The economy shifts and affects every industry, especially construction. The market is becoming more competitive as we face new economic challenges. In this episode, Eric Anderton explains how you can harness the power of urgency to stay at the top of your game in this ever-changing industry. He reveals the three areas you need to respond with urgency in the construction business: the fundamentals of the business, the team dynamics, and customer service. Construction is cyclical, and what happens in the following years won’t be the same, but the next downturn will still occur. Be wise and tune in to this episode to learn how to leverage the power of urgency to move from adversity to advantage.
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From Adversity To Advantage: Harnessing The Power Of Urgency
In this episode, we’re going to talk about vaccine research. Hold on, before you shoot away. We’re not going to be talking about the vaccine research that was done recently around COVID. Instead, we’re going back to 1947. Jonas Salk started working on a polio vaccine at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. While other scientists were going after a live virus vaccine, Salk focused on creating a killed virus vaccine that would be safer with fewer side effects.
At the time, polio was a significant public health concern with over 58,000 cases reported in the United States in 1952 alone, which resulted in more than 3,000 deaths and 21,000 cases of paralysis. Salk and his team understood the urgency of their mission, and they didn’t mess around when it came to their research.
Day after day, they spent long hours in the lab, often working late into the night, sacrificing weekends to make headway in pursuing a vaccine. They knew that every moment counted for saving lives and preventing the spread of polio, and their relentless dedication and laser focus paid off in just a few years. By 1952, Salk and his team had developed a promising killed virus vaccine that was ready for testing on human subjects. In 1954, they launched the largest clinical trial in history involving nearly 2 million children across the United States.
“What does that have to do with construction?” You might be asking. In construction, the economy is shifting and the days of easy work are gone. I’m recording this on May 9th, 2023. After the downturn of 2008 and 2009, the construction industry experienced steady growth with the total construction spending in the United States increasing by over 50% from 2010 to 2020.
This period of prosperity made it easier for companies to thrive without necessarily having to be at the top of their game. However, the construction landscape has become more competitive, and as we face new economic challenges and uncertainties, it’s time to take a lesson from Jonas Salk and his urgent pursuit of the polio vaccine. You need to embrace urgency to stay ahead of the game in the current economic conditions.
We’re going to take a look at the urgency of your construction company in three areas. The first one is in the fundamentals of your business, which are get work, build work, and get paid. The second area is in terms of your team dynamics, and we’re going to look at how A, B, and C players respond when the urgency is ratcheted up a little bit. Finally, we’re going to look at customer service and how urgency should be demonstrated in the way you take care of your clients. Let’s dive right in.
Urgency is something that you want to display in very practical ways. Urgency is that feeling that makes you act fast and effectively, cutting through obstacles, and solving problems. How do you bring urgency into your construction company, particularly when there’s a sense of complacency? Think about some of those young people in your company, folks who’ve come on board with construction degrees in the last 5 to 7 years.
They’ve never been through tough times in terms of business. They’ve never been through the difficulties and the challenges of a downturn. We know those all occur. During those downturns, it’s the companies that are most on point, that are most urgent, that are most persistent in the way that they focus on their work are the ones that are successful.
Let’s talk about the get work phase of your construction business. You have to apply urgency when looking for new projects. Your business development team should be chasing opportunities, but it’s vital that everyone in your organization remembers that sales are their job. You should be meeting with and motivating your project executives and project managers to use their connections to find new work. Perhaps they can be doing some design work for folks or they can be consulting with them and getting into some pre-construction agreements. Perhaps there are secret projects out there that are not on the open market.
Basically, what you need to do is make sure that your key people are beating the bushes for work. You should be leading by example by having at least one sales lunch a week with either a current client or a prospective client so that you can keep a steady flow of opportunities coming in. Keep in mind, as far as the get work is concerned, you need to think about what markets are going to be thriving in a downturn.
Perhaps the government market will be thriving. The healthcare market might still be thriving. We know that the commercial office space area, particularly in the Bay Area up here in Northern California has tanked as the large players such as Google, Meta, and Amazon have shifted more to a remote work environment. We’re very happy that the Amazons and the other people are perhaps getting a change of mind and bringing people back into the office. Nevertheless, there’s been a massive shift there. You have to get your radar up and be thinking aggressively and urgently about getting work.
