Are You Teaching People to Be Curious About Lean?

You overwhelm people with complete lean systems. Pull planning. Last Planner. Daily huddles. Percent plan complete. Visual management. 5S. Standard work. Continuous improvement. All at once. Presented as comprehensive methodology requiring total commitment. And people shut down. They feel intimidated. They see massive change requiring enormous effort. They resist because you’re asking them to abandon thirty years of experience for something unfamiliar and complex. Meanwhile, they’re working eighty-hour weeks dragging projects barely across the finish line at the expense of families, health, and quality of life. They know something’s wrong. But your approach asking them to embrace complete systems makes lean feel like additional burden instead of solution. And they walk away unconvinced because you tried teaching complete methodology when you should have created curiosity about small improvements solving immediate pain.

Here’s what most lean advocates miss. People don’t need complete systems immediately. They need curiosity about whether better approaches exist. Joe Donnarummo from Linbeck Group encounters skeptical thirty-year superintendents saying “Why should I change? I’ve been with my firm thirty years. Never missed a CO. Made lots of money. Clients ask for me by name. Nothing’s wrong with how I run work.” Joe doesn’t argue. He shifts spotlight from their experience to industry’s current state. The industry today isn’t the same as thirty years ago. Tools that worked then don’t work for today’s challenges. And he asks simple question: “Aren’t you tired of working eighty hours a week? Aren’t you tired of push-pulling-dragging projects barely across the finish line at the expense of family, health, quality of life? There’s a better way. I’m not saying lean’s a silver bullet. But start with one small thing. See if it creates value. If it does, come back and we’ll talk more.”

The challenge is most lean advocates focus on teaching complete systems instead of creating curiosity about specific improvements. They present comprehensive methodology overwhelming people with complexity. But curiosity starts small. Fix something that bugs you. Let the job speak to you. Look for waste. Find pinch points. Try one thing creating value. Then try another. Build incrementally instead of demanding total transformation immediately. Success isn’t just finishing projects on time and budget. It’s finishing well—safely, with quality, team health intact, careers advanced, families preserved, and owners becoming raving fans. Create curiosity about that vision. Then provide small starting points enabling people to experience value instead of drowning in comprehensive systems they can’t implement.

Why Current State Creates Curiosity

Joe Donnarummo’s approach works because it focuses on pain people already feel. Skeptical superintendents resist when you tell them their methods are wrong. But they engage when you acknowledge what they’re experiencing:

• Working eighty-hour weeks destroying health and family relationships.
• Push-pulling-dragging projects barely across finish lines.
• Achieving schedule and budget but at terrible personal cost.
• Sacrificing quality of life for project completion.
• Feeling exhausted despite decades of experience.
• Wondering if there’s better way but not knowing where to start.
• Resisting change because additional complexity feels overwhelming.
• Knowing something’s wrong but seeing no clear path to improvement.

The Industry Changed—Old Tools Don’t Work Anymore

The construction industry thirty years ago was different. Tools in superintendents’ toolboxes then were sufficient for challenges they faced. But today’s industry isn’t the same. Complexity increased. Owner expectations escalated. Technology transformed coordination requirements. Collaboration became essential. Culture and soft skills matter now in ways they didn’t before. And superintendents using thirty-year-old tools for today’s challenges struggle because the tools don’t match the problems.

This isn’t about disrespecting experience. It’s about recognizing context changed. A superintendent who succeeded thirty years ago using certain approaches might struggle today not because they’re incompetent but because the industry evolved requiring different capabilities. The lean tools and processes address today’s challenges in ways traditional approaches don’t. But presenting this as “your way is wrong, my way is right” creates resistance. Presenting it as “the industry changed, let’s explore whether different tools help you succeed in new context” creates curiosity.

Joe never tells skeptical superintendents they’re doing it wrong. He asks if they’re tired of working eighty hours a week at the expense of family and health. Most are. That acknowledgment creates opening. Then he offers: there’s better way. Not claiming it’s easy. Not promising silver bullets. Just suggesting one small experiment seeing if it creates value. If it does, explore more. If it doesn’t, no harm trying. This low-pressure approach invites curiosity instead of demanding compliance.

