Hey – Walker and Davis here!
Happy Saturday morning to the Laying Foundations community!
Laying Foundations exists to equip the next generation of builders. Learning how to lead can be difficult whether it is your first year in construction or last. Here are 3 steps that will help build a solid foundation on how to lead others at an early age.
Today’s issue takes about 6 minutes to read and was written for you by Davis Hambrick.
Enjoy!
Quote Of The Week
1. Lead Yourself
John Maxwell says,” The first person you lead is yourself.” Walker Lott and I wholeheartedly believe in that leadership model. If you can’t lead the person standing in the mirror, the person you have control over, then you can’t lead others.
Let’s first talk about what leadership is not:
– Arrogant
– Rude
– Boastful
– Self-seeking
– Proud
– Demanding its way
– Does not delight in other’s downfall
Leadership is not the above things and the list can be added to, but at the heart of a true leader is someone willing to lay down themselves before others especially when it is hard.
What are ways we can begin to lead ourselves?
– Instead of being all-knowing, be always learning. Choose to be a sponge, and continually learn from every person you come into contact with.
– Counseling: maybe you are struggling and need someone to help decrease the anxiety and stress in your life. It is more than okay to seek counsel. Proverbs 15:22 says “Plans fail for lack of counsel but with many advisers, they succeed.”
– Daily exercise: working out and keeping your body in physical shape is an amazing way to naturally decrease stress, build cardiovascular strength, and teach you how to endure hard things.
– Morning Routine: waking up early, spending time in quiet, praying, or meditation, reading, working out, reflecting, journaling, etc. Your morning routine can look like a lot of things, the key is to make sure you find out what works for you and do it.
These are all great recommendations to start building good habits for your career in construction. Think of it this way, if I don’t do anything to invest in myself I show up at work every day with an empty cup. But if do the thing that refreshes me and teaches me how to grow, I show up to work with an overflowing cup being willing to give to others.
This step takes an extreme amount of discipline, but once you start and see the results you will never want to stop investing in yourself.
2. Lead Others
“True measure of leadership is influence – nothing more, nothing less.” – John Maxwell
How do you lead and influence others? You have great relationships with all walks of life.
Once you have passed learning how to lead yourself, the next step is to lead others.
John Wooden said, “If you fail to prepare, you are preparing to fail.”
As a fresh college graduate working for a highly respected general contractor, I learned very quickly that if you aren’t prepared to answer trades questions, you will get left in the dust.
A few tips
- Get to work early and pick apart the drawings. If you come up with any questions – go and talk to your superintendent. Chances are this is one of the few times that they are not preoccupied.
- Take notes religiously, and organize them by category of meeting or by trade (Check out my newsletter about staying organized in construction to learn more)
- Stay up to date on the latest shop drawings. My rule of thumb is to be reviewing submittals for new trades on-site a month to two weeks out before they are expected to arrive on the job site.
- If you don’t know the answers, be honest and tell them. But go a step further and say I can connect you with the person who can answer your question. Strive to be a problem solver and people connector.
As a leader it is your job to understand when to go first and show them the way, in your first few years in construction it is imperative to earn the right to speak to the tradesmen and women’s lives. It takes time and determination but with someone who embodies staying prepared and being humble, the sky is the limit.
3. Serve Others
“Great leaders find ways to connect with their people, respect them, serve them, and make them successful.” – Jeff McManus
There are not a lot of people who do that. If you learn how to take care of people in that way, I believe you will work your way out of a job. Great leaders take ownership of the problems and give praise to the team.
One of my favorite things our team at Brasfield & Gorrie does is scheduled team lunches and dinners. No matter how busy we are, we always find a day in the week to grab lunch together and one day a month for dinner.
We do this to draw closer to one another, I learn more about how to connect, respect, serve, and make them successful in those lunches and dinners than I ever do at the job site. There is power in breaking bread and being vulnerable together.
The last thing I recommend is to read the book A Way Of The Shepherd. This book teaches you how to manage effective teams. The secret to your job site and how to lead people is all about serving others. I know it is countercultural in today’s construction environment but if you are leading others and haven’t implemented the takeaways from this book you are truly missing out.
Quality of the Week: Grit – Not giving up when things get hard.
20-Year-Old Self Advice: No one will look down on you if you don’t know something and ask for help. The problem comes when you PRETEND to know something you don’t.
Next-Gen Vision
This is inspired by SiteNews – the modern voice of Canadian Construction. Laying Foundations believes in painting a picture for the younger generation. By doing so, we want you to submit your best job site photos for the month of May. We will release the best photos at the end of the month of June to share with our subscriber base. The best photos will get a shoutout on the newsletter, and laying foundations merch!
Help us paint a picture for the younger generation to see how awesome the construction industry is by submitting your photo here!
Check out episode 121 on The Laying Foundations Podcast!
Join us for a conversation with Dan Boggs, field engineer at Robins & Morton. In this episode we talk about Dan’s path into the construction industry, starting out as a survey technician while working his way through school. Once graduating from college, Dan started his full-time career with Robins & Morton, a #2 ranked contractor in Modern Healthcare.
Are you looking to invest in the next generation of builders? Whether you are an individual or company that is looking to make a last impact within the next generation there is an opportunity to sponsor Laying Foundations to continue to educate and create resources for the next generation of builders.
If you want to learn more check out the link here.
