For the past twelve weeks we have been examining the long-held but largely unexamined beliefs that subconsciously guide construction professional’s decision making. This week I would like to pause and closely examine the concept of “beliefs” and how they impact business decision making.
What I Mean by Beliefs
Core beliefs are the underlying ideas we hold about ourselves, others, and the world. These ideas develop during childhood as we begin to use our relationships with caregivers, and our own experience, to interpret the world around us. Gradually they become inward convictions, feelings of certainty about how things work in the world. Beliefs are both mental and emotional. They are imbedded in the mind and in the heart. Our beliefs dictate our actions.
How Beliefs Affect Our Life
A belief is an idea that we hold as being true. Many beliefs are taken on board with limited evidence or analysis. Because they are deeply held, and require no further inquiry, beliefs enable us to reach decisions with speed and economy. They have a profound influence on our perceptions, actions, and, ultimately, the outcomes we experience. In the intricate tapestry of life, our beliefs act as the weaver that literally shapes the fabric of our reality.
Belief Systems
From childhood our brain has tried to protect us from dangers experienced in the present from recurring in the future. We build a network of these beliefs in our minds. We gain them from many sources such as our parents, personal experiences and experiments, cultural and societal norms. Eventually, these beliefs affect one another and are interrelated, forming a belief system. Once firmly established, this belief system goes largely unexamined and influences every decision we make.
NEGATIVE BELIEFS
In the construction industry, for example, we believe that low-bid acquisition is an industry standard. This belief has led to pricing our product too low, thereby depressing profit margins to unsustainable levels. Routine low-bid acquisition has also engendered the negative belief that construction services are a commodity (one contractor is substantially the same as another) and should be acquired for the lowest possible price. With low-bid acquisition, lower profits become a self-fulfilling prophecy. Achieving profit goals becomes an uphill battle, obstacles seem insurmountable, and setbacks reinforce the cycle of negativity.
Positive Beliefs
Conversely, a positive perspective and empowering beliefs set the stage for a radically different reality. Construction professionals’ self-esteem transforms into: constructive cheerleading for alternative acquisition methods, rigid rules evolve into flexible guidelines, assumptions about contract terms turn into opportunities for exploring new arrangements, interpretations align with optimism, and limiting beliefs dissolve in the face of potential. These beliefs become tales of resilience, profitability, healthy growth, and long-term success. This shift in mindset opens doors to possibilities, fuels motivation, and attracts opportunities that align with the envisioned reality.
Step #1 – Reexamine
If you want different results in your industry, you need to give yourself permission to reexamine the long-held beliefs that you think have kept you safe all these years. I cannot emphasize how important this first step is and how rarely construction professionals take it. We are held back by a belief system that has been accepted industry-wide and prevents us from making changes.
Step #2 – Take a Small Step
After an honest reexamination of “what everyone agrees to be true” in the construction industry, individual construction professionals must take a small first step and change something that they have always done because that is “the way we have always done it.”
- Pass up an aggressive low-bid contest.
- Bid a smaller job than you usually take because you’re confident you can earn a solid profit.
- How about hiring a financial professional to function as your new CFO.
- Or consider retaining earnings to build working capital and finance growth.
- Lease heavy equipment to keep overhead costs flexible.
- Sell and leaseback the corporate headquarters building to raise working capital.
Step #3 – Recognize
Making better management decisions begins with recognizing that much of your decision-making is affected by long-held beliefs that you have never examined. If the beliefs you hold serve you well, there is no need to change them. But, if you’re struggling to make a reasonable profit and grow a healthy business, it may be because you are laboring under a belief system that is holding you back. Take a step back and rather than reexamining the decisions you’ve made; reexamine the beliefs you hold that led to those decisions. You’re in for a surprise.
More on beliefs next week.
For more information on business development, read more here: DEVELOPMENT
For a broader view on beliefs, read more here: BELIEFS
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