This one is under administration, item C, discipline. It sounds really war-like and militaristic. I have a lot of Prussian and German ancestors, so this is totally my style. It’s Patton style and fairly rigid. But I would like you to consider the concept that we play how we practice. We want to practice how we want to play.
Short answer: Patton said there is only one kind of discipline, perfect discipline, and that fatigue makes cowards of us all. On a construction project, everything is trying to kill our men and women. Turn the little things, like gloves, glasses, hard hats, and drills, into disciplined routine so the mind auto-scripts them and stays alert for what matters. How you do one thing is how you do everything.
Is “Potential Murderers” Too Dramatic?
Patton: “There is only one kind of discipline, perfect discipline. If you do not enforce and maintain discipline, you are potential murderers. You must set the example.”
In war, if you’re not disciplined, you’re literally letting your men and women go to their deaths. For construction, it might sound dramatic, but it’s not. In morning worker huddles, I would mention the start of World War II, when the Allied forces were getting beaten because of a lack of discipline. Patton came in and ordered strict salutes, dress, practice, and routines throughout the day, everything done perfectly. He said we got beaten because our boys don’t act, think, or train like soldiers. They weren’t practicing how they wanted to play.
So when I was running jobs, I told workers: we have to plan, prepare, act, and dress like construction workers. As soon as you cross this gate, you have your hard hat, safety glasses, gloves, and fall protection, and you are alert and ready to go.
Why Not Wear PPE Only When You Need It?
This is my opinion, and I don’t know of studies on it. I’ve never seen a project where workers, or leaders, or anybody had enough mental discipline to know in the moment, throughout the day, through fatigue, exactly when to put on or take off their safety glasses. Some rules say only put on your glasses, gloves, or even hard hat when you need them. I highly disagree, but I can respect it.
But we have so much to focus on. Falls and highly dangerous situations. Confined spaces. Trench safety. Watching key things on our crew and for other people with the buddy system, and having the courage to speak up. So why would I leave gloves, glasses, and hard hats, which cost us nothing to have on 100%, to a decision in the moment?
Part of the science isn’t just to be disciplined. It’s to take as many things as possible out of in-the-moment mental discipline and turn them into disciplined routine, habit, so your mind can auto-script them. If someone wears safety glasses all the time, and it’s consistent, reinforced, and enforced, the mind takes it out of active processing and leaves room for the important things. We’re asking people to think, be aware, and pay attention. Are we going to add the little things to that mental load? I think not, because they will get missed. If we don’t auto-script the right moves, people could end up injured or dead. See What PPE Is Mandatory on a Construction Site?.
Does Fatigue Make Cowards of Us All?
Patton, under condition: “High physical condition is vital to victory. There are more tired corps and division commanders than there are tired corps and divisions. Fatigue makes cowards of us all. Men in condition do not tire.”
Any chance we get in construction to take care of our bodies, eat right, hydrate, and take enough breaks, we should. Katie mentioned the analogy of the rider, the elephant, and the path. The rider is the intellect, what we know we should do. The elephant is what we want, and it will likely always be stronger. Steering it is tiring. So if we don’t auto-script disciplined routines, and if we’re not in good physical condition, the rider tires faster.
What Is in Letter of Instruction No. 2?
Patton’s Letter of Instruction No. 2, Headquarters Third United States Army, 3 April 1944, stresses the usages combat experience taught him: “You will not simply mimeograph this and call it a day. You are responsible that these usages become habitual in your command.” Here are the parts I want to discuss:
| Patton’s point | What I take from it |
|---|---|
| Men cannot have good battle discipline and poor administrative discipline | Like Tony Robbins says, how you do one thing is how you do everything |
| Discipline is based on pride, meticulous attention to details, and mutual respect and confidence, a habit stronger than the excitement of battle or the fear of death | Make it a habit, not a decision |
| Our victorious armies show we are the best soldiers in the world; this should make your men proud | Who else puts together millions of components, in the elements, at death-defying heights? Give people a good name and they live up to it |
| Officers who fail to correct errors or praise excellence are valueless in peace and dangerous misfits in war | Without a deep sense of obligation, it’s just a job, and people justify a lower standard |
| Officers must assert themselves by example and by voice, preeminent in courage, deportment, and dress | Set the example |
| A primary purpose of discipline is alertness | Lethargy in one area shows up in another |
| Ceremonies prepare men for battle with perfect discipline and alertness | Emergency response drills, pre-task planning, and 5S |
How Did a Test Predict a Fall Protection Problem?
I learned the alertness point the hard way, and it has played out over and over. I was administering tests after an orientation, and one person didn’t pass. He was very lackadaisical about how he wrote the test, filled out his questions, and went through the whole orientation. I helped him through it. About 40 minutes later, I watched him begin a task at heights without his fall protection. The way he did the test was exactly how he started to do the fall protection. If somebody tolerates that pattern in one area, they’ll do it in another.
Why Practice Emergency Drills?
When running projects, I thought about Patton’s ceremonies, the guard mounts and retreat and reveille formations, and applied them to emergency response drills, pre-task planning, and 5S, things we practiced with the men and women on the projects. It’s one thing to tell people to be disciplined, and another to do the do. Whether it was cleanliness, safety, pre-task plans, or blowing the air horn for a drill on how we’d come off the building, it got us into practice for what we wanted to do.
I expect you to cafeteria-select the concepts that apply to you. But construction is not willy-nilly. Everything on the project is trying to kill our women and men: the walls, the heights, the shoring, the excavations, the electricity, the confined spaces, the falling objects. If we don’t turn certain things into disciplined routines, we are potential murderers.
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So here is the challenge. Consider your own leadership. What needs to be standardized? What needs to become routine? How do we need to be more prepared and alert? And what do we need to practice?
Bottom line: We play how we practice, so turn the right moves into disciplined routine.
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Patton’s Standing Orders series:
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FAQ
Why should PPE be worn 100% of the time instead of only when needed?
Jason has never seen a project where workers or leaders had enough mental discipline to know, in the moment and through fatigue, exactly when to put on or take off safety glasses. Turning gloves, glasses, and hard hats into a disciplined routine lets the mind auto-script it and frees attention for falls, confined spaces, trenches, and the buddy system.
What did Patton say about physical condition?
High physical condition is vital to victory. There are more tired corps and division commanders than there are tired corps and divisions. Fatigue makes cowards of us all. Men in condition do not tire.
How do Patton’s ceremonies apply to construction?
Patton said formal guard mounts, retreat formations, and reveille formations prepare men for battle with perfect discipline and alertness. On projects, Jason used emergency response drills, pre-task planning, and 5S as the practices that prepare crews, because we play how we practice.
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