Teaching Your Dog to Hunt | Implementing Culture with the Prime Directive

For years, learning how to build culture was a special kind of hell for me. I was raised in a family contracting business where the culture was based on “off your ass, on your feet, out of the shade and into the heat”. Not exactly a great foundation for building culture in a modern startup contractor.   

Over time, I developed a belief that culture is an important high value intrinsic asset that nurtures efficient use of labor when it understood by every team member, and applicable to every activity from laborer to CEO.   

When I was first introduced to mission statements, and later vision statements I was excited about having a path or tool to build a culture within a contractor.  

Over the past several decades I have not seen a Mission or Vision Statement that can be understood by every team member and applied to every activity of a contractor. I am not convinced that any Mission or Vision Statement is understood or applied to the culture of a trade contractor after it has been posted on a website. It became clear to me that not a single team member that drives to a job site everyday gives two shits about their company’s Mission or Vision Statement.   

It seems likely that most trade companies only have a Mission or Vision Statement because it was on a checklist downloaded from the internet or required by a management consultant as a deliverable. This certainly has been my personal experience.  

A few years back, I was engaged by a trade contractor that was a couple of months from extinction. They had a bad culture without written SOPs necessary to consistently execute their scope of work. They needed a clear and effective way to quickly change the culture to one that supports, embraces and nurtures consistent execution. From this challenge, the Prime Directive was born. 

The Prime Directive is planning to have the correct people, material and tools in the correct place at the correct time working within plans, specifications and written SOPS to meet client expectations. The Prime Directive is the definition of execution for a contractor. Let’s unpack the Prime Directive and how it is taught to every team member and applied to every activity.  

Planning | Planning is the foundation of the Prime Directive. Project managers need to plan to have trade accounts opened with necessary vendors and subcontractors contracted with the required scope and within budget. Superintendents need to verify the correct quantities and types of material have been delivered or will be delivered when they are needed. The person in charge of distributing labor has hire people with the required skills so they can be available when needed.  Trade leads need to verify they have the correct people, tools, and material available when needed, and they need to find and review the current plans and specifications. Laborers need to plan to listen and follow instructions. Accounts payable needs to make sure all bills have been paid. Accounts receivable needs to make sure funds are available so bills can be paid.  

Correct people, material and tools | Management needs to decide and communicate if tools should be rented or bought with enough lead time to make the tools available when needed. Shop managers, supervisors, and PMs need to make sure POs and WOs are issued with enough lead time to the vendor or subcontractor available when needed. Not having the correct people, material and tools available wastes labor that a labor contractor cannot afford to waste and keep a project within budget. 

Correct Place and Time | Time that is scheduled and verified. Showing up at a scheduled time when the site is not ready for the planned activity is not showing up at the correct time. Planning requires understanding and preparation to meet a schedule. Planning also requires planning alternative scenarios when the primary schedule has not been kept. It is not acceptable for a supervisor to schedule people, material and tools to be somewhere when the site is not prepared for their work to begin. Saying, “I am here at the scheduled time” is not a get out of jail card.  

Working within Plans and Specs | As discussed in “Correct Place and Time”. Using outdated plans and specs is not acceptable. Leads and supervisors need to make sure they are using the latest plans and approved shop drawings.  

Working within Written SOPs | When owners complain about having to answer the same questions over and over, the first thing I ask them is if they have written SOPs. Usually, the question seems to confuse them. They do not understand how written SOPs can reduce the number of questions they are being asked. They do not appreciate the power and leverage associated with written SOPs. Understanding and embracing writing is a critical milestone for an owner’s transition into becoming a CEO. Writing answers a question clearly once. After a procedure has been written, team members have a source for answers other than the owner. Writing is a winning activity that develops better communication skills for the writer and is a high leverage activity for the limited resource of time.  

When a procedure is verbally discussed then captured in writing clarity is the usual outcome. If the verbal discussion and written instructions match, any outcome other than complete clarity is an exception.  

SOPs support cross functional activities between the field and the back office by providing the other a clear understanding of the other’s role. The field cannot be expected to understand the roles of the back office, or how they can help the back office better support the field without directions. The field understands their trade, not the business of their trade. Conversely, the back office cannot be expected to understand the roles of the field, or how they can help the field better support the back office without directions. The back office understands the business of a trade, not the trade. SOPs are an efficient way to provide directions to both the field and the back office, especially as the SOPs relates to cross functional activities between a trade and the business of a trade. 

Meeting Client Expectation | There are many stakeholders for every construction project. Each stakeholder is in a sense a client.  In times past, this phrase would have been “exceeding client expectations”. Consistent execution is not the expected norm by many owners or GCs in today’s world. With a bar set so low, consistent execution of plans, specs and written SOPs will exceed the expected norm by most of a trade contractor’s clients. Consistent execution requires every team member to be working together. This is why a disconnect between the field and the back office cannot be allowed.  

How does the Prime Directive support the three skills needed to be a contractor by various team members and roles.  

• Executing a Trade | Showing up to work every day on time and with a good attitude and safety equipment is how a laborer meets the expectations of his trade person. Showing up to work on time with a good attitude, correct tools, and safety equipment is how a trade person meets the expectations of his lead, supervisor, or superintendent. Implementing a plan to have the correct people, tools, and material in the correct place at the correct time working within plans, specs, and written SOPs is how leads, supervisors, superintendents, and PMs meet the expectations of their owners and COOs, and owners and COOs meet the expectations of the entity that has contracted the contractor. 

• Executing the business of a Trade | Correctly and consistently documenting a trade is the business of a trade. This documentation is needed to support having the correct people, material and tools in the correct place at the correct time. Stakeholders like banks and bonding companies need correct, consistently formatted and prompt financial statements for lending or bonding. Without correct, consistently formatted and prompt financial statements a contractor will not be able to receive any or full support from their bank and bonding company. Without full support from their bank and bonding company a contractor cannot achieve Full Economic Value.  

• Cross Functional Activities | Supervisor must issue a PO or WO order timely. The supervisor must also verify delivery receipts and send them within 24 hours to accounting. Accounting must verify what was ordered was delivered and invoiced correctly. It is important that that field team members understand that writing POs and WOs are buying activities, not accounting activities. This is what makes these activities cross functional. Percentage of completion accounting creates a way for cross functional activities to be measured via Over and Under or WIP reports.  

With the correct team focused on creating a culture that nurtures and supports execution, a startup contractor can be built to sustain consistent scaling and achieve Full Economic Value.  

In future posts will take a deeper dive into how to nurture and support a culture of execution.