on a housekeeping issue like the one on that walk.

It starts with coaching. You walk the area with the foreman, explain why clear access matters for safety and flow, and ask what is getting in the way. Maybe the dumpster is too far from the work area, or nobody has time built into the day for cleanup. You fix what you can together. This is a conversation about the system, and it is the right place to start.

Two days later the corridor is cluttered again. Now you move to correcting. You use the three parts. You restate what was agreed, you give the deadline, and you name the consequence. The standard has not changed, and the person now knows the next step.

If the deadline passes and nothing has changed, you follow through. You stop the crew, you have the conversation, and you call the supervisor. Because the consequence was named in advance, you are not reacting out of frustration. You are doing exactly what you said you would do.

At every step, ask whether the system is part of the problem before you assume the person is. Consequences are for a decision not to do the right thing, not for a plan that never gave the crew a way to do it.

If your project needs superintendent coaching, project support, or leadership development, Elevate Construction can help your field teams stabilize, schedule, and flow.

So here is the challenge. The next time you hear yourself say, I have had that conversation, ask whether the conversation got results. If it did not, decide what the consequence will be before the next conversation happens.

Bottom line: There will be consequences to not doing the right thing on this project.

On we go.

FAQ

Why does Jason say construction is a compliance-based industry?

Because we have to comply with safety regulations, the plans and specs, local standards of care, and the authorities having jurisdiction. He says compliance-based leadership is appropriate here and is not a bad thing.

Is having one conversation enough?

No. Jason says the next time it is conversation and consequences. A person should not be able to hear about a safe and clean environment again and simply decide not to do it.

What are consequences, according to Jason?

Never punishment, negativity, or anger. They mean stopping the crew, stopping the work, having the conversation, and calling the person’s supervisor.

Do consequences come first?

No. You do not go to consequences right away. There is a scale of informing, training, coaching, mentoring, and correcting before consequences.

People Also Read:
Behaviors Have Consequences.

If you want to learn more we have:

-Takt Virtual Training: (Takt Virtual Training)
-Check out our YouTube channel for more info: (Elevate Construction on YouTube)
-Listen to the Elevate Construction podcast: (Elevate Construction Podcast)
-Check out our training programs and certifications: (Training Programs and Certifications)
-The Takt Book: (The Takt Book on Amazon)

Discover Jason’s Expertise:

Meet Jason Schroeder, the driving force behind Elevate Construction. As the company’s Founder and COO, he’s dedicated to taking construction to new heights. With a wealth of industry experience, he’s crafted the Field Engineer Boot Camp and Superintendent Boot Camp – intensive training programs engineered to cultivate top-tier leaders capable of steering their teams towards success. Jason’s vision? To expand his training initiatives across the nation, empowering construction firms to soar to unprecedented levels of excellence.

Posted in All

Correcting Bad Information, Part 3: Are Worker Huddles Pointless?

Posted on by Team Jason Schroeder
Read 6 min

Everybody Needs Motivation: A Response to the Claim That Worker Huddles Are Pointless

Here’s the deal. I received a response today to a post I made about worker huddles, and I want to answer it directly, because it contains several ideas that I believe would hurt people if they spread. I am going to take them one at a time.

Short answer: Worker huddles are not a waste of time. A five-to-ten-minute huddle is where leaders talk to workers, collect their feedback, give praise, and connect them to the team. Everybody, including well-paid and respected workers, needs knowledge, motivation, and the right circumstances.

What the Comment Said

The commenter wrote from what he called a worker’s point of view, and more recently a management point of view. He made four claims.

  • Worker huddles have almost no benefit at all.
  • They are almost as bad as handing out awards for things.
  • If workers are respected and paid appropriately, they do not need motivation.
  • The worst kind of worker is the one who constantly needs a clap, and with his worker hat on, he would much rather spend those five to ten minutes with a brew, sorting out his own stuff, than listening to a motivator.

I respect that people can disagree. But I do not agree with any part of this, and here is why.

Is Talking to Workers a Waste of Time?

If a worker huddle is useless, what exactly is being said? Is talking to workers a waste of time? Is collecting their feedback a waste of time? Is providing praise a waste of time? Is actually spending time with workers a waste of time? Those are the things a worker huddle is. I would ask what the point is, and whether the implication is that leadership does not matter, or that only one opinion counts.

What People Need

Human beings need three things.

  • Knowledge.
  • Motivation.
  • The right circumstances.

Everybody needs these. Even the toughest person on the project, the one with a hard exterior who looks like nothing could touch them, wants praise. They want to be patted on the back and thanked.

Respect and Pay Are Not the Whole Story

The comment said that if workers are respected and paid appropriately, they do not need motivation. I disagree. Anybody who enjoys their job has three things.

  • Connection.
  • Relevance.
  • Measurement.

Connection, relevance, and measurement. People have to know that they are doing a good job in a team, or they are not going to be happy and they are not going to stick around. Everybody needs motivation. Every single person needs motivation.

It is not just about money. Studies show it is not only about money. It is about the boss. It is about the team. It is about the purpose of the company, especially with newer generations.

The Worst Kind of Worker

The comment also said the worst kind of worker is the one who constantly needs a clap. I could not disagree more. Everyone needs praise. When someone criticizes workers for needing it, they are part of the reason people do not ask for what they need and do not compliment each other. They make it unpopular to show basic human decency and kindness. I would suggest reading How to Win Friends and Influence People.

