Apr 29 2009
A Far Too Frequent, Self-Imposed Barrier
While visiting with a contractor the other day, he mentioned sharing one of our recommendations for improving field performance to a friend and fellow contractor.
His friend shook his head and replied “I would never do that. Share the budgeted time with the crews? I’d never do that. If they realize they’re moving faster than the allowed time, they’ll slow down. I want them working as hard as they can.”
Wow.
I had forgotten how common that belief was among owners and project managers.
These people simply do not understand human behavior. A worker is FAR more likely to miss a deadline or budget because he was left in the dark than he is to dial it back when he’s ahead of the budget.
Heck, which hurts worse? Hitting the budget when we MIGHT have beat it by 10% or running 10% over budget?
If you only take one piece of advice from Guy and I make it this:
Tell your employees EXACTLY
what their performance targets are.
That one action alone will reduce costs, improve on-time performance, increase customer satisfaction and – believe it or not – improve employee satisfaction.
Never, ever keep your employees in the dark about the outcomes you need them to deliver.