Laws Control the Lesser Man

Growing construction businesses need processes and accountability systems the same way society needs laws, police, courts and jails.

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You can also never create enough laws or prisons to correct an underlying lack of strong values and shared mission.

Quote: Laws control the lesser man, right conduct controls the greater one. Mark Twain.

As a contractor starts growing leadership needs to put some processes in place to keep things running smooth.  This is called enabling bureaucracy because it is the standardized set of rules that allow sustainable growth. As a contractor grows past about 150 people or starts to expand geographically there will likely be a point where too much process starts to creep into the business.  This is considered coercive or stifling bureaucracy.  

Leaders must always be working on the balance between aligned mission, culture or behavioral norms, processes and accountability systems.  

If you find yourself and others pulling heavily on the process and accountability lever with diminishing returns the likely problem is lack of balance with people and their behavior. 


Learn More:

Compliance Will Only Take Safety So Far

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Alignment from Strategy to Execution
Misalignment between how projects are estimated and how they are built creates subpar outcomes at best and sometimes results in catastrophic failure. Alignment is not a task to be completed. It is an ongoing process starting at the top.
Building a Systems Development Team - Balance
Striking a balance between immediacy and scalability is a constant decision with Systems Development and will be ever-changing in most organizations. The needs of your organization may necessitate erring on one side of that balance or the other.
Our Approach
We take a very hands-on approach with our clients, providing a valuable third-party perspective, unbiased facilitation, and specialty expertise. We look at every aspect of your business to identify the biggest growth constraints and eliminate them.