The Huddle Is for the Team

The last claim was that, wearing a worker hat, he would rather spend those five to ten minutes sorting out his own things than listening to a motivator. That is an individual perspective. When we run worker huddles, we are looking at the workers as a whole and trying to optimize them as a whole, and respect them as a whole. A huddle is not about one person’s preference for five to ten minutes. It is about the team.

A worker huddle is a place where you appreciate people, communicate with people, take time for people, and connect and listen to people. That is not wasted time. That is leadership.

What a Good 5 to 10 Minute Worker Huddle Covers

A huddle that respects people’s time has a simple shape. It does not need to be long, and it does not need a motivational speech. Here is what it covers.

  • Safety: what is changing on site today and what everyone needs to watch for.
  • Today’s plan by zone: where each crew is working, so everyone knows what is happening around them.
  • Roadblocks: what is in the way of finishing today’s work, whether materials, access, information, or another trade.
  • Recognition: the specific work done well, and who did it, said out loud in front of the team.
  • Feedback: what the team has to say, and then something done with it.

Roadblocks are problems with the system, so the goal is to remove them, not to find someone to blame. And people stop giving feedback the moment they see nothing changes, so close the loop. That is five to ten minutes, and it is not a waste of anyone’s time.

What I Want From the People Who Join the Conversation

I want to be clear about the kind of conversation I am looking for. I want the change makers and the positive comments. I want the critical thinkers who have a respectful difference of opinion. I want the people who know what they are doing, the people who are there to benefit others, and the people trying to scale these practices. I do not want trolls on my posts.

If your project needs superintendent coaching, project support, or leadership development, Elevate Construction can help your field teams stabilize, schedule, and flow.

So here is the challenge. In your next worker huddle, appreciate people, communicate with them, take time for them, and connect and listen. Then see how the team responds.

Jason Schroeder said it plainly: “Everybody needs motivation. Every single person needs motivation.”

On we go.

FAQ

Why does Jason say worker huddles are worth the time?

Because a huddle is where you talk to workers, collect their feedback, give praise, and spend time with them. That is connection, and people have to know they are doing a good job in a team or they will not be happy and will not stick around.

Do well paid, respected workers still need motivation?

Yes. Jason says everybody needs motivation, and that it is not just about money. He says studies show it is about the boss, the team, and the purpose of the company.

What are the three things human beings need?

Knowledge, motivation, and the right circumstances.

What three things do people need to enjoy their job?

Connection, relevance, and measurement.

Series:
Correcting Bad Information – Part 1
Correcting Bad Information – Part 2

If you want to learn more we have:

-Takt Virtual Training: (Takt Virtual Training)
-Check out our YouTube channel for more info: (Elevate Construction on YouTube)
-Listen to the Elevate Construction podcast: (Elevate Construction Podcast)
-Check out our training programs and certifications: (Training Programs and Certifications)
-The Takt Book: (The Takt Book on Amazon)

Discover Jason’s Expertise:

Meet Jason Schroeder, the driving force behind Elevate Construction. As the company’s Founder and COO, he’s dedicated to taking construction to new heights. With a wealth of industry experience, he’s crafted the Field Engineer Boot Camp and Superintendent Boot Camp – intensive training programs engineered to cultivate top-tier leaders capable of steering their teams towards success. Jason’s vision? To expand his training initiatives across the nation, empowering construction firms to soar to unprecedented levels of excellence.

Posted in All

Correcting Bad Information, Part 2: The Real UFO Lean

Posted on by Team Jason Schroeder
Read 10 min

The Real UFO Lean: Leaving Without a System or a Return Visit

Here’s the deal. Another LinkedIn post caught my attention, and I want to respond to it. The post said, whatever you do, avoid UFO Lean construction. I will give the author credit that UFO is more original than calling people seagulls. The post described UFO Lean as when a Lean person swoops down onto a project and tries to set up the most sophisticated implementation possible.

Short answer: UFO Lean isn’t a consultant who brings too much system. It’s one who swoops in with vague advice, no system, and no return visit. Lean sticks when people get a proven system (templates, best practices, how-to guides) and someone comes back for monthly field walks until it becomes habit.

I am not exactly sure what that means, but here is what I do know. There is an exact system for how to run a Lean construction project. Any Lean person who would not come to a project and set up a Lean implementation as a system does not know what they are doing. You do have to do an assessment, but you cannot just go in, guess, invite people to do better, and leave. That is the true UFO, seagull Lean.

Why Some People Say You Cannot Deliver an Implementation System

When somebody says you cannot go into a project and deliver an implementation system or process, I suspect the reason is that they do not have one. That lack of a system can make it easier to philosophize about implementation than to do it.

The True Seagulls

The true UFOs and seagulls in construction are the ones who come in and say, we should listen to each other, we should kumbaya, we should hold hands, we should really care about what the foremen want to do, we should have huddles. They do not have any specifics, and they do not have any solutions. Then they leave, giving the project team false hope and leaving people frustrated, without actual ways to implement.

When you leave a system that people can follow, they can actually implement it and win, which is what people want to do.

Templates, Best Practices, and How-To Guides

The post went on to criticize templates, best practices, and how-to guides. I probably have more how-to guides, best practices, and templates than anybody, and they work everywhere. What is insanity, and not Lean, is taking hundreds of years of the best experience and not using it, and reinventing the wheel every time.

