As you graduate from worker to crew leader, from doer to organizer, you take off your tools and replace them with your notepad, iPad, and prints. You enter a new and challenging role, and you will need to make some fundamental changes in your actions and habits.
This is Part 7 of my walk-through of my book Elevating Construction Foremen. If you are just joining, start with Part 1. This part is about onboarding construction workers, communicating like a professional, and continuous reminding.
Short answer: The “what” of crew leadership starts with three jobs. Onboard every new worker on purpose, because figuring it out only works after onboarding. Become a professional communicator who can teach the scope like a class. And act as the chief reminding officer, repeating what matters about seven times per person per week in fresh, authentic ways, because people need to be reminded more than taught.
What Is the “What” of Crew Leadership?
Put firecracker gunpowder in a cartridge with a bullet, and the pop becomes a projectile on a trajectory. It becomes useful. You, the crew leader, are the barrel and the chamber. You take the gunpowder of your workers’ passion and direct it. Before you are a leader, success is all about growing yourself. When you become a leader, success is all about growing others.
What Is a Crew Leader’s Role in Onboarding?
A crew leader makes sure his or her workers are prepared to work on the assigned tasks consistently, safely, and productively. Onboarding is not a checked box. It is a responsibility to equip each person with the tools, training, and place to work so they can be successful. I wrote more on this in Orientation Is Not a Checkbox. That responsibility falls doubly on you if your company is like the 20% of Canadian employers who are not offering safety and orientation programs for new employees.
“Figure it out” only works after onboarding. A person can only figure things out once they understand where they are, who is with them, and the culture of the team.
Joel Hamilton, who contributed so much to the book, became a rodbuster at 16. On his first day, the old man told him, “Don’t get hurt. Don’t walk off the side of the building, and don’t quit, or you’ll need to walk home.” He wrote the color coding for the numbering on Joel’s arm and yelled out the lengths he needed. After the first week, on a Friday when it had been over 100° all day, his boss said, “Good job. Welcome to the real world.” From that day on, Joel was part of the crew, and he stayed four more years.
What Should a Crew Leader Cover With a New Hire?
Start with roles and responsibilities. Studies have found that new hires who don’t understand their job scope or expectations leave at a rate five times greater than informed new hires. Sit down with each new person:
- Welcome them, introduce their teammates, and assign them a mentor.
- Go over their role and the position and site-specific hazards.
- Share the goals and benchmarks you expect, with specific timelines.
- Tell them when their next evaluation will be and how it will be scored.
- Walk them through your competency levels, if you have them.
- Introduce them to company management when they stop by. Make them feel seen and important.
- Give them swag, or at least a goal to earn it, like a hoodie after the first couple of weeks.
You might not own the hard orientation paperwork, but the soft orientation items are your responsibility. See Orienting Your People.
Why Are Crew Leaders Professional Communicators?
Crew leaders, much like superintendents, do very little doing. They lead, coordinate, prepare, teach, train, coach, and communicate. Here is the measure of success: if you could ask a crew leader to teach an interesting class covering a specific scope of work, you have a crew-leader-grade communicator.
I remember a crew leader named John on a project in Tucson, Arizona. He was so good I insisted his title be changed to project superintendent. His plans were neatly color-coded. He spoke with projection, used his own words to communicate the why, and convinced his people to follow the plan. John was the best I ever worked with.
How Do You Become a Professional Communicator?
- Speak clearly and with volume, and confirm your audience understands.
- Communicate frequently. People need to hear something seven times before it sticks.
- Use gestures, props, or visuals, because people do better when they see, hear, and experience it.
- Connect first. The pattern is connect, communicate, concrete, practice, and conclude.
- Be enthusiastic and warm, and come from a place of care and concern.
Read How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie, and see Communicate for Understanding.
How Should a Crew Leader Lead Introverts and Extroverts?
| Extroverts | Introverts | |
|---|---|---|
| Energy | Draw energy from the people, places, and situations around them. | Think big decisions and ideas over alone before proceeding. |
| Problem-solving | Spitball and talk through a problem. | Listen and weigh ideas carefully. |
| How to lead them | Push and drive them, and use their energy and speed. | Ask for their opinions and quality ideas, and use their wisdom. |
The introvert is likely to get overlooked by the average leader. As Sophia Dembling said, introverts are not failed extroverts. They just have a different style.
Why Is the Crew Leader the Chief Reminding Officer?
Between Joel’s four kids and my 11, we could field a hockey team. You have to repeat what you say roughly 20 times before it sinks in. Ten to 15 repetitions in, you are sick of the message, and that is about when people start to get it. You tell multiple people the same message, so the fourth time is only the first time for each kid. You must habitually overcommunicate. Jonathan Rosenberg put it this way: “Repetition doesn’t spoil the prayer.” Thanks go to How Google Works by Eric Schmidt and Jonathan Rosenberg for the structure of this section.
How Do You Overcommunicate Without Screaming?
| Guideline | What it means |
|---|---|
| Are you getting the message across? | If you repeat something 20 times and people are still confused, the problem is with the message. Figure out how to communicate it better. |
| Say something fresh | Keep the theme, change the delivery. One day, “Wear your PPE.” The next, the story of the guy who almost lost his vision. Another, that 90% of eye injuries can be prevented with proper eyewear. |
| Is it interesting? | Turn boring corporate messaging into a story or a joke. Studies have shown a 20-fold recall improvement when information is delivered as a story. |
| Is it authentic? | Effective communication can never be outsourced. Put it in your own words and experiences. |
Why Do Crews Need Reminding More Than Teaching?
Our minds filter out noise. Workers doing their best forget things, not from laziness, but because their minds archived that data. That is why worker huddles happen every day. People most often do not need to be taught. They need to be reminded of what they have already learned. Aim for seven repetitions per person per week, in different styles, for a month, and see how ingrained it becomes.
So here is the challenge. Write down the onboarding list and use it with the next person who joins your crew. Then pick the one message that matters most on your project and deliver it seven different ways to every person on your crew over the next week.
Bottom line: Onboard on purpose, communicate like a teacher, and remind like it is your job, because it is.
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 6: Health, Energy, Flow, and a Clean Workspace
Next: Part 8: Organizing Workers, the Three Signs of a Miserable Job, and the Ideal Team Player
FAQ
What is a crew leader’s role in onboarding?
The crew leader makes sure new workers are prepared to work safely and productively with their assigned tasks. Onboarding is not a checked box. It is a responsibility to equip each person with the tools, training, and place to work.
How should a crew leader lead introverts and extroverts?
Extroverts draw energy from the people and situations around them, so push and drive them. Introverts think things over alone and listen carefully, so ask for their opinions and quality ideas.
How often does a crew leader need to repeat a message?
Aim for seven repetitions per person per week, each in a different style. Keep the theme the same, change the delivery, and make it interesting and authentic.
People Also Read:
Onboarding & Orientation: Your Workforce’s First Impression
Lean Onboarding Series – Orientations
Communication in Construction
The Morning Worker Huddle: Creating One Team on Your Project Site
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.