In terms of the build work part of your business, urgency is super important. You must plan carefully. You have to coordinate with your subs and suppliers. You need to tweak and update schedules regularly and do everything that you can to make the workflow smooth. Those days where if you’re a general and a sub comes out to the job site and you’re not quite ready for them and so, “It’s okay. Come back tomorrow.” Those days are gone. You need to be dialed in, tuned in, and urgently looking at every aspect of the scheduling and the quality and the safety and the productivity so that as you’re building your work, you’re doing it as profitably as possible.
Let’s talk about the get paid phase. I know I’ve said this before and I’m going to keep repeating it. If you’ve built the work and they owe you money, it’s your duty to go and chase that money. If you have a change order that’s outstanding and your project manager is lollygagging and not having the tough conversations with the people who owe you money, get on your PMs, get them on the phone, and let’s get paid for the work that we’ve done.
Make sure that you’re not underbilled and make sure that you are collecting cash for those finished jobs. If you incorporate urgency into those three key phases of your business, the get work, build work, and get paid, you can minimize complacency and maximize efficiency, and that can help you to drive your success in challenging times.
Let’s take a look at your team. Let’s think about the team dynamics and how a sense of urgency impacts your A, B, and C players. When the economy takes a dip or the industry changes, you might see a shift in your team dynamics as the urgency ramps up. Some people have never been through a downturn and they got used to smooth sailing. You know what human beings are like. When something is going in a particular way, we tend to forget that things can change and we think it’s always going to continue that way.
You may be going around your office and talking with your PMs and your PEs, and they may have a sense of anxiety simply because they’ve never been through a downturn before. As that urgency gets ratcheted up and perhaps you’re demanding more from them, they may begin to feel uncomfortable when those expectations change and the pressure increases.
In this challenging period, this is when your A players step up and get revealed. They show their grit and their adaptability and their dedication to top-notch work even when the going gets rough. On the flip side, your B and C players could stumble, exposing their limitations, and they might struggle at times to embrace that urgency. As a leader, it’s your job to recognize your team member’s strengths and weaknesses, and give your A players a chance to grow and take on more responsibility.
As far as your B players are concerned, think about providing them extra support, training, and guidance to help them step up their game. B players like to know how long this urgency is going to last. Let them know that as much as you can. We don’t know when times are going to get better necessarily and when the pipeline’s going to be full and they can settle back into a rhythm that they may be more comfortable with. Remember, your B players aren’t folks that you’re looking to get rid of, but they’re not your top performers. They’re the Steady Eddies. They’re the ones who are going to show up and they’re going to do their work. You know when they get pushed, they don’t necessarily feel comfortable. In these times of difficulty and challenge, you need to push them a little bit more.
Make sure that they are stepping up their game and adjusting to that heightened sense of urgency. As far as your C players are concerned, you know those guys and gals. They’re the warm bodies who you feel that they need to be there because you’ve had so much work lately and you’ve got to populate these projects with at least somebody.
With the C players now, perhaps if your volume is decreasing a little bit and your overhead needs to be trimmed, they’re the overhead that you can trim. You might be able to help them find employment with your competition or maybe in a completely different industry. That’s the good news about urgent times when you ratchet up the pressure a little bit and get a little more demanding. Dot those I’s and cross those T’s. The A players will step up, the B players will need to be supported, and then you can move those C players on.
If your team is dialed in, then that’s going to impact the way they interact with your client base. Let’s take a look at that last aspect of urgency. This is your secret weapon in challenging times. It’s top-notch customer service. Understanding and applying urgency can boost your results and keep clients returning for more.
As you are servicing your customers, you’re making sure that the current project you’re working on is going as well as it possibly can despite challenges and limitations because it’s much easier to keep a current customer than it is to find a new customer. Customer service should be your top priority. You are in it for the long haul and you are looking to build relationships with folks who are here to stay. Long-term people playing long-term games. That’s what it’s all about in construction.