If somebody has a working template, a working best practice, and a working how-to guide, you should use it, and you should vet it. Everyone knows where this information is. You do not have to wonder whether Last Planner works. You do not have to wonder whether Takt works, or Scrum, or operational systems, or Elevating Construction Superintendents. They work everywhere they are tried, every single location. I am tired of hearing templates, best practices, and how-to guides bad-mouthed. Taken to its conclusion, that says we should burn all the books and make the same mistakes people made 200 years ago.

The Technology Is Too Advanced

The post also said the technology is too advanced for the people on the project to understand and maintain. I have never heard a more diminishing comment about people. Are we really saying people are too stupid to learn technology? People are smart. They can understand things and they can rise to the occasion.

I do not like technology that does not work, but that is not because people cannot understand it. When technology works, and there is quite a bit of it, it is not too complex. Here are some examples I would call amazing.

  • Bluebeam.
  • 360 Field.
  • Mural.
  • Smartsheet.
  • AutoCAD and Revit.

I did not even go to school, and I am AutoCAD and Revit certified. So it is not about technology being too advanced. It is about having the right technology. The post also moves back and forth between practices and technology, templates and technology, best practices and technology, how-to guides and technology, so it is not even staying on one point.

When the Lean Person Leaves

The post said that when the Lean person leaves to help another project, the team will try their best to maintain the implementation, but because they never understood the technology, the quality degrades over time and falls back to the dark ages. That sentence is contradictory, and it insults human ability.

The post also said that people who deploy UFO Lean end up coming back to help their team maintain the technology they introduced, which would be a good source of repeat customers for consultants, but that if we focus on maintaining, we are not able to make progress.

First of all, every good company has consultants, and consultants are awesome. But here is the truth. You will not implement anything unless you come back to the project and do walks. The best way to scale Lean construction is monthly field walks. Then, after three months, six months, or eight months, it becomes habit. After a year, it becomes part of their character and how they do business, part of the company culture, and then it is sustained.

If you are a consultant, you are irresponsible if you do not come back and do walks, and if you do not come back and help them maintain. You are not doing your customer a service if you are only going to do it once. I think this speaks to a lack of experience in scaling anything.

Why I Respond

Comments like these do not affect me personally. But when this kind of talk starts to reach the minds of people I care about, and I know those people are smart, I want to speak up. You can choose between his ideas and mine. I am not saying you are too stupid to figure it out, but I want both sides to be considered, because I am here to serve you. When somebody starts to tear down the beliefs of the group and the culture of where we are trying to go, that is when I get passionate and fired up.

Meeting People Where They Are

The post said you should meet people where they currently are, talk with them, understand their situation, and only introduce ideas they can understand and put into action. Nobody disagrees with meeting people where they are. But people can understand anything, and they can put into action anything they want to. Saying otherwise is diminishing talk.

The post also said the rate of Lean deployment should be equal to the rate of understanding. Great. That is up to them, at their pace, and they can go as fast or as far as they want, because they are incredible human beings.

Telling People What to Do

The post said, I cannot tell people what to do. I can only tell people what not to do, give them options, and let them decide for themselves. That is categorically untrue. Superintendents, project managers, and people with direct reports tell people what to do all the time. It works when it is the right thing. It works when it is with the team, when you are listening to your team, and when you are moving as a team. The problem is telling them to do the wrong things.

You also cannot just tell people what not to do. You have to go through the entire spectrum of what winning looks like and what not winning looks like.

Skills, Capabilities, and Unintended Consequences

The post said to pay more attention to the skills and capabilities of your team, and I do not disagree. It said not to introduce technology that people do not understand yet, and here I would say that people can understand any technology as long as it works. It said it can be tempting to look smart and deliver results quickly, but the unintended consequences can be quite harmful. I would ask what those are. Most people do not see the unintended consequences of their actions, and the post did not name any.

What Real Lean Practitioners Do

I disagree with most of that post. The real UFO Lean practitioners are the ones who tell you to come hold hands and then walk away with no solutions. Real Lean practitioners do the following.

  • Tell you to listen to your foremen and your workers, and to respect them.
  • Help you form a collaborative environment.
  • Help you have a system and a plan, and know what you are doing.
  • Hold people accountable to the plan.
  • Help you have control of the circumstances and environment of your project, so people can flourish. That does not mean people are controlled. It means they are in a controlled environment where they can be their best selves.

And those Lean consultants, if they are worth their salt, come back to your project to support you and do walks until it sticks, because that is what it takes.

What It Takes for It to Stick

It takes coaching. It takes continuous training and immersion events. It takes consistency, cultural scaling, and a long time. If you want to learn from somebody who really knows how to scale, learn from Niklas Modig and his programs. As I understand it, he does not do quick programs. He does not just come by the project and tell everybody to hold hands. His implementations run six months, a year, or eighteen months, a slow drip over time, so the culture can make the shift together as a team.

If your project needs superintendent coaching, project support, or leadership development, Elevate Construction can help your field teams stabilize, schedule, and flow.

So here is the challenge. Look at your Lean effort and ask two things. Do people have a system they can follow, and is someone coming back every month to walk the project with them?

Jason Schroeder said it plainly: “People are smart. They can understand things and they can rise to the occasion.”

