Kindness Comes through the Environment, not Words

How to Truly Be Kind on a Project Site

Here’s something that’s going to challenge the way most people think about kindness: being kind on a project site doesn’t mean being nice. It doesn’t mean letting workers do whatever they want. It doesn’t mean avoiding hard conversations or lowering standards. True kindness is creating a clean, safe, stable environment where trades can succeed. And that requires discipline, not wimpiness.

This hit me like a ton of bricks while writing a chapter on stability. And I need to share it with you.

The Pain of Confusing Kindness With Weakness

People will say, “Oh, I don’t want to implement zero tolerance for safety, Jason, because I want to be kind. Jason, I don’t want to shut down crews if they’re not clean because I want to be kind. I don’t want to do morning worker huddles because workers don’t want to do it and I want to be kind. I don’t want to force my trades to be in pull plans and pre-construction meetings because I want to be kind. I don’t want to be too strict about cleanliness because I want to be kind. I don’t want to tell them to do this because I want to be kind.”

And this has been something I’ve been fighting for a long time. I believe that weak field leadership is a bigger problem than actually command and control. Meaning being so wimpy about field leadership that people just do whatever they want in the name of being kind.

Here’s what happens. The superintendent doesn’t want to seem mean. So, they don’t enforce safety standards. They don’t require cleanliness. They don’t hold trades accountable for being ready. They don’t run proper huddles. They don’t enforce the plan. And they think they’re being kind. But they’re not. They’re creating chaos. They’re putting workers in unsafe conditions. They’re allowing messes that slow everyone down. They’re letting coordination failures waste people’s time.

And that’s not kindness. That’s cruelty disguised as niceness.

The Patton Versus Fredendall Example

And that’s why I used to, for boot camps, ask people to watch the movie Patton, the 1970s movie Patton, where he comes into camp and takes over from General, I think, Fredendall, who was a disgrace in my opinion, and who was hiding away in a bunker while over fifteen hundred Americans died. Totally undisciplined. Totally not into training. Totally not what needed to happen.

And then Patton comes on the scene. And it was at Kasserine Pass where we got our butts kicked because we weren’t prepared. And Patton comes in and says, “In about fifteen minutes I’m going to turn these men into razors. They’ll lose their fear of the Germans because they’ll be more afraid of me.” And he instills discipline. Salutes. Standard dress. Proper durations for breakfast. Discipline. Training the whole night. And then we started to beat the Nazis.

And Patton was reportedly the American or the Allied general that the Nazis feared the most. And that’s because we’ve got to switch from the Fredendall mentality to the Patton mentality. We’ve got to put our shoulders back and actually lead.

Here’s the lesson. Fredendall was nice. He didn’t enforce discipline. He didn’t train his troops. He didn’t hold standards. And fifteen hundred Americans died. Patton was strict. He enforced discipline. He trained his troops. He held standards. And his soldiers won battles and came home alive.

Which one was kind? The one who was nice and got people killed? Or the one who was strict and saved people’s lives?

True kindness isn’t letting people do whatever they want. True kindness is creating the conditions where people can succeed, survive, and thrive. And that requires discipline.

What True Kindness Actually Looks Like

And this is what hit me. You’re not kind by not doing zero tolerance. You’re not being kind by leaving messes. You’re not being kind by not orienting people. You’re not being kind by running a sloppy job site. In fact, you’re being mean and disrespectful.

And you’re basically lowering the status of the workers and saying that they’re not as good as you are. And it is the most cruel behavior.

If you or I want to be kind, if we want to be respectful, we will do the things that it takes to have a clean job site, to have a stable job site, to have a visual job site, to have work and materials that are pre-kitted, to have installation work packages that are ready, to have sequences that work, to have people all wearing their PPE, to have safety remarkable, to have communication systems that prepare the work of the worker and the work package in the zone.

If we really want to be kind, we will do those things because kindness is shown more by the environment than it is by your mealy-mouth, my mealy-mouth behavior and wimpiness.

