Does it often seem like you can’t get your key employees to accept more responsibility? You try to get your people to take on more accountability, but they keep asking you to help make every decision for them. And when you tell them to make a decision, they never seem to get it right! Now what? | ||
Eventually worst scenarios happened which caused us major financial setbacks. In one case, a long-time customer pressured a project manager to agree to some contract clauses that seemed innocent. Little clauses like ‘this contract includes all requirements of the City to obtain a final inspection.’ Months later, when the project was nearing completion, the customer held us to this clause which added lots of additional items into our scope of work we never had intended to perform or had in our cost estimate. Upon my review, it was obvious the project manager had agreed to contract terms he didn’t fully understand. Don’t over trust! It is my opinion people over time can feel entitled to a little extra, the longer they work for your company, if you give them the chance to take advantage of the situation. Little things like leaving early without docking their own pay, asking a supplier for a some material for their home remodel, filling their car with gas using the company credit card, and lots of other small things that can add up to big bucks. Put a protection system in place! When someone has to review and approve important matters with the person in charge of making these decisions, your company will avoid mistakes, omissions, and indiscretions that can occur. Two heads are better than one. Reviewing decisions with another responsible manager requires a second set of eyes to ask how these decisions were made. When a subcontract is awarded, we now have the project manager review all the bids, inclusions and exclusions from all the bidders, and then decide which company is the best choice for the job. He then reviews his decision with the President, the estimator or another project manager who initials both the spreadsheet and draft subcontract. Then the contract award is made and contract is executed. By adding this one simple review simple step, you can be assured your projects will have less cost overruns and issues to deal with during the project. To get people to make more decisions and take on more responsibility, give them a system that allows them to do most of the deciding themselves. And when you want to get a second opinion or have someone review their decisions, make sure you have a system in place that requires a review. A little investment in time will guarantee you’ll make less mistakes and more money. To start now, get your copy of George’s ‘Write Winning Targets & Goals’ email at [email protected]. |
by George Hedley George Hedley works with contractors, entrepreneurs and business owners to build profitable growing companies. As a construction company owner, he has built over 500 projects valued at over $500 million and was name Construction Entrepreneur of the Year. He is a leading construction business expert, professional business coach, popular professional speaker, best-selling author of “Get Your Business To Work!” and presenter at his Hardhat BIZSCHOOL online university. To find out how George can help your company, signup for his e-newsletter, be part of a group BIZCOACH program, or join a peer mastermind BIZGROUP, visit his websites @ www.HardhatPresentations.com or www.HardhatBIZSCHOOL.com or e-mail [email protected].
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