On we go.

FAQ

What does Jason say the true UFO Lean is?

Coming to a project, guessing, inviting people to do better with no specifics or solutions, and leaving. That gives the team false hope and leaves people frustrated without ways to implement.

Why does Jason defend templates, best practices, and how-to guides?

Because taking the best experience that already exists and not using it is the opposite of Lean. Working templates should be used, vetted, and improved, not reinvented each time.

Why does Jason say consultants should come back?

Because implementation only sticks with follow-up. He recommends monthly field walks, coaching, continuous training, and immersion events until it becomes habit, then part of the company culture.

What does Jason say about technology being too advanced for project teams?

That it is a diminishing comment about people. People are smart and can understand technology that works. The issue is having the right technology.

Series:
Correcting Bad Information – Part 1
Correcting Bad Information – Part 3

If you want to learn more we have:

-Takt Virtual Training: (Takt Virtual Training)
-Check out our YouTube channel for more info: (Elevate Construction on YouTube)
-Listen to the Elevate Construction podcast: (Elevate Construction Podcast)
-Check out our training programs and certifications: (Training Programs and Certifications)
-The Takt Book: (The Takt Book on Amazon)

Discover Jason’s Expertise:

Meet Jason Schroeder, the driving force behind Elevate Construction. As the company’s Founder and COO, he’s dedicated to taking construction to new heights. With a wealth of industry experience, he’s crafted the Field Engineer Boot Camp and Superintendent Boot Camp – intensive training programs engineered to cultivate top-tier leaders capable of steering their teams towards success. Jason’s vision? To expand his training initiatives across the nation, empowering construction firms to soar to unprecedented levels of excellence.

Posted in All

Correcting Bad Information, Part 1: Compliance vs. Engagement in Lean

Posted on by Team Jason Schroeder
Read 12 min

Standards and Engagement Are Not Opposites: A Response to the Compliance Versus Engagement Model

Here’s the deal. I have been seeing posts on LinkedIn with information about Lean and construction that I find really disappointing, and I think the ideas are harmful. I do not want to start LinkedIn wars, so I am going to share my response with you directly. You can take it or leave it, but please do not perpetuate the misinformation, because it will hurt people. 

Short answer: Standards and engagement are not opposites. Lean construction needs templates, checklists, standard work, and KPIs to create stability, plus a leader who has control of the project. Inside those standards (safety, cleanliness, organization, and respect for other trades), workers and trade partners choose their own means and methods and bring their ideas.

The post asked this question. Are you following a compliance or an engagement model for your Lean construction implementation? Let me go through its points one at a time and give my commentary.

The Compliance Model as the Post Describes It

The post described a compliance model with four traits.

  • It is based on templates, checklists, and to-do lists.
  • People are lectured on Lean and expected to apply it.
  • Best practices are developed by upper management for the front line to follow.
  • KPIs are created to make sure people are following the system.

Here is where I disagree.

Templates, Checklists, and To-Do Lists

Standard work is one of the bases of Lean construction. You cannot have continuous improvement unless you have standards and stability. Every proper construction manager keeps a to-do list. Continuous improvement is the house upon the foundation that standards build. You cannot improve something that is not stable, because if you try, it is in chaos all the time.

Part of Lean construction is having templates of what works and improving from there, checklists of what works and improving from there, and standard work for the workforce and improving from there. It means construction managers keep to-do lists and focus their effort on the things that are chaotic. They stabilize what they can, so they can focus on the things with variation without too much overburden.

Being Expected to Apply Lean

Companies implement Lean as part of systems. Someone does not randomly show up to a construction project and decide to apply Lean. It must be an organizational effort, a transformation, and there will be people on the project who are told and expected to apply it. I do not lecture anybody, but the problem is not that people are told to apply Lean, and it is not that companies roll out efforts or implement systems on a company basis. The problem is when the company does not know the right system. If you are not implementing Takt, Last Planner, and Scrum together, and you do not have the key components of the Integrated Production Control System, nothing is going to work.

Every client I work with, or have worked with, has implemented the systems I teach and gotten massive schedule gains, increased gross profit, or other results. That comes from a systematic effort. You cannot just ask people if they want to do the right thing. That is like asking my kids, hey, do you want to brush your teeth, do you want to clean your room, do you want to go to school. They will not volunteer. They are expected to do the right thing. Trade partners and people on project sites are not kids, but the claim that expecting people to apply Lean does not work does not hold up when you scale it.

Best Practices from Upper Management

This is only sometimes true, and I will not disagree entirely. Most upper-level managers are out of touch with the daily work. But change comes from upper-level managers working with trade partners, collectively, to know what to do, and listening to the people.

That does not mean asking a trade partner, do you want to keep a clean site? The answer is no. Do you want to sacrifice some of your own productivity for the project? Do you want to finish your activity on time? People do not naturally want to do the right thing. Cultures of people will, and individuals every now and then will, but you cannot just ask people what they want to do. It must be scaled as a company system and a project effort, with a strong, confident, and knowledgeable leader.

KPIs

Anyone who knows anything about business knows that key performance indicators are crucial. You cannot manage what you cannot measure, and you cannot measure what you cannot see.

The Engagement Model as the Post Describes It

The post then described an engagement model. Here is where I land on each point.

