Construction industry leaders know poor teamwork generally generates poor results, good teamwork generates good results, while exceptional teamwork generates exceptional results.
It is these same leaders who proactively and strategically develop their people and their teams to become high performers. They do this because they know the more developed they are, the better they will perform. And that will result in higher-than-industry-average results.
They also know they will be more productive because everyone is engaged, empowered and inspired to perform at a high level.
Here are three keys for developing a high-performance team to improve results.
1. Establish an employee engagement focus and strategy.
A popular definition of engaged employees are those who feel passionate about their jobs, are committed to the organization and put discretionary effort into their work. As a result, team members work extremely well together. They’re excited to be with each other and they’re highly productive.
More than that, they are engaged are creative and get things done. They flourish in a well-run work environment where everyone wants to contribute. In a word, high-performance teams are engaged.
Construction leaders who want a high-performance team to have to understand, appreciate and respect the value of employee engagement, then find a way to measure it. The benefits of measuring engagement: Leaders receive validation for their employee engagement efforts while identifying opportunities to improve it.
The downfall of measuring employee engagement: Loyalty may be missing. Productivity, creativity and morale may be low; conflict may be high; opportunities may be lost. As a result, high performance is impossible to achieve.
2. Intentionally Implement Cross-Functional Training
Understanding what happens throughout the process of conducting business helps everyone gain appreciation for what others in the organization do. This contributes to creating a high-performance team and is achieved through cross-functional training.
Cross-functional training provides team members with exposure to aspects of the business that are not in their primary area of responsibility. For example, someone in estimating gets exposure training in accounting. Or someone in human resources gets exposure training in customer service.
By methodically and systematically including cross-functional training in their organization, construction leaders can see how cross-functional training:
- Strengthens working relationships;
- Breaks down silos;
- Minimizes turnover;
- Encourages and strengthens teamwork;
- Increases employee engagement;
- Improves company morale; and
- Improves overall work performance and results.
Cross-functional training is not just about exposure; it’s about making the connection with how the pieces fit together. Therefore, exceptional leaders will include quizzes and challenging questions in the training to ensure strong connections are being made.
3. Create a Work Ethic Culture
The best way to develop any culture is to first identify what the desired culture looks like, then identify what must happen to achieve it.
As an example, construction leaders may envision a team of people who will tirelessly exert a high level of effort to get the work done. Everyone on the team is willing to do whatever is asked without complaint or hesitation. People are even willing to do the work without being asked.
With the organization’s vision clearly established, it is important to then identify the traits of people who have this defined work ethic. To achieve that, exceptional leaders in the construction industry will do the following.
- Think about people in their organization whose work ethic they admire and respect. Then they list characteristics those employees possess that contribute to a favorable work ethic.
- Think about people in their organization whose work ethic is not to their liking. They then list characteristics those employees have that contribute to an unfavorable work ethic.
- Refine a fresh list of “work ethic traits” from these two lists.
- Recruit and hire only people who possess the majority of these “work ethic traits.” They stay away from hiring “warm bodies” to fill organizational voids. Doing so tends to negatively affect the culture and work environment they want to create.
- Develop or replace (over time) the people in their organization who do not possess the majority of the “work ethic traits” they desire.
In today’s competitive workforce, the leaders who strategically develop their people into high performers will attract and retain top talent. This is possible by proactively creating an employee engagement strategy with intentional cross-functional training and a desired work ethic culture.
