The Art of Managing People

With over 52 years of construction experience, I found the hardest part of any job is managing the people to produce a Safe, Quality task with value on time.

Not every employee provides the same level of production, but all contribute. If a person is giving 100 percent effort, even if it is less productive than another employee, you can’t expect more than that level of effort. The single most expensive cost of a project is normally the labor to complete and commission a project. You have to set clear and easily communicated expectations to accomplish this goal. Everyone needs to feel important in what they are doing to provide the best support for a project. The best motivator I have found is to make people successful. You truly get the best performance when the labor force feels important and successful. I find that being a committed partner in that effort, by showing the people you are with them and supporting their decisions in execution, offering coaching and encouragement accomplishes this effectively.

The most effective manager spends enough time in the field to show employees the work they are doing is important, and understand their efforts of accomplishment on a daily basis. I often tell my managers if you are not spending a good portion of your time daily in the field, you will never achieve exceptional results with your team. Spending time in the field also lets you accomplish one of the most rewarding aspects of the job: Seeing an effort first-hand that exceeds expectations and being able to acknowledge it in person. The opportunity to walk up to the employee and offer a hand while asking if anyone has told him he is making a difference today in his efforts on the job, and then telling him you have noticed and you appreciate his efforts. Honest and genuine recognition of efforts like this travel in the field faster than the next big job rumors. Everyone wants to receive the same type of recognition because everyone has a driving desire to feel important and be successful.

Having a plan and communicating it to your people is essential for success

Another important aspect of managing people is the ability to listen. You have to develop a habit of listening to understand instead of only listening to respond. If you listen to understand, sometimes you pick up on uncertainty in a plan or need guidance in how they describe a problem. In the same fashion, people perceive that Men don’t like to ask for directions, and employees don’t always want to ask for help outright. When people know you will listen to a problem and provide some guidance or options to consider, they will openly seek your advice, and ultimately, that means fewer surprises. The following rules have helped me achieve success in my career.

Rocky’s 10 Commandments of Effective Management of People

1. As a manager, you are expected to ‘work the people instead of just letting them work.’ This concept applies to open or closed-shop labor.
2. A part of working with the people is to set expectations upfront around safety, quality and production. To do so, you must understand the work, materials and information available.
3. Ask the unreasonable when setting expectations. The people will always have 10 to 20 percent float built into any time frame discussed. Remove the float with a counteroffer.
4. Always get or agree to a commitment in time for every task; commitments in time equal results; everything else is just a conversation.
5. Always remember, the minimum you accept is the maximum you will achieve. Always expect extraordinary results, don’t settle for ordinary, or that is all you will ever achieve.
6. There is never a right way to do the wrong thing. You can be inventive and think out of the box, but never take a short cut to achieve results that should have been planned.
7. You have to stay engaged and follow up, follow up, follow up. The people must know you are engaged and checking on the work; when you quit checking, they quit working.
8. Trust but verify, never take for granted a task has been completed until you have put your eyes or hands on it. Remember Rule 5, the minimum you accept is the maximum you will achieve.
9. To be successful, no matter what you are doing, you must be able to manage your time and your money. These two things go hand-in-hand, and until you can do both well, you will struggle to be effective in managing both the work and the people.
10. You can’t criticize a blank sheet of paper. To be committed to your plans, you have to write them down. Having a plan and communicating it to your people is essential for success.