Climbing the Mountain - Continuous Improvement

Growing a contracting business is exceptionally challenging.

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It's especially challenging at the different sticking points. These growth sticking points are compounded by several long-term trends the industry is facing.

 

Growing a contracting business is like climbing a mountain. Trying to master plan every detail won’t work. There is no perfect playbook that fits every contractor and every team. Like climbing a mountain, the best thing you can do is create a reasonable plan, create some contingency plans, train yourself and your team hard, and then get to work.  

Just plan the next 10 feet; set an anchor and get the whole team up to that level.  Repeat a few hundred (or thousand) times. You and your whole team gotta fall in love with being on the mountain; not just being at the summit.  You are only at the summit for a moment in time before you need to get climbing to the next one or you slip back down into a valley and need to climb back up.  Keep your team aligned while you climb.  

Learn more about the management tool of Objectives & Key Results (OKRs) to see how some companies align their teams to achieve results.




The Decision Concentration Trap
As companies grow, concentrating decision rights in a few key people becomes one of the most common and difficult scalability traps to overcome.
Incentive Compensation for Contractors - Risks
The highest risk with any incentive program is the lack of a well thought out and systematic approach to either administering or implementing the program.
Internal Promotions and External Recruits (Target Ratios)
Having the right ratio of internal promotions and external recruits at different levels of the company is critical for growth and succession. Use these target ratios, rationale, and qualifiers to evaluate your Talent Value Stream (TVS).