One of my lead men is having trouble meeting the production goals that I set for him. He consistently falls short by 20% or more. [That more than my profit margin!] Somtimes by as much as 40%, almost never hits 100%. So why is he a lead man? In all other respects he is top notch! He does flawless work, is responsible, honest, industrious, and loyal, he just can’t seem to get as much work done as I would like to see done!
Does anyone have any suggestions for lighting a fire under this guy? What techniques have you used to motivate slow workmen?
Replies
Offer them some sort of incentive in bonus when they reach a certain goal, as long as the quality of the work isn't lost
Hire some Hispanics to work with him for a day or two. He'll be embarrassed and quit f***ing off.
Birth, school, work, death.....................
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First find out what is going on. Work with him, might be better to just observe, without criticizing or changing anything. Let him take the lead and work in his normal manner. Resist the urge to correct, adjust or advise. Your only there to find out what is going on and gather information.
After a couple of days make two lists without him present; Write down in specific detail what you would change. On the second list make a list in specific detail what you like. Force yourself to find something you like for every case you don't. Don't jump to platitudes or generalities. Nothing like 'He is too slow'. Be very specific and detailed. If he takes three whacks to sink a nail when it, in your opinion, should take but two put that down. If you like how he ties his boots put that down.
The point to the positive side of the two lists is to force a neutral mindset on yourself. If you only write down the negative your view will automatically sour. The positive list also comes into play when you have to make corrections. Make it a habit to follow corrections or criticisms with a compliment.
Once you have your lists look at them from a wider view. Are there common threads? Is he doing perfect work in areas where perfection is wasted? Why? Is he afraid of making a mistake? Why? Lack of confidence? Do you have a temper. What role are you playing? What can you do to make it easier?
A valuable lesson I learned a long time ago is that the difference between an engine that runs and one that doesn't is often a half turn of a screw, a very small adjustment. Small changes, especially in mindset can yield great results.
No great shakes but I once increased a helpers speed a great deal by simply having him ask himself where he was going and what else was going the same direction. That way he was spending less time carrying one object at a time.
Perhaps your guy had difficulty with planning. Slight dyslexia. Difficulty reading plans or reading. More than once I have seen people slowed by not having proper eye glasses. Hard to work fast when you can't see. Similarly if your back or feet hurt they are going to slow you down.
Another general lesson is to understand that no one goes to work to fail. No one wants to screw up. Everyone wants jobs to go smoothly and swiftly. Most everyone wants to do good and meaningful work as part of a team. Given half a chance, and some reason and coaching to set aside their ego and manhood issues, most people will work hard.
This comes down to the old admonition that: 'There are no bad privates in the Army'. Idea being that there are bad systems, and structures and leaders who don't know how to motivate and coach or organize. There are privates who have been poorly trained, led or provided for but there are no bad privates.
Sounds like you have a good guy. But something is getting in the way of both him and you getting what you both want, a smoothly running business. As leader you have to find out what is going on and correct the situation.
Perhaps replacing him would help but too often I see people wearing workers out. Bring a new guy in and most will bust their hump to make it work. But they can't stay in overdrive, correcting for a faulty organization, forever. Eventually, sometimes in a week or two, the organization wears them down and efficiency falls.
Look at the job ads. Sometimes you see the same employers over and over asking to fill the same position. Why? Many times it is because they have a poorly constructed job in a dysfunctional organization and they are wearing out every person they put in the position. So while some turnover is normal and healthy avoid automatically thinking you can cure a problem by replacing people. If the problem is not primarily in the person your replacing it is going to resurface.
Great post , you've got a lot of good ideas there.I like the part about the positive side, I believe that all issues have a positive side and in this case I constantly try to find it.Thanks.
uhhhm, you can read what I typed below, BUT 4Lorn1's post does it much better!!!! Nice post 4Lorn1
Im assuming when you say production goals you mean time. This lead takes a longer time to finish a job than what you estimated. It may be that your time estimating is off and not your leads speed. Do you have other lead carpenters to compare to. Maybe his work is slower but far less time is spent on call backs, punch list, etc.. How does the entire project time line look on the jobs he leads.
