Hey – Walker and Davis here.
Happy Saturday morning to the Laying Foundations community!
41% of the construction workforce is set to retire by 2031, according to aem.org, and it takes on average, 11 years to train someone. So the question is, why are we not teaching and training others at every opportunity we get?
Today’s issue takes about 6 minutes to read and was written for you by Davis Hambrick.
Enjoy!
Meme Of The Week
I often think about where our industry would be if we adequately trained our people. The majority of people in our industry come in as people who are ostracized and brutally initiated.
My first several years of construction weren’t someone teaching me how to handle power tools or reading drawings.
I was being used as a gopher to go get that and clean up this. Don’t get me wrong, I do think there was a need to toughen up my skin. I also believe that you can learn a lot through pain and hardship, and it can be good for you to experience difficulty.
I say all that because what could be used to feel someone out the first week of work turns into leaving someone in a position that never gets properly changed. So many people in the construction industry choose not to champion others and advocate for their careers.
We have to, as an industry, move past our pride and train others. I know this is dramatic, but the world is dependent upon it. Without people who have the knowledge and experience to build, our world will suffer. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to be responsible for that.
So, how do we teach others?
Step #1 – Put Yourself In Their Shoes
I use my experience of being pushed to the corner and left behind to remind myself every time a new person is on the job site to ensure they have the resources and training to succeed.
I put myself in their shoes and ask myself, “do I have everything I need to win the day?” This sounds super cheesy, but man, it flips my perspective to care about the difficulties.
I am not saying that we need to baby or coddle people. What I am asking you is, how hard would it be to remove a few roadblocks out of the way for your people so they can finish the work faster, safer, and with better quality? To me, it is a no-brainer; I will do whatever I can to make the men’s and women’s jobs of a building easier.
Step #2 – Understand How People Retain Information
If you haven’t heard of BuildWitt by now, I don’t know what rock you are living under, but they are doing amazing things for the construction industry. The infographic below is a great example of how our people retain the information being presented to them or a new skill they are learning.
Two rows down it says that people remember 20% of the information when spoken audibly. Think about that for a moment, this is the biggest form of communication on a job site – by mouth and people remember only 20% of the information. Did a light bulb just go off above your head?
Let’s follow this thread – crews remember 30% of what they see – watching a co-worker perform a task.
Crews remember 50% of what they see and hear together – watching a co-worker perform a task and being taught how to do the task.
Crews remember 70% of what they say and write down – the person who learned the task has now written down how to complete the task, and they are, in turn, teaching someone else.
Crews remember 90% of what they experience – the person who at the beginning was watching and listening is now doing the task. They remember and learn best by actively doing the work.
Step #3 – Figure Out The Individual’s Personality
Understanding how people retain information helped us learn how to teach people at a macro level. Figuring out people’s personalities will help us teach at the micro level.
I have spoken on this topic in Lesson #9 Job Site Personalities, if you haven’t had the chance to read it make sure you do before you keep reading.
Figuring out others’ personalities is imperative in all aspects of your life. It will help you lead others. It helps you understand how you see and relate to others. It helps you learn how to adapt your communication style based on who you are talking to.
Now you might be asking, “why should I figure out other people’s personalities? Shouldn’t people just show up to work and do their job?”
Step #4 – Make Teaching Your Jobsite Culture
This step can’t be deduced into a few sentences, but I believe it is important to talk about. Teaching should be the highest priority of all stakeholders in the construction industry, no matter your field of expertise.
If we make teaching a priority and give people the space to ask any question without retribution, we will begin to move the needle.
What do I mean by that?
Teaching outweighs inexperience because people with experience are virtually replicating themselves to others. If you are teaching every time someone doesn’t know how to perform a task instead of stepping in and micromanaging them, then people learn how to break off and not come to you with all their questions.
People want to learn and want to matter; it’s our job to make sure they get that opportunity.
Quality of the Week: Adaptability – the quality of being able to adjust to new conditions.
20-Year-Old Self Advice: You are never too young to be training your replacement. Always look to learn from someone above you and teach someone below you.
Teaching others and training your replacement is one of the many issues we face in the construction industry. It can also be exhausting to people that have never taken the time to do it.
It is exhausting in the beginning because we are used to jumping and fixing the fire ourselves. If we want to be a multiplier we have to step back and teach others so we can also continue to improve. At this point, after you learn a new skill you get to teach your crew, and the whole process starts over and over again like clockwork.
But if we neglect other people’s careers, choose to micromanage, and never take a step back to teach we will never be able to shrink this tremendous gap in our industry.
I want to challenge all of us to make teaching a daily habit.
Laying Foundations is committing to coaching the first 10 people who click this link for free and help walk alongside them in their construction journey.
We hope that we provide value to each and every one of you, we can’t say thank you enough for consuming the content we put out each week. If there is anything we can do to help you in your career or in life please reach out to us at contact@laying-foundations.com
Check out episode 102 on The Laying Foundations Podcast!
Join our Co-Host’s in their conversation about earning the right to be heard on the job site. Walker Lott & Davis Hambrick talk about listening to those around you first, showing up, and asking questions. Each one of these skills can drastically help you improve the relationships you interact with daily.
