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Scales of Justice

fair – “marked by impartiality and honesty, free from self interest, prejudice, or favoritism. “

It seems, that in business it would be impossible to accomplish this definition in an organization.  I’m not so sure.

Will we be perfect at it?  Probably not.  We it ALWAYS happen, again, we’re not perfect.  Will we do our best to make decisions based on the idea that we will be fair in our dealings?  YES.

What does that look like for a GC?  How can you possibly be fair?

Here is how we see it:

1. Always consider other people’s positions as if you were in their position
2. Give people the benefit of the doubt
3. Help people even if you don’t think they “deserve” it
4. Have a contingency plan – don’t get caught with only one option

If you have ever had an experience where something wasn’t fair, you know how important this value is to what we do.

What do you think makes someone, or a company, fair?

1. I believe people in construction (mostly) DO have integrity. No one is out to squeeze out every dime an owner has.  We’re here to do out work and be honest about it.
2. I think the current economic situation has filtered out the people who don’t have integrity, they became exposed.
3. The Market is now flooded with GOOD people who want to do a good job and treat people well.

So, why do contractors insist on saying that they have integrity?  We do it because in the past people have perceived us to be crooks trying to cheat every dime we can out of them.  This has to change.

For Y&C Integrity means that people can trust us.  We will NOT cover anything up.  We will ALWAYS be honest.  If we don’t know we WILL ask.

What does integrity mean to you?  What would you expect from a General Contractor when it comes to integrity?

I’m regularly impressed with the amount of experience and knowledge we have in our firm. We have a group of gifted and talented people who work hard and are doing an amazing job of delivering phenomenal products to our clients. But none of us develop alone, we need one another.

An area we are working on is facilitating a culture where the distance between not knowing and knowing is short. A critical step in reducing that distance is identifying points of “friction” that slowdown and overheat the process. For example, a person might be less inclined to ask a question if he/she believes it will be met with eyes being rolled, sighs of “I can’t believe you don’t know this,” or becoming the butt of a joke. That’s friction and doesn’t help close the gap between not knowing and knowing.

One of the ways we reduce the distance is with our Wednesday morning project managers meeting. It’s in this context that we can share project updates, obstacles we are facing, and what jobs we’ve got coming up. The time is intended to put on the table what we know and what we don’t know. The result is the opportunity to learn from one another, move to quick and effecient solutions, and provide our clients with the building they are trusting us to build with excellence. That intentional time (usually around 30 minutes) and the attitude that is demonstrated there bleeds into the rest of our day and week. It’s one of the most productive 30 minutes we have at our company.

We aren’t perfect at this…but we are getting really good.

Great leaders are prepared.  Prepared to get things done.  Prepared to explain.  Prepared to delegate.  Prepared to ask hard questions and seek good answers.  Prepared to challenge sloppiness and provide clear expectations for excellence.

Right now the economy is struggling.   In the Northwest, our industry (construction) is seeing record unemployment.  A question we are asking is, “How are we preparing ourselves for when things turn around.”  After all, the best time to wax your surf board is when the tide is out.

And that’s what we are doing, preparing.  The hard thing about preparing is that it needs an investment of precious resources that have an R.O.I. that requires binoculars to see.  That’s a difficult thing to commit to when the vital signs of an industry aren’t encouraging.  But those are the precise conditions in which great leadership occurs.  The hard times reveal the people that are in it for the long haul and want to make a profound impact in their field.

As a firm we are taking intentional steps to prepare ourselves by:

- Leadership Training that pushes each participant to the next level of their development.
- Robust Procedures Manual that identifies critical steps and aligns expectations.
- Fine Tuning estimating that ensures we are offering a competitive and fair price while ensuring optimal quality
- Defining important market segments that we need to continue maturing in and markets that we need to gain  share in.

How are you preparing yourself?  What is your organization doing?  Thoughts?

The growth of your organization is directly related to the development and growth of your leaders.
- John Maxwell-

If we have better leaders, we will have a stronger, healthier and more competitive company.  Better leaders will differentiate us as a company.  When a client hires us to build or remodel their building they are asking us to lead a process that requires thousands of decisions, steeley management of a variety of trades, an attention to quality that most would find exhausting, and an expectation to do it all in a specific time frame with a pre-defined budget.  All of this requires a calibur of leadership that is difficult to find and requires intentional development.

It’s not rocket science though.  None of this is new information.  But most of us don’t stop to be developed and most companies (especially in this economy) aren’t providing the space or resources to develop their leaders.  We want to change that.  For those that want it, we are providing the opportunity to develop into a better leader.  It’s our core conviction that exceptional leaders will build with excellence.  And that is a differentiator that a client can be confident in.

Thoughts?

Project Description

85 Causey has 41 work force units, located over 4 wood frames stories comprised of 25 two bedroom units, 4 one bedroom units and 12 studios. Ground floor amenities include a community room with kitchen, communal laundry room, computer room, lobby and secure indoor bicycle parking. The project is following Earth Advantage’s certification level silver sustainability guidelines and the building is clad with a mixture of brick, plank siding and panel siding. The project includes surface parking and a community garden on the exterior of the building.

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