Rather than rigid procedures, Lean is deployed by developing problem-solving and critical thinking skills. You can develop problem-solving and critical thinking skills by themselves and never get anywhere, because you are mired in chaos and have no consensus. Problem-solving is based on the standard. You are problem-solving against a milestone, a culture, a goal, a process, a system, or a standard. You are not doing it out of nowhere. There must be things the project is expected to do.

Managers ask their team to share current problems and coach them through solving problems. I agree with asking the team to bring up problems and helping them. I am not sure everybody needs to be coached by the leader.

Problem-solving and deployment of ideas come from the worker. I think this is categorically untrue. As I understand it, at places like Toyota and other Lean companies, most of the improvement ideas come from team leaders and managers, not only from the workers. You know that I love workers more than almost anybody, but you cannot expect them to have all of the ideas. Leaders do most of the thinking throughout the day, and workers do the thinking and the doing. You cannot expect a worker to carry all of the labor, all of the physical stress, all of the thinking, and all of the ideas. It is out of balance.

Managers coach and mentor rather than dictate. I do not disagree too much, but there are certain things that should be dictated.

  • Safety.
  • Cleanliness.
  • Organization.
  • Holding to the rules and respecting other trades.

A strong leader on a project must be able to say, this is just how it is going to be. You do not get to come onto my project and decide what you want to do. You will work clean, safe, and organized. The latitude given to trade partners and workers is how they do their work, their means and methods, using their own unique abilities. You have standards, and then the team has to weigh in and buy in.

There is a greater emphasis on psychology and sociology, such as positive psychology, flow, reliable promises, psychological safety, language action perspective, and servant leadership, and the human perspective becomes more important than the technical aspect. Some of those are correct. But the technical aspect is how you do it, and there is always a right or a better way. The leader is not the only one who knows it, but somebody has to decide what is going to happen. In a council, everyone weighs in and buys in and you get the best information, but somebody makes the decision. All good teams work this way.

Technical Improvement and Experience

The post also said that if you have been applying Lean construction for five years or less, you are still at the beginning of your journey, and that most things people think would work early on do not work. I agree with that part. The only way to avoid beginner mistakes is to talk to more experienced practitioners. No matter where you are in your journey, seek guidance from people who have been doing it at least five years longer than you. If you are beginning your journey, seek one or more mentors, because more is better.

Control Is Not a Bad Word

The post said people wander into the compliant model because they do not trust their team and want a greater sense of control, and that this makes performance worse. That is not true. You have to have both, and you want results. You cannot ask untrained people to figure it out and ask them whether they want to do the right thing. You have to make the decision and know what you are doing, and you have to have control.

People talk about control like it is a bad thing in this industry. A superintendent must have control of their project, their environment, their circumstances, their schedule, everything. We do not control people. We have to be in control of what is going on. I would not give two pennies for a superintendent who does not have control of their job.

What I Believe

I think only about twenty percent of that post is true. I encourage talking to the workers, getting their ideas, and respecting people. I encourage the engagement model, but it has to be done together. We cannot perpetuate a Lean philosophy where we think it is magic, butterflies, kittens, and rainbows, and that people will magically do the right thing.

People will follow the easy path. They will follow the contracts and the current practices of the industry. It is going to take someone who has control of their project, owns their business, cares, and has taken the time to research and learn, to get us out of this mob behavior of being mediocre on our projects. You are not going to ask a contractor who is incentivized by contracts, do you want to keep this place perfectly clean, do you want the project manager to pay for bathrooms, do you want to finish your activity on time, do you want to help your other contractors, do you want to come to huddles, do you want your workers at worker huddles. The answer is no, because that is the norm.

It takes a powerful leader who has control of the project to say, this is how it is done. There is a line you will not step over. That provides the circumstances where you can be listened to and put your best knowledge to work. Nobody is asking the trades or the workers how to run the project. We are asking them how to do their work, because they are experts at that.

If your project needs superintendent coaching, project support, or leadership development, Elevate Construction can help your field teams stabilize, schedule, and flow.

So here is the challenge. Decide which things on your project are standards that are not up for a vote, such as safety, cleanliness, organization, and respect for other trades, and let your trade partners and workers use their own means and methods within them.

Bottom line: It is your job, superintendent or project manager or contractor, to know how to run the project. That is what you get paid for. Do your job.

On we go.

FAQ

Why does Jason defend templates, checklists, and to-do lists?

Because continuous improvement is the house upon the foundation that standards build. You cannot improve something that is not stable, so templates and checklists of what works come first, and then you improve from there.

Does Jason reject the engagement model?

No. He encourages talking to workers, getting ideas, and respecting people. His point is that engagement has to be done together with standards, training, and a leader who has control of the project.

What should be dictated and what should be left to trade partners?

Safety, cleanliness, organization, and respect for other trades should be dictated. The latitude given to trade partners and workers is their means and methods, meaning how they do their work.

Is Lean construction a compliance model or an engagement model?

Both. Standards, templates, checklists, and KPIs create the stability Lean needs, and engagement (asking workers and trade partners for their ideas and letting them choose their means and methods) happens inside those standards.

What does Jason mean by control?

He does not mean controlling people. He means a superintendent must be in control of the project, environment, circumstances, and schedule.

People Also Read:

Correcting Bad Information – Part 2
Correcting Bad Information – Part 3
Stability & Standardization book

Want your team trained on this? See our Last Planner System and Takt training.

