Put the Hammer DOWN!!
Time to grow or time to go, Go, GO!!!
Your people are the most important part of what you do, and seeing you work effectively together is my mission in life!
My writing really is for people who build teams, which is all of us. Whether your team is the group you are framing up a house with or designing a high rise with, the way we communicate, collaborate, and work together is what determines our ultimate success.
This article is for anyone who has been around long enough to see a project come off the rails, and wonder if it might be easier to keep it on the rails in the first place. Spoiler alert: It is!
While I am writing directly to teams who build literal buildings, building buildings is also a beautiful metaphor for the way we handle organizational growth or project completion. Whether you are a developer, a software engineer, or working in entertainment, your projects go through similar phases of designing, assembling, re-designing… And if we are being honest, no matter how professional we are on the outside, we have been through cluster were inside we swearing (and probably also back charging) So when and how do we start keeping our projects on the rails? Every chance we get, and on special occasions we also need to pause our ambitious, out dated, or complicated plans to make sure we are all pushing the same direction and our rails our solid.
Put the Hammer Down means two things:
Sometimes we just need to get this section of work done, and make that deadline. In this case Put the Hammer Down means go, Go, GO!! Living through today means we get to grow tomorrow.
Sometimes though we need to put our tools down for a few minutes to discuss what we are doing, and how we are getting it done. In this case Put the Hammer Down means Go, Grow, GROW!
We do this to prevent costly mistakes
We do this to prevent (another) injury
We do this when we need to adjust our plan unexpectedly. (again)
To Build Your Team WHILE your team is building, learn how to put the hammer down, and when to put the HAMMER DOWN!
We humans are better prepared to focus on that next deadline than we are to take in information which prompts us to make meaningful and important course corrections while they are still cheap, and relatively easy. We default to solving the things that are easy to wrap our hands around, so when we want to choose a more balanced approach, lean towards cleaning up our communication, drive towards higher trust, dig into what motivates each one of our team members.
How much is it costing your organization to not understand
How to be a better Team Builder so the right people stick with you?
How to attract Better Team Builders to make your organization more effective?
How to solve communication problems before they become costly?
When do you get to be tactical, (adapting with changing circumstances) and when do you need to be strategic? (proactively creating the conditions necessary for success!)
How to get the right kind of initiative from your people?
How to get short term wins without compromising your long term goals?
External issues like weather or supply delays - This is just business as usual. Overcoming these things are the job you were hired for. What we do is summon a building (or software App, or human rights legislation…) out of nothing, against a staggering list of external barriers, and then we do it again!
The bad news is, it is our internal barriers which most often get in our way. The good news is, our internal barriers are the only thing we have any control over.
The A.C.T.ion Formula1 I use in my coaching reminds us that to skillfully navigate our internal barriers we need to give our attention and energy to
Attitude
Communication &
Teamwork
In spite of our training (since industrialization) to focus too much on the “hard” skills such as pouring foundations or raising up walls, it is our savviness with people, our relational intelligence, and our ability to build better leadership skills that bring together those easy to see “hard” skills and anchor them on to our common purpose and direction.
Every one of us work with people! Whether your people are focused on the structure, the design, or marketing of the build; the level of our Communication, Collaboration, and Team Work determines whether we will be greater or less than the sum of our parts.
So pick up your tools, collect your team, and lets PUT THE HAMMER DOWN!
About Terry
Before becoming a Thought Leader, Coach, and Speaker in the Team Building & Leadership domain, Terry was in construction for 20 years. Time spent with dirt on his boots and calluses on his hands prime his no nonsense approach to getting things done the smart way.
Then as both an electrical and general contractor this practical experience backed him up as he doubled down on Building Teams, Clarifying Communication, and Building success through Collaboration!
He always says “Do it once, do it right!”
In his free time Terry Loves to sail and sailing is all about Clear Communication, and Building Teams that are effective at managing Course Corrections as conditions never stop changing.
He always says “Make (most of) your course corrections small, early, and often!”
The Team Building we sometimes see in Construction, and often see in Sailing inspired him to write his first book
*The Sailboat Effect*
Your people are the most important part of what you do, and seeing you work effectively together is Terry’s mission in life!
The A.C.T.ion Formula came to me on a sleepless night in the Mediterranean. Which is unusual, because I usually have my best sleeps on sailboats. What kept me up was how bothered I was when people had good sailing skills, and still could not sail together well. (that and how easy it is for one or two people with a sense of entitlement to ruin things for everyone else) So did a deep dive into my values and realized how much more I value
A - Attitude
C - Communication
T - Teamwork
than
S (Hard) S kills
Once I saw it, I could not unsee it. And everywhere you look teams succeed based on how well the can keep hard skills from getting into the top three priority spots. The other thing I keep seeing, is as difficult as it is to teach the hard technical skills we mistake for someone’s profession, it is so much easier to take someone with A
Attitude
Communication &
Teamwork
And train them to do any technical thing the project requires!
Testing.
Testing.
Cheque.
Cash.
Interac.