That’s Not My Job.
Business Owners Only.
Disclaimer: This Podcast is for Construction Industry Business Owners who want to hear the truth no matter how much it might sting. If you’re looking for nicey, nicey leadership advice? Go watch a TED talk!
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
From the beginning
Setting a business up takes guts! Especially in the construction industry, as typically we have zero business experience, all of our capabilities come from street smarts, common sense, and trade experience.
The first twelve to eighteen months is brutal, fighting to stay alive, find enough work, get paid, never mind finding time to eat! However, the next phase is just as hard, potentially harder.
Why? Because if your business is successful and it starts to grow, you’ll need help to handle the workload. You’ll have exhausted your friends and family resources by this point, which means you’ll have to hire people you don’t know.
Unfortunately, the two most scarce resources in the construction industry are time and people, specifically ‘good people.’ Above all, by good people, I mean reliable, hardworking, and trustworthy people. We can learn and teach skills, but those other traits are innate, and we prove them over time (yeah, that scarce thing we don’t have much of).
The faster your company grows, the more people you need to hire, and the more question marks you have hanging over your new recruit’s capabilities and commitment to the company.
Once the honeymoon period is over, and they have forgotten how happy they were for the opportunity, a common phrase often rears its ugly head. Typically, it occurs when you ask them to perform a task they have the time to complete and are more than capable of performing safely.
However, instead of saying yes, sure, or no problem, they hit you with:
“That’s not my job.” Translation: I don’t give a shit about you or the company. I look after numero uno!
Really Bro!
Forget the rights, wrongs, or debates about the task at hand and if they should or shouldn’t be doing it. They have just made one thing abundantly clear; they’re not a team player, and you can’t rely on them.
Above all, you can’t build a business on the shoulders of people you can’t both trust and rely on. Therefore, in this episode of the Construction MPa Podcast, we will discuss the ‘That’s not my job’ scenario, why it happens, where it comes from, and, more importantly, how to deal with it.
Enjoy!
Program vs. Podcast?
The Construction MPa Program is an entirely different beast than the Construction