Weekly Construction Message: In Search of Excellence

Please circulate this widely. It will benefit your constituents. This research is continuous and includes new information weekly as it becomes available. Thank you, Tom

 

Dr Schleifer’s Weekly Construction Message

In Search of Excellence

 

The title of this first message for 2021 is a borrowed cliché, I know. But I couldn’t resist using the title of Professor Peters’ and Waterman’s 1982 seminal work to signal the theme of our blog series for 2021. The full title of the original book was, In Search of Excellence: Lessons from America’s Best-Run Companies. 

 

Simplar Message Theme For 2021

 

“In search of excellence” – The central question we will deal with throughout 2021 is: How can we improve our management skills in 2021? What can we learn from the best-in-class construction concerns we have studied over the past 30 years? In other words, how can we learn from one another?Can the researchers at Simplar summarize and pass along in a simplified message format the lessons in excellent management that the construction industry has developed over the past century? That is where we are attempting to go this year. We invite you to come along.

 

A Good Beginning

 

We begin the year by recounting interview comments from CEOs of the best run construction companies in our data base. In their own words, they summarize the best practices their firms have adopted in over the years. It is an amazingly complete list of “excellent” construction management practices that we want to share with our readers right at the beginning of 2021…our year of pursuing “excellence”.

 

Quotes from 2021’s best in class construction CEOs:

 

  • “We are hyper-sensitive with schedules…
  • “We select customers who are good at what they do…
  • “We tell our customer there will be less cost to them finishing on schedule without hassle than low bid will ever get them…
  • “We price what the customer wants and expects, and deliver it…
  • “We spend a lot of time pricing our work…
  • “We NEVER let any outside influence impact pricing… 
  • “We would rather do less work than take cheap work…
  • “By keeping every customer and marketing to capture new ones provides automatic growth
  • “We deliberately go after different types of clients so if one industry slows down, we don’t slow down with them…
  • “We know we need to learn from mistakes when everyone else wants to gloss over them…
  • “We foster relationships of truth and trust… 
  • “Complaints, criticisms, and grievances are there. However, they can only do harm if you don’t get them out in the open quick enough and deal with them…

 

Excellence

 

We suggest that you re-read the above quoted excerpts over and over again. We did and crafted this management mantra to guide our efforts in 20201:

 

“We will endeavor to run a professional construction organization with dignity, honesty, integrity, insight, diligence, and common sense while constantly teaching this unique brand of excellence to our entire team.” 

-Let’s get on with 2021-

 

Send questions/comments totom@schleifer.com. The messages will also be posted on my Blog: letstalkbusiness.net.

 

To receive the free weekly Crisis Message send your email address to tom@schleifer.com.