If the problem is actually with your lead, identify exaclty what the problems are and come up with specific solutions (i.e. instead of measuring one piece of base at a time, cutting it, and then nailing it, measure the entire room, cut all the base at one time, then go and nail it all up at one time). Also, try and fix only one problem at a time. Think you will have greater success that way.
Good luck!!! Id be interested to see what you are able to do.
-m2akita
Edited 11/23/2005 7:00 pm ET by m2akita
Why don't you adjust 'your' goals to his production rate and adjust your billing accordingly?
Apparently this man has certain positive traits or you would can him instead of what you are doing here.
As others may have asked, what are your 'goals' based on?
Your other leads, a book (God forbid)?
I have a persaonal problem with this situation. Either he is a total slacker or you need to adjust something.
If he's showing up every day dressed for work and gets a job done skillfully and with out a lot of supervision then perhaps you need to rethink your "goals".
Do you want it done fast or right and right the first time?
I doubt you can have it both ways, but that is subjective.
Eric
It's Never Too Late To Become What You Might Have Been
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My goals are based on experience, and what the market will bear in this area. Reducing productivity expectations will result in a larger bill to the client and price me out of my market.
Here are a few of the goals I set for all my guys, tell me if they seem unrealistic;
hang and trim a door in 1 hr.
1 sq. of sidewall shingles per man/day
2 sq. of clapboards per man/day
trim and jamb extend 1 window per hr.
250 ft. of base per man/day
200 ft, of crown per man/day
Those look pretty reasonable. For each guy, they're going to look and say I like all but 1. And that 1 will be different for each guy. A door an hour? Man. What, am I like taking a nap between doors? See, to me, that's slacking. But the 250 base. I dunno. I get to thinking and say that depends. I've done houses with lots and lots of nice long runs and an easy profile to cope, and 250 is no sweat, and I think of some others where the cope itself makes you want to bang your head on the wall and there's nothing long, it's all angles and bumpouts and octagonal stuff . . .
you get the idea. Overall, my opinion, very reasonable. There's a "but what about" scenario for each item which we could beat to death, but for benchmarks, I think you're good.
So, on to the original query. If he's good in most areas, what to do about the other 10%. Eric has been striking be a little like Jeff Buck lately, pretty straight at you like a shiv, but I like the post nonetheless. I'm not in your shoes, but I'd force myself to take a good hard look at figuring out what items he's not moving on and why. It could be that being the lead forces him to spend more of his day in management details than you think. He might be great solo but have him watch 5 guys and all day long he's doing nothing but figuring out their issues for them.
And I'd look at my own leadership/management approach when it comes to him. He might be on a longer leash than he needs, even than he wants. Increased oversight could be not just something good for you, but something he wishes he had. I say that for two reasons. One, I'm a pretty hard believer in the whole Blanchard SLII ideology, in a nutshell, you tailor your leadership to what the guy under you demonstrates in ability and attitude. It has nothing to do with you or whether or not you're a nice guy, it has everything to do with getting the desired end result out of the employee and having them content with the process. The other reason is I've had trim gigs where the lack of oversight was confounding. You've got a house, a railroad car of hardwood, and a builder who says I might be by again in a couple of weeks. Uhhhh. I generally, even with hoardes of prints, have a daily list of "must answer" detail questions for the builder. The last real nice place I did worked well because I had a direct line to the architect in CA and called her a couple of times a day, emailed her .jpgs every night, and had .pdf prints waiting in my email at 0600, which I printed off and took with me. That, to me, was ideal."If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you. This is the principal difference between a dog and a man." - Mark Twain
Good thoughts, well written.It's Never Too Late To Become What You Might Have Been
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It's a manager's job to explain the job to the employee. The employee must understand the job requirements. The discussion is friendly and cordial and everyone is on the same team. The employee agrees the goals are reasonable and achieveable.When the "wheels come off" the manager is there show the employee what went wrong and how to correct the situation.The process occurs in a positive and friendly manner. Everyone is on the same team. Changes come from praise and encouragement rather than from threats or punishment. There is no "silent treatment". The manager expresses appreciation to the employee and that he is an asset to the company. The manager gives praise and encouragement as this motivates people of all ages.When the job performance is unsatisfactory the manager addresses the situation immediately. I's not a difficult or unpleasant situation. The focus is on the mistake or inaccurate behavior. The employee doesn't take the criticism personally. Never reprimand an employee who is learning.After a period of time if the same problems persist, it's the managers job to make a decision about whether or not the employee is the right guy for the job. If not, let him go and find someone else, especially if problems stem from laziness or sloppiness.Just an opinion.
