What we believe influences our decisions. Our decisions drive our actions, and our actions drive our results. That is why the book moves from what you need to guiding principles, the how behind great crew leadership.
This is Part 17 of my walk-through of my book Elevating Construction Foremen. If you are just joining, start with Part 1. This part starts the guiding principles: crew leaders prepare work, the six needs every crew has, and crew leaders as trainers, mentors, and coaches.
Short answer: Crew leaders prepare work. Full stop. If you are not preparing the path ahead of your crew well enough that they can work without you, you have not done your job. Every crew has six needs, training, time, tools, equipment, information, and space, and you anticipate them with a checklist. And crew leaders are professional trainers, mentors, and coaches, with a goal of 5 to 15 minutes of training per person every day.
Why Is Preparing Work the Crew Leader’s Main Duty?
Crew leaders prepare the work of their crew, and they participate heavily in making sure the work of others is prepared ahead of and behind theirs. Our industry has the bad habit of crew leaders arriving at their next area and pulling off because it’s not ready. Preparing that area was the job of their company and crew leader, with the GC and other crew leaders. It does not rest on the GC alone. The game for a crew leader begins days and weeks before the task begins. As the saying goes, “If you’re not preparing the path ahead of your crew well enough that they can do the work without you, you have not done your job.”
When I was a field engineer for Hensel Phelps on the Whole Foods world headquarters in Austin, Texas, we had two rebar crews in the basement. One was always ahead, and one was always behind. I asked the effective crew leader why. He said, “Jason, that other crew leader always has his tool bags on and is working alongside his workers. When he stops, they stop. When he has to go get materials, they wait. I spend my day bringing materials and information to my crew. I land the bar near the crew, show and explain the shop drawings, and make sure they understand. Then I begin preparing the next area.” The other crew leader was acting like a worker, not a crew leader. As Benjamin Franklin said, “By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.”
Take off your tool bags, study the drawings, evaluate the work area, step out of the now, and prepare for the future. Ask what materials, information, equipment, tools, layout, permissions, and resources the crew will need for the next task. If they are not available, scheduled, and on their way, fixing that becomes your main focus. When you get a new assignment, the site visit must be immediate. Preparation is never negotiable. Work preparation is not 100% on the crew leader, either. It is on the GC, supervisor, and crew leader together, and no one should pawn it off on the other.
What Are the Six Things Every Crew Needs?
Every crew needs training or tactics, time, tools, equipment, information or the plan, and space to work, the terrain. A great way to clear the path is a checklist of what is needed on site before mobilizing into the area. As the book puts it, “It is not the resources your crew needs that cost the most money. It’s when they don’t have it and you pay them to stand around and wait or do wasteful work.”
| Need | Checklist |
|---|---|
| Training | The task at hand, the scope of work, how to do it safely, and what is expected for quality. |
| Time | Enough time to complete the task, which means don’t push them. Explain the time and buffers, and give time to prepare, learn, reflect, clean up, and finish in the buffer. |
| Tools and equipment | Individual and specialty tools, equipment to perform the task safely, and storage, transportation, and maintenance items. |
| Information | Plans and specs, shop drawings and submittals, quality checks or feature of work visuals, current RFIs or changes, the job hazard analysis or pre-task plan, and layout drawings. |
| Space to work | Clean and clear, properly delineated, safe, with proper staging, correct layout and grid lines, needed conditioning, access and egress, and room to work. |
One contributor told the story of two steel crew leaders. One was loyal and hardworking, but his favorite tools were the torch, hammer, and stinger, and he couldn’t get past the work directly in front of him. The other, on a messy fire hall project, checked every embed before a stick of steel arrived and planned the fix for the 60% that failed. He tracked deliveries, called weeks ahead about short-shipped bolts, drew up fixes for fabrication errors, and pushed the GC to open the next work fronts. He might not have struck an arc very often, but you knew his site would make progress and be done right the first time, and his company finished in the black.
Controlling the six needs is a continuous chess game, not a static plan. Update your plan, track results against your goals, and always keep critical stock on hand. Bring material just in time, not early.
Why Are Crew Leaders Trainers, Mentors, and Coaches?
Crew leaders are professional trainers, mentors, and coaches. That is their number one responsibility. After the morning huddles and preparations, the crew leader doesn’t just go back to the truck, the office, or Home Depot. They go to the field and spend time training each crew member. People need to be taught and reminded whether the crew seems to want training or not. As Henry Ford said, “The only thing worse than training your employees and having them leave is not training them and having them stay.”
Mike Trulove shared a story from a semiconductor project that was over budget and months behind. During a pull plan, an electrical crew leader who was skeptical of the Last Planner® System raised his hand. His crew came in at 6:30 a.m., and the owner’s cable vendors didn’t arrive until 9:30 a.m., so the six-day cable pull was taking nine. He asked why the vendors couldn’t have day-one cables rolled up and marked the day before. They tried it and cut the sequence to three days, and his crew later refined it to a day and a half. He went from learner to teacher to mentor, and the other trades followed.
Scott Webster remembered the gray-haired concrete crew leader with an unlit cigar who taught him elevations and layout as an apprentice. He never told Scott he was wrong. He would say, “There’s a better way to do that,” and show him.
Training is not only technical. It includes best practices like housekeeping, safety, and planning, teamwork, professional development, communication, and organization. Workers may get 20% of their training from trade schools, but the other 80% is up to the crew leader. Write it down with pictures and terminology so people learn quickly. See Mentoring & Training by Foremen.
So here is the challenge. Build a six-needs checklist for your next area and walk it before you mobilize. Then take off your tool bags for one full day and spend it preparing the next area and training each person on your crew for at least five minutes.
Bottom line: Prepare the work so your crew can win without you, cover all six needs, and train your people every day.
If your project needs superintendent coaching, project support, or leadership development, Elevate Construction can help your field teams stabilize, schedule, and flow.
On we go.
Elevating Construction Foremen series:
Previous: Part 16: The Right Information, Materials, Layout, Tools, and Labor
Next: Part 18: Roadblock Removers, Putting Down Your Tools, and Not Escaping to Home Depot
FAQ
What are the six needs of every crew?
Training or tactics, time, tools, equipment, information or the plan, and space to work, the terrain. The crew leader must anticipate them in advance, ideally with a checklist before mobilizing into an area.
Why shouldn’t a crew leader wear tool bags all day?
Because when the crew leader stops, the crew stops. A crew leader’s job is not to be productive in the moment, but to bring materials and information to the crew and prepare the next area.
How much training should a crew leader give each day?
One measure of success is for each person on the crew to receive 5 to 15 minutes of in-depth training every day. Workers may get 20% of their training from trade schools; the other 80% is up to the crew leader.
People Also Read:
How To Identify And Remove Roadblocks
Training From the Battle Perch: Mentor Your Team From Above
Foreman Series: Participating In A Pull Plan
Never Go on Site Without Caring for Foremen
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.