Five Stages of Adult Behavior

To build a project effectively you have to have a deep understanding of the building materials, tools and installation methods.

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You need to understand what works best in which situations and that is your value-add.    

Talent Tools: 5 Stages of Adult Development. Book: Changing On The Job by Jennifer Garvey Berger.

Leading a construction business is about leading people.  The larger your team gets the more important it is to learn as much about talent development as you have learned about construction means and methods.  These are not skills that can be delegated to someone in HR.  

A couple things to consider as you go on this journey:

  • As a whole we are much further down the road to understanding building materials.  You cannot expect to find the same level of prescriptive formulas about how the human mind works as you can find about engineering calculations.    
  • At first there will seem to be dozens (or hundreds) of different models about how the mind works, how we learn, team dynamics, etc.  As you study more you will see a lot of commonalities and this will help you develop your own style of leadership.  

Changing on the Job is one of many great books on the topic of adult development in a professional context




Laws Control the Lesser Man
Growing construction businesses need processes and accountability systems the same way society needs laws, police, courts and jails. As a contractor starts growing leadership needs to put some processes in place to keep things running smooth.
Three Questions About Growth
A construction business can not be managed like a project even though the primary work of a contractor is building projects. There are three questions that illustrate these differences.
Progressive Questions for Interviews, Evaluations, and Development
Asking progressively higher-level questions helps assess capabilities while allowing you to stop before making the other person feel inadequate. These questions are valuable for development—answering them is like exercise for the brain.