Reasonable I'd say, except perhaps the crown and base, that depends on the layout. Ask Jerrald about that one eh Jer??
Now I'll bust your chops a bit.
Where are the materials I need to get done what you want me to complete and what condition are they in??
Under a pile od ####? Buried in the garage? Do I have a schedule and are the doors marked as such or do I have to scratch my head and figure this out on my own?
The siding..........the scaffolding must allready be set up if you want that kind of production.
Now, back to your real question.
Ask this guy what you can do for him to make his job easier. It could be simple. Maybe he wants to see you in person to say Good Morning to get his day off the right way.
Maybe that's not possible. Tell him what you want, but ask him what he needs to get closer to what you want, don't demand it. Perhaps you two can meet in the middle.
I have a beef to a point about production. We are working on peoples homes. Working fast is good to a point but promotes false moves to some extent and they can be costly. I say steady she goes. We all have our pace.
People tell me what I do is art. Art don't happen fast. i can do fast and good or slower and hopefully excellent.
Hope some of this helps.
I try to impress people all around, not necessarily with speed though. that's for when I get on the bike or the skates!!
Eric
It's Never Too Late To Become What You Might Have Been
[email protected]
The production goals that I have stated are all "best case scenario" situations.Obviously, problems and situations arise that will impact the schedule, both positive and negative, but over the long term it should average out.
Yes, what I do is art , but I don't get a grant or commision to do it . I have to give a contracted price and live by it.
A little faulty logic here. You admit that these goals are "best case" scenarios. But then you say "over the long term it should average out." The math doesn't work out that way. The best case happens when all the positive things happen. The worst case occurs when all the negatives happen -- Murphey's law. Most likely, you will end up somewhere in between.
The fastest performers get promoted to foreman and supervisor and estimator. And they think: "I can do 250 of that in one day". Then they get upset when that doesn't happen.
Nobody's perfect. The trick is to match the talent to the job. Perraps this chap's talent is doing the job safely, according to code, with the goal of no call backs.
~Peter
"Quality is bested by lower price."
I read your post and the very first thing I thought of was who is to say whether your expectations are realistic. More often than not it's not the people working in the system that are the problem it's the system itself (which is management's problem since management designs the system and you are the management in this case). That's Edward Deming's thinking and I found that is usually the case too. And I have been both guilty of it myself and a victim of it too.
Eric I thought had a good reply. I wonder if we've talked about this before? Have we Eric?
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When I was working as an employee, I was always amazed that none of my bosses ever asked me what they could do to increase productivity. Yet in every case, there were things that the boss did to inhibit efficiency, or things that he could have done to facilitate it. Scheduling, planning, tool availability, materials purchasing, pay incentives, positive recognition/reinforcement, on and on. The guy in the trenches every day generally knows what's slowing things down - but seldom gets asked. And hey, most bosses don't want to be told what they're doing wrong, so people don't generally just volunteer that info.
When I was working as a manager (superintendent/supervisor), I made it a practice to regulary ask the crew what was needed to improve efficiency - then I made every effort to follow up on their suggestions, whether I agreed or not. The fact that I wasn't always able to get them what they asked for wasn't as important as their recognition that I was trying. Morale increased, and employees soon learned that I wanted their feedback. They started thinking of the big picture in ways they never had before. It made for a very progressive, productive and enjoyable atmosphere.
So my suggestion is, Ask him, what could you do to improve the jobsite efficiency. Be willing to listen with an open mind, and follow through on his suggestions.