Production Tracking - Don't Be a Dry Monkey

Put a few monkeys in a cage with a ladder that has bananas on top. One monkey immediately goes for the bananas.

D. Brown Management Profile Picture
D. Brown Management
September 13, 2018 2 minute read
Share

Cold water sprays on the others.  

Field Productivity: Don't Be a Dry Monkey. Know the Why behind production, know the how of troubleshooting and know the when and the who for escalation of production problems.

One more monkey might try to go for the bananas again after they dry off and forget.  The cold water sprays the others again.  

All of these original monkeys are now conditioned to not go for the bananas.  

Replace one of the monkeys and the new one immediately goes for the bananas but the others stop him because they don’t want to get sprayed with cold water again.  

Replace another of the original monkeys and the pattern repeats itself.  

Replace all of the original monkeys until no monkey has ever been sprayed by water yet the group think conditioning remains so no monkey will ever be allowed to go for the bananas.  

This behavior keeps us safe in some ways but in many more ways it simply stops learning and innovation.  

When it comes to production tracking don’t let anyone on your team be a dry monkey.  Always encourage learning and smart risk taking by leading the way to find a better way.  

Improving Labor Productivity Workshop

Production Tracking - Don't Be a Dry Monkey
Field labor is the often the biggest variable on a construction project - making it the biggest risk and opportunity....
Previous Next Go To Series
Related Insights Series
Production Tracking - Don't Be a Dry Monkey
Field labor is the often the biggest variable on a construction project - making it the biggest risk and opportunity....
Previous Next Go To Series
Related Insights Series
Incentive Compensation for Contractors - Introduction
Every successful and profitably growing contractor we work with has a comprehensive and integrated set of incentive programs in place at all levels of the organization. These programs reinforce the daily actions and behaviors that make them successful.
Related Article
Retirement Onboarding - Success & Risk
Nearly all of the 6 common exit strategies for contractors require the business to continue being successful for the outgoing owner to get paid. There are a couple of things that can be done to help ensure everything stays on track.
Related Article
Succession Planning at All Levels
If a construction company is growing at 15% per year, then it will double in size about every five years. Therefore, in general, every position must be training at least two people that will be capable of succeeding them within five years.
Related Article