Four Steps to Sustainable Growth (10+10=0)

All contractors go through different stages of growth.

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Leadership Tools: 10 + 10 = 0

Growing contractors face an overwhelming amount of problems and opportunities as they move through the different stages of growth. There will never be enough resources to work on all of them, especially with the shortage of talent facing the construction industry.  

"Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe."

Abraham Lincoln

The equivalent for the leadership teams of growing contractors is to spend a significant amount of time truly identifying the #1 bottleneck or opportunity in their entire value stream.  Then breaking it down into an actionable objective with key results that everyone can align around rather than a broad vision.   

This seems simple but in reality is VERY challenging, especially as a business grows. This is an area where experienced 3rd parties can add significant value because they don’t have all the biases that are inevitable with management teams who are looking at the myriad of problems and opportunities every day.  

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Creating Value
Know the difference between creating real value versus creating transactional value. Creating wealth and not just re-allocating it is the path to sustainable growth. Understand the differences and how to incorporate them into your strategy and planning.
Responsibility, Results, and Compensation
If you want to grow your career, always seek additional responsibility while pushing your limits in every way to produce business results. The compensation will always follow.
Project Cash Metric and Cash vs. Margin Variance
Contracting is a very capital-intensive business and it is critical to constantly be watching cash flow performance. This metric is the highest level of an “OUTCOME” for cash flow at the project level, summarizing the performance of ops and accounting.