Four Dimensions of Effective Improvement Teams

Construction project owners are demanding more complex projects delivered faster, with higher quality and at a competitive cost.

D. Brown Management Profile Picture
Share
Leadership Tools: 4 Dimensions of Effective Improvement Teams. Teamwork, Complexity of Though and Planning, Disciplined Execution, and Change Adoption.

Contractors must continuously improve their operations in 3 ways to remain competitive and grow profitably:  

  1. Efficiency - Doing things with less waste improving quality, speed and cost
  2. Capabilities - Providing more services such as offering more advanced preconstruction services
  3. Capacity - Ability serve growing customers; possibly in multiple geographies

To accomplish this contractors must identify areas of focus then put together effective improvement teams.  There are four major dimensions we look for when putting together these teams:

  1. Teamwork - Can they effectively work together?
  2. Complexity of Thought & Planning - Everyone is different; does the team have the right mix to solve the problem?  Do you have an opportunity to develop capabilities in high-performers through the team?
  3. Disciplined Execution - Some people are great starters while others are amazing finishers and if you don’t have some disciplined maintainers on the team then any short-term gains will be lost quickly.
  4. Adoption of Change - Everyone is different in different circumstances and a mixture is critical for making lasting improvements.  

What’s the #1 area you need to improve in your company this year?  

Do you have the right team?

Are they meeting regularly?

Are they committing the right resources?




Raymond Braswell
Leverage 360 degrees of perspective to improve your construction business. Raymond has been an Architect, General Contractor, Developer and Owner's Rep. He now advises contractors seeking a unique perspective to take their businesses to the next level.
Issue 8 of 9: Industry Trends
Construction Ownership Transition Issue 8 of 9: The Construction Industry is Seeing Large Shifts With Several Interrelated Trends. How well the company is positioned will have a huge impact on valuation and cash generation.
Connecting Metrics to Activities and Outcomes
Outcomes are created through doing the right activities. Data is only a proxy for that activity and a metric is a synthesis of lots of data points. Metrics are valuable, but always have a skeptical view of proxies for performance, especially with growth.