Here’s what true kindness looks like on a project site:

• Zero tolerance for safety violations because protecting workers from injury or death is kind
• Enforcing cleanliness standards because a clean site is safer, more efficient, and more respectful
• Running morning worker huddles because preparing workers for the day ahead is kind
• Requiring pull planning and pre-construction meetings because coordinating work prevents chaos and wasted time
• Pre-kitting materials and work packages because making work ready is kind
• Creating stable sequences because predictability protects workers from burnout
• Enforcing PPE requirements because protecting people’s health is kind
• Building visual systems because clarity prevents confusion and rework

These aren’t mean. These are kind. Because they create the environment where workers can succeed, stay safe, and go home to their families every night.

Kindness Is the Environment, Not Your Words

And so, it just hit me. If we really, really care about this, we really want to be kind, then that is going to be shown by our delivery of the environment, not by our words.

Here’s the truth. Words are cheap. Anyone can say, “I care about you. I respect you. I want you to be safe.” But if the job site is a mess, if the work isn’t ready, if the sequences don’t flow, if the safety culture is weak, those words are meaningless.

Kindness is the environment. Kindness is the clean gang box. Kindness is the pre-kitted materials. Kindness is the stable sequence. Kindness is the morning huddle that prepares the crew. Kindness is the zero-tolerance policy that protects the worker. Kindness is the discipline that creates predictability and flow.

And weakness? Weakness is the messy job site. Weakness is the unprepared work package. Weakness is the chaotic coordination. Weakness is the supervisor who doesn’t enforce standards because they don’t want to seem mean. That’s not kindness. That’s cruelty. If your project needs superintendent coaching, project support, or leadership development, Elevate Construction can help your field teams stabilize, schedule, and flow.

A Challenge for Field Leaders

Here’s what I want you to do this week. Stop confusing kindness with weakness. Stop thinking that being nice means lowering standards. Stop avoiding hard conversations in the name of being kind. True kindness is creating a clean, safe, stable environment where trades can succeed.

Enforce safety standards. Require cleanliness. Hold trades accountable for being ready. Run proper huddles. Enforce the plan. Pre-kit materials. Create stable sequences. Build visual systems. And do it with discipline, not wimpiness. Because that’s what kindness actually looks like.

Put your shoulders back. Lead like Patton, not Fredendall. And create the environment where your workers can succeed, stay safe, and thrive. That’s true kindness. As we say at Elevate, kindness is shown by the environment, not by your words. Create a clean, safe, stable job site. That’s how you truly respect people.

On we go.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does it mean to be truly kind on a project site?

True kindness is creating a clean, safe, stable environment where trades can succeed. It’s not letting workers do whatever they want. It’s enforcing safety standards, requiring cleanliness, pre-kitting materials, creating stable sequences, and building visual systems. Kindness is the environment, not your words.

Why is weak field leadership a bigger problem than command and control?

Because weak field leadership allows chaos, unsafe conditions, coordination failures, and wasted time all in the name of being nice. Command and control can be harsh, but weak leadership is cruel. It leaves workers in unsafe, unstable conditions and calls it kindness. That’s not kindness. That’s cruelty.

How is the Patton versus Fredendall example relevant to construction?

Fredendall was nice. He didn’t enforce discipline, train troops, or hold standards. Fifteen hundred Americans died. Patton was strict. He enforced discipline, trained troops, and held standards. His soldiers won battles and came home alive. Which one was kind? The one who was nice and got people killed, or the one who was strict and saved lives?

What are examples of true kindness on a job site?

Zero tolerance for safety violations, enforcing cleanliness standards, running morning worker huddles, requiring pull planning, pre-kitting materials, creating stable sequences, enforcing PPE requirements, and building visual systems. These create the environment where workers can succeed, stay safe, and go home to their families.

Why is kindness the environment, not your words?

Because words are cheap. Anyone can say, “I care about you.” But if the job site is messy, work isn’t ready, sequences don’t flow, and safety is weak, those words are meaningless. Kindness is the clean gang box, the pre-kitted materials, the stable sequence, the morning huddle. That’s what protects and respects people.