Start Small: Fix Something That Bugs You

Paul Akers teaches this perfectly. Fix something small that bugs you. Don’t try transforming complete systems immediately. Just look around. What’s bugging you? What creates frustration daily? What wastes time, energy, or resources? Pick one thing. Fix it. See if it creates value. Then pick another. This incremental approach builds momentum through small wins instead of overwhelming people with comprehensive transformation.

For example: Information arrives late to the field creating delays. Instead of implementing complete visual management system, start with daily huddles. Fifteen minutes. Stand-up meeting. What’s happening today? What do you need? What’s blocking you? That’s it. See if communication improves. If it does, people experience value. They become curious about what else might work. Then you can introduce next small improvement. But if you start by demanding complete Last Planner System implementation, people feel overwhelmed and resist.

Or: Materials arrive wrong creating rework. Instead of redesigning complete procurement system, implement just-in-time delivery for one trade package. Get materials arriving exactly when needed in exactly right quantities. See if it reduces waste. If it does, expand to another package. Small wins create believers. Comprehensive system changes create skeptics. Start small. Build from there.

What “Finishing Well” Actually Means

Traditional project success measures are insufficient. Did you finish on time? On budget? Make profit? Owner happy? These matter. But they’re incomplete. Joe and Jason both advocate broader definition of success:

• On time. Project completed per schedule commitments.
• On budget. Financial targets met with healthy profit.
• Safely. No injuries, near-misses minimized, culture of safety maintained.
• Quality. Work meets or exceeds standards, minimal defects, pride in craftsmanship.
• Team health. People aren’t burned out, working reasonable hours, families preserved.
• Career advancement. Foremen and team members grew capabilities, advanced professionally.
• Raving fans. Owner so delighted they request your team for next project.

If you finished on time and budget but destroyed your team’s health, sacrificed families, and barely dragged project across finish line, you didn’t succeed. You survived. Success means finishing well—achieving all measures simultaneously. This broader definition creates curiosity because most people have finished projects while sacrificing some of these measures. They want to know if achieving all of them is actually possible. When you show them it is through small improvements creating value, curiosity grows.

How to Create Curiosity Instead of Overwhelm

Stop presenting complete lean systems. Start creating curiosity about specific improvements:

• Ask questions revealing current state pain people already feel.
• Acknowledge their experience while noting industry changed requiring different tools.
• Share your own struggles instead of positioning yourself as expert with all answers.
• Offer one small starting point instead of comprehensive transformation.
• Invite experimentation with low commitment: “Try this one thing, see if it helps.”
• Focus on their problems, not your solutions or methodology.
• Let them discover value through experience instead of convincing them through explanation.
• Build from small wins instead of demanding complete system adoption.
• Create safe environment where trying and failing is learning, not career risk.
• Celebrate improvements regardless of size instead of waiting for perfect implementation.

Joe’s Challenge: Fix Something Small That Bugs You

Here’s Joe Donnarummo’s challenge to the industry. After listening to this, walk onto your jobsite. Let the job speak to you. Think about what’s happening. Find things bugging you. Find areas of waste. Then use resources from The Lean Builder blog exploring how to address them. If information arrives late creating delays, consider daily huddles. If you’re tired of weekly subcontractor meetings that don’t create value, try different approach. Start small. See if it works. If it creates value, do it again. Find another area bugging you. Fix that. Build incrementally.

Don’t try transforming complete systems immediately. Fix something small that bugs you. Then fix another. Then another. This approach builds culture and collaboration through incremental value creation instead of overwhelming people with comprehensive change they can’t implement. Every small improvement creates believers. Every small win generates curiosity about what else might work. Build from there.

Jason’s Challenge: Master Scheduling Creating Flow

Jason’s challenge focuses on master scheduling techniques serving collaborative processes. Takt planning creates three types of flow—workflow, trade flow, and logistical flow—visible to everyone. When foremen enter weekly work planning meetings or sprint planning sessions, they can commit because materials are there, RFIs are answered, and work is actually ready. The system planned far enough ahead that supply chains delivered. This prevents frustration where foremen say “I could commit to Wednesday but I don’t have materials.”