We know construction is cyclical though. It has its ups and downs. 2008 happened before, and whatever happens in 2023 or 2024, it’s not going to be exactly the same, but the next downturn is going to occur. Ultimately, construction’s not going anywhere. We’re human beings. We’re builders. We’re going to keep building. We’re going to keep developing. Be wise in terms of the way you’re running your business, keeping a good solid cash reserve, picking the right projects with the right clients in the right locations, and making sure that your overhead is not excessive. Even when you’re challenged, maybe you’re not making as much money now as you were between 2010 and 2022, you can still keep your business running and get ready for that next upturn.
As you’re taking care of clients in the downturns, they can be then with you during the upturns. In tough times, you might be taking on smaller projects, and that’s smart. You can prove yourself perhaps to a new client that you haven’t worked with before. When the market bounces back and more big projects roll in, then you’ll be the first one that they call if you’ve taken care of them during the tough times. Exceptional customer service and a sense of urgency will help you to build trust and form lasting connections with your clients. Stay focused on delivering that customer service even when things are rough.
Let me give you some quick examples of that. When you get an email in your inbox, a text message, or a phone call, commit to responding within 24 hours. When you get a sense that the emails and the text messages aren’t doing the job, then get your pm or your PX or yourself out to the job site or out to the client’s office and get belly-to-belly with them and have the difficult conversations.
When you guys screw up, raise your hand quickly and let your client know, “We screwed up. It was our fault.” When your client is not living up to their side of the bargain or their part of the contract, let them know that also. When you do that, when you position yourself not as a desperate contractor hoping for the next project but as a king talking to a king, then you’ll be able to identify the types of clients who want to do business with you in that way or the ones who are trying to take advantage of you. You can eliminate those from your consideration.
Be proactive. Address concerns quickly and go above and beyond to impress your clients with your commitment to the success of the projects that you’re building. By instilling this sense of urgency in your team, you’ll be better prepared to tackle the highs and the lows of the construction world and maintain strong bonds with your clients.
Let’s go back to Jonas Salk and the development of the polio vaccine. He was determined. He committed long hours in the lab. He worked late into the night. He spent weekends pursuing his goal. He understood the high stakes and the importance of progressing against polio as rapidly as possible, and he pushed himself tirelessly to find a solution. In 1955, Salk’s polio vaccine was declared effective and safe, eight years after he began his research. This monumental medical breakthrough demonstrates the impact of a team of people who are urgent and have that sense of urgency.
As we were saying earlier, the construction industry has seen significant growth, allowing companies to succeed without being at their best. With the new economic challenges, things have changed. Implement urgency in those three critical phases of your business. Get work, build work, and get paid. As your team dynamic shifts. Identify your A, B, and C players and provide support accordingly. Make your clients a top priority.
Insist on a sense of urgency when it comes to customer service. This will set you apart from your competition and lead to lasting success. If you’d like to take a deeper dive and evaluate your team’s urgency, what I’d like you to do is schedule a meeting with your key leaders and have a discussion around the question, “In what specific ways can we increase urgency in our company in the next 90 days?”
Insist on a sense of urgency when it comes to customer service. This will set you apart from your competition and lead to lasting success. Click To TweetPrior to that meeting, what you can do is have them take a free assessment that I have on my website. That’s going to give you a clear idea of everyone’s perspective on the intensity of urgency in your company. Have them take that assessment because that’ll give you some further interesting things to talk about as you are asking how we can increase urgency in your company in the next 90 days. The link is ConstructionGenius.com/urgency-assessment. It’s a free download. It’s a free assessment. You can take it right away. Click on that link, put your details in, and you’ll be able to access that assessment.
Thank you for tuning in. I hope you enjoyed this show. I hope you found it useful and helpful. Feel free to give the show a rating or a review wherever you get your podcasts. That helps us to be seen across the interwebs and give me some feedback. Did you find this show helpful? If you’d like more of this type of content, shoot me an email at [email protected] and suggest other topics that you would like me to consider or other types of guests that you’d like to have on the show. This show is for you. I’m here to make sure that you get that 1% of inspiration that adds to your 99% of perspiration and helps you to be a more effective leader in your construction company. Thanks for tuning in.
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