If you want to learn more we have:

-Takt Virtual Training: (Takt Virtual Training)
-Check out our YouTube channel for more info: (Elevate Construction on YouTube)
-Listen to the Elevate Construction podcast: (Elevate Construction Podcast)
-Check out our training programs and certifications: (Training Programs and Certifications)
-The Takt Book: (The Takt Book on Amazon)

Discover Jason’s Expertise:

Meet Jason Schroeder, the driving force behind Elevate Construction. As the company’s Founder and COO, he’s dedicated to taking construction to new heights. With a wealth of industry experience, he’s crafted the Field Engineer Boot Camp and Superintendent Boot Camp – intensive training programs engineered to cultivate top-tier leaders capable of steering their teams towards success. Jason’s vision? To expand his training initiatives across the nation, empowering construction firms to soar to unprecedented levels of excellence.

Posted in All

Don’t Show Weekends on Your Schedule!

Posted on by Team Jason Schroeder
Read 6 min

Take the Weekends Out of Your Schedule

Here’s the deal. My admonition today is simple. Do not show weekends on the schedule. When I was first coming up in construction, I was taught to do three-week schedules at Hensel Phelps, with both Saturday and Sunday shown. All of the activity descriptions were way over to the left, and all you had were little boxes or X’s inside the grid.

Short answer: Leave Saturdays and Sundays off your three-week and Takt schedules. Weekends clutter the schedule, make activities harder to move, hide the flow of work, and look like a buffer when they are not, because only about a quarter of the crew comes in on a Saturday. Put buffers in the weekday sequence instead, and put each activity name right next to its X’s or boxes.

I quickly realized that if you remove the weekends, and you put the activity name right next to the X’s or boxes, you have a much easier experience in Excel. I have talked to you about this before, but sometimes customers and clients add the weekends back in. I believe that is a mistake, and here is why.

The Schedule Gets Cluttered

First and foremost, showing weekends clutters the schedule. It makes it harder to read, and it breaks your focus when you are looking at the flow of work. I do not want to see the weekends. I want to see the flow of work.

It also gets harder to work with. If you are moving things around in Excel or another program, it becomes quite difficult to find your rhythm and fall into Takt time, because you are always visually interrupted by the weekends. From a logistics standpoint, once you move an activity, you have to move half the activity, then the other half, and align it. It is really a nightmare, and it takes a whole lot longer.

Weekends Give a False Sense of Hope

When we look at Saturday or Sunday on a schedule, it feels like there is a buffer there. There really is not. One of the things I want to convince people of, with love or otherwise, is that you cannot do more than your resources will allow. Let me say that again. You cannot do more than your resources will allow.

At least in the US, only about twenty-five percent of your people will come in on Saturday. They will be fatigued, and they will want to go home, and they are not working enough hours past setup and breakdown to make a difference anyway. You can run people into the ground and take them from their families, and you can start a chain reaction that hurts families at home. But you will not gain much from overtime or Saturday work.

So it gives a false sense of hope. You should not plan on it, and you should not use it as a buffer. Do not assume your Saturdays are buffers. Here is what Saturdays really are.

  • Saturdays are an emergency.
  • Saturdays are eating into people’s time.
  • Saturdays are using up people and their families.
  • Saturdays are signing up the worker, his or her spouse, and their kids.
  • Saturdays are nonproductive.

You should have buffers in the actual sequence in the week. I know a lot of owners are not allowing that, and I hope that changes. But that is how it should be. The buffers should be in the sequence, not in the weekends, because otherwise you are overburdening the crew. Buffers should be taken from the schedule and not the person.

It Is Harder to See Flow

Like I said before, when you have weekends in, you are looking at a broken up schedule with interruptions. Would you want your heart doctor looking at your heart monitor, trying to detect patterns during surgery or an EKG, with little pauses in between so they could not see the pattern? You would not want that. Leave the weekends out. It is harder to see flow with them in.

Weekends Lock You Into Weeks Instead of Takt Time

When you show weekends, we tend to work in week time frames instead of Takt times. Everyone automatically thinks the time intervals for Takt time should be in weeks, and for the Takt system, that is the worst thing you can do. Please do not show the weekends and get people locked into a a five-day Takt time where the drumbeat is the weekends.

A Summary of the Reasons

Those are the main reasons. It is a pretty good case, and we just need to get this done.

  • Weekends clutter the schedule and make it harder to move things around.
  • They give a false sense of hope, because Saturdays are not a real buffer.
  • They make it harder to see flow.
  • They lock people into week time frames instead of Takt times.

Please take them out. Please experiment. Put the activity name next to the X’s or the boxes or the highlights, and I promise you will find your experience much more rewarding.

If your project needs superintendent coaching, project support, or leadership development, Elevate Construction can help your field teams stabilize, schedule, and flow.

So here is the challenge. Take your weekends out of the schedule this week, and put the activity names right next to the X’s or boxes.

Bottom line: Buffers should be taken from the schedule and not the person.

On we go.

FAQ

Why does Jason say not to show weekends on a schedule?

Weekends clutter the schedule, make it harder to move activities and find your rhythm in Excel, give a false sense of a buffer, make flow harder to see, and lock people into week time frames instead of Takt times.

Why shouldn’t Saturdays be treated as a buffer?