Consider whether your master scheduling techniques serve collaborative processes well. Pull planning creates collaboration. Last Planner creates commitment. But what upstream planning system ensures work is actually ready when trades commit? Takt planning with proper make-ready provides that foundation. The weekly work planning becomes more effective because the master schedule created flow enabling commitments instead of forcing hedges.

The System Failed You

Let’s be clear. When people feel overwhelmed by lean instead of curious about it, it’s not entirely their fault. The system failed by teaching lean as complete methodology requiring total commitment instead of teaching it as incremental improvement building from small wins. Nobody showed that curiosity starts with acknowledging current state pain and offering small experiments, not demanding comprehensive transformation. Nobody explained that skeptical superintendents resist being told they’re wrong but engage when asked if they’re tired of eighty-hour weeks destroying families. Nobody demonstrated that small wins create believers while complete systems create resistance.

The system also failed by not teaching that finishing well means more than schedule and budget. If your project needs superintendent coaching, project support, or leadership development, Elevate Construction can help your field teams stabilize, schedule, and flow. Success includes team health, career advancement, family preservation, and owner delight—not just time and money. But teams never taught this keep measuring only traditional metrics wondering why people feel empty despite hitting targets when the problem is they’re sacrificing everything else to achieve narrow definition of success.

The system fails by overwhelming people with comprehensive lean systems instead of creating curiosity through small improvements. Paul Akers teaches fix something small that bugs you. But most lean advocates present complete methodologies. This overwhelms people who already work eighty hours weekly. They can’t add comprehensive system implementation on top of existing burden. But they can fix one thing bugging them. Then another. Then another. That approach builds capability through incremental wins instead of creating resistance through overwhelming demands.

The Challenge

Here’s your assignment. Stop overwhelming people with complete lean systems. Start creating curiosity about small improvements solving immediate pain.

Ask skeptical people about their current state. Aren’t you tired of working eighty hours a week? Aren’t you tired of dragging projects across finish lines at expense of family, health, quality of life? Don’t argue about methodology. Acknowledge their pain. Offer one small experiment.

Fix something small that bugs you. Walk your jobsite. Let the job speak to you. Find areas of waste. Pick one thing. Fix it. See if it creates value. Then do it again. Build incrementally instead of transforming comprehensively.

Expand your definition of success beyond time and budget. Include safety, quality, team health, career advancement, family preservation, and owner delight. Finishing well means achieving all these simultaneously, not sacrificing some to achieve others.

Consider whether your master scheduling techniques create flow enabling collaborative processes. When foremen commit in weekly work planning meetings, is work actually ready? Or are they hedging because materials aren’t there and RFIs aren’t answered? Plan far enough ahead that commitments become real instead of hopeful.

Create curiosity through small wins. Don’t demand comprehensive transformation. Invite experimentation. Let people discover value through experience. Build from there.

On we go.

FAQ

How do you create curiosity in skeptical superintendents?

Acknowledge their experience while noting the industry changed. Ask if they’re tired of working eighty hours weekly dragging projects across finish lines at expense of family and health. Don’t argue their methods are wrong. Offer one small experiment seeing if it creates value. Low-pressure invitation creates curiosity; demanding compliance creates resistance.

What does “finishing well” actually mean?

On time, on budget, safely, with quality, team health intact, careers advanced, families preserved, and owner becoming raving fan. Traditional measures focus only on time and budget. But if you achieved those by destroying team health and sacrificing families, you survived rather than succeeded. Finishing well means achieving all measures simultaneously.

Why start small instead of implementing complete lean systems?

Small improvements create believers through immediate value. Comprehensive systems overwhelm people already working eighty hours weekly. Fixing one thing that bugs you builds momentum through quick wins. Then fix another. Then another. Incremental approach builds capability. Comprehensive transformation creates resistance.

How do you “let the job speak to you”?

Walk your jobsite. Observe what’s happening. Notice what bugs you. Find areas of waste or pinch points creating frustration. Don’t impose solutions from books or training. Let problems reveal themselves through observation. Then experiment with small improvements addressing what you discovered.

Why does Joe Donnarummo focus on current state pain?

People resist being told their methods are wrong. But they engage when you acknowledge pain they already feel—eighty-hour weeks, destroyed families, exhausted health. Acknowledging current state creates opening. Then offering small experiment feels like invitation rather than criticism. This approach creates curiosity instead of resistance.