Because you cannot do more than your resources will allow. In Jason’s experience, only about twenty-five percent of people come in on Saturday in the US, they are fatigued, and it takes time from workers and their families without making much difference.

Where should buffers go instead?

In the actual sequence during the week. Buffers should be taken from the schedule and not the person.

What is the heart monitor analogy?

A doctor would not want pauses in the monitor that make it hard to see the pattern. In the same way, weekends interrupt the schedule and make it harder to see the flow of work.

People Also Read:

If You’re Working Weekends, Something Is Broken
Takt calculator in Excel
Takt Production System Masterclass

Want your team trained on this? See our Last Planner System and Takt training.

If you want to learn more we have:

-Takt Virtual Training: (Takt Virtual Training)
-Check out our YouTube channel for more info: (Elevate Construction on YouTube)
-Listen to the Elevate Construction podcast: (Elevate Construction Podcast)
-Check out our training programs and certifications: (Training Programs and Certifications)
-The Takt Book: (The Takt Book on Amazon)

Discover Jason’s Expertise:

Meet Jason Schroeder, the driving force behind Elevate Construction. As the company’s Founder and COO, he’s dedicated to taking construction to new heights. With a wealth of industry experience, he’s crafted the Field Engineer Boot Camp and Superintendent Boot Camp – intensive training programs engineered to cultivate top-tier leaders capable of steering their teams towards success. Jason’s vision? To expand his training initiatives across the nation, empowering construction firms to soar to unprecedented levels of excellence.

Posted in All

Build the System – Support the People!

Posted on by Team Jason Schroeder
Read 10 min

The Rider, the Elephant, and the Path: Why It Is the System and Not the People

Here’s the deal. I know we have talked about systems and systems thinking before, and I will candidly say I am not an expert at this. But I am really getting into it and learning to appreciate it. I have written before about how it is the system and not the people, and I need to say it again in a different way. This comes from some notes I took when I presented to an awesome group, and I am being one hundred percent sincere with you. It really is the systems.

Short answer: When people fail on a project, look at the system first. Every good change needs three things: people know what to do (direct the rider), they want to do it (motivate the elephant), and the circumstances let them do it (shape the path). On a jobsite that means a Takt plan, visual information, clean and safe conditions, good bathrooms and lunch areas, and the right contracts.

What the NTSB Found About Alaska Airlines Flight 261

Let me start with an example I have mentioned before. On January 31, 2000, an Alaska Airlines MD-83 bound for San Francisco plunged from the sky off the coast of California and crashed into the Pacific Ocean. All 88 people on board were killed. For two hours, the crew had struggled with a malfunctioning stabilizer.

Nearly three years after the accident, the NTSB determined that the probable cause was a loss of airplane pitch control. It resulted from the in-flight failure of the horizontal stabilizer trim system jackscrew assembly’s Acme nut threads, due to excessive wear resulting from insufficient lubrication of the jackscrew assembly by Alaska Airlines. The board also found contributing factors. These were the airline’s extended lubrication interval and the FAA’s approval of that extension, which increased the likelihood that a missed or inadequate lubrication would cause excessive wear. The extended end play check interval was cited too, since it allowed the wear to progress to failure without the opportunity for detection. The aircraft’s design was also cited as a factor, because there was no fail-safe mechanism to prevent the catastrophic effects of total Acme nut thread loss.

I want to make a point about this. The mechanics, the pilots, the flight attendants, and the air traffic controllers likely went into their work that day trying to do their best and wanting to do their best. They knew how to do their jobs, but they could not do their jobs because of the system. They did not have a system that took care of them. So like I have said before, we have to stop blaming people, we have to stop blaming people and start blaming the systems.

Direct the Rider, Motivate the Elephant, Shape the Path

What do people need to be successful in a system? Something I have told you before, from Chip and Dan Heath’s book Switch, is that every good change happens when somebody knows what to do, is motivated to do it, and has clear circumstances.

You can tell a pilot to fly a plane, and the pilot can want to fly it, but the intellect and the motivation will not do anything if the circumstances are not there. The rider steers a big elephant. The elephant can want to go in the right direction, but if there is a big boulder in the way, it is not going to happen. So let’s go through the three.

Motivation

On our project sites, imagine that a loved one in your family was constantly abused, accused, deceived, talked down to, and yelled at. Their pay was withheld. They were constantly blamed, pushed, and overworked. They had to use a bathroom without running water, ate lunch on the ground, and were forced into unsafe conditions. What would you do? You would have something to say.

I am looking at pictures here of nasty restrooms, nasty urinals, graffiti all over portable toilets, unclear access, dirty projects, no place to eat lunch, and people working on the ground. Then you have people in our industry who say things like the following.

  • I have never seen a lazier workforce in my life.
  • Workers are always bad, or sometimes just okay.
  • It is not my schedule that is the problem, it is the trades that cannot meet their deadlines.
  • Our workforce just does not care.

If that is how we think, we are in trouble. Our trades cannot succeed until you provide a schedule that flows, a Takt plan. They cannot succeed until you get a production system implemented on your project site. They cannot succeed until you provide nice bathrooms and eating areas, a clean, safe, and stable site, and huddles with workers and foremen in the Last Planner system, and until you, as the general contractor, stop tolerating bad behavior. It will never change until then. That is the motivation part of the system.

Knowledge

I recently gave a talk where I did an exercise, and you can try it yourself. I said, I want you to make a paper cup, and I read step by step folding instructions out loud. Fold this corner down, crease it, fold that corner up, leave it there, fold the front flap down, fold the back flap backwards, and open it out as your finished drinking cup.

If you only heard those instructions read out loud, I would say about ten percent of you could make a paper cup you could actually drink from. I did this with a group of about 250 people the other day, and two people got the cup. Then I showed pictures on the screen of how to make the cup step by step, and every single person made the cup.

What is my point? You cannot give our trade partners a 76-page schedule with thousands of activities and simple descriptions, and then say it is their fault when they do not make it. When I asked the people who failed at the cup how they felt, they said they felt like a failure. And I said, but it is your fault, right? They said no, you did not give me proper instructions. And that is exactly correct.

We do not give our people enough visual information on our project sites to do anything. If you have a 76-page CPM schedule instead of a Takt plan on one page, that is what you are doing. You need visual systems.

That is the only way we are going to make a change. If you want people to know what to do on your project, you need to use Takt planning, implement Last Planner, have huddles, create a visual environment, and engage the foreman.

Circumstances

We talked about motivation and knowledge. What circumstances do people need? They need the right contract. They need the right conditions inside their Takt plan. They need the right number of zones, the right zone configuration, and the right work packaging. They need the right schedule, the right meetings, the right huddles, the right systems, and the right quality control system. I could keep going, and that is why I have written about the Integrated Production Control System.

If you want the right circumstances, you must do the following.

  • Build the team and win over the workforce.
  • Orient and onboard people.
  • Have Takt and a remarkable pre-construction process.
  • Have Lean contracts and manage your procurement properly.
  • Have prefabrication systems, great logistics systems, and quality standards.
  • Have zero tolerance and roadblock removal.
  • Have Takt control and steering.
  • Have accountability systems like your daily correction method and contractor grading.

If you do not have these, you will not have the right system. It is going to be dirty and disgusting, your project is going to be late, morale is going to be bad, and everything is going to fail. What you should have is a project that is clean, safe, and organized, with a good lunch area, a good huddle system, good worker huddles, good bathrooms, everything up on wheels, clean and organized gang boxes, protection everywhere, and an environment where the entryway and all of the logistics serve the people.

What Great Leaders Do

Great leaders manage the project environment for people. They do not blame people. They are people-centric. They build the team, collaborate, and communicate. They teach, coach, and mentor, and they are agile, flexible, and adaptable. They do it all with respect for people. They have stable environments, they get everyone participating, and they focus on quality and continuous improvement.

You could put the very best person on earth on our projects with these bad circumstances, and they would not be able to figure it out and get it done, unless they could literally change the structure of the system and the environment. Under natural circumstances, the system would counteract every single aspect of productivity.

So it is the systems, not the people. Let me be clear. We will never change construction until we have the right contracts, the right scheduling systems, and the right project Lean systems in place. It is just a fact.

If your project needs superintendent coaching, project support, or leadership development, Elevate Construction can help your field teams stabilize, schedule, and flow.

So here is the challenge. Pick the person on your project you are most tempted to blame, and ask whether they know what to do, are motivated to do it, and have clear circumstances.

Bottom line: We have to stop blaming people and start blaming the systems.

On we go.

FAQ

What is the rider, elephant, and path idea?

Every good change happens when you direct the rider, motivate the elephant, and shape the path. That means people know what to do, are motivated to do it, and have clear circumstances. Intelligence and motivation will not help if the circumstances are not there.

What does the paper cup exercise show?

When Jason read folding instructions aloud to about 250 people, only two made the cup. When he showed pictures step by step, everyone did. It shows that people fail when instructions are not visual, which is why a 76-page schedule fails where a one page Takt plan can work.

What does the Alaska Airlines Flight 261 example illustrate?

According to the NTSB findings Jason read, the crash involved insufficient lubrication, extended maintenance intervals approved by the FAA, and a missing fail-safe in the design. His point is that people trying to do their best cannot succeed inside a system that does not support them.

What circumstances do people need on a construction project?

The right contract, Takt plan, zones, work packaging, schedule, meetings, huddles, and quality control system, supported by onboarding, logistics, zero tolerance, roadblock removal, and accountability systems.

People Also Read:

Total Participation & Visual Systems
We Don’t Blame People
It’s NOT Their Fault

Want your team trained on this? See our Last Planner System and Takt training.

If you want to learn more we have:

-Takt Virtual Training: (Takt Virtual Training)
-Check out our YouTube channel for more info: (Elevate Construction on YouTube)
-Listen to the Elevate Construction podcast: (Elevate Construction Podcast)
-Check out our training programs and certifications: (Training Programs and Certifications)
-The Takt Book: (The Takt Book on Amazon)

Discover Jason’s Expertise:

Meet Jason Schroeder, the driving force behind Elevate Construction. As the company’s Founder and COO, he’s dedicated to taking construction to new heights. With a wealth of industry experience, he’s crafted the Field Engineer Boot Camp and Superintendent Boot Camp – intensive training programs engineered to cultivate top-tier leaders capable of steering their teams towards success. Jason’s vision? To expand his training initiatives across the nation, empowering construction firms to soar to unprecedented levels of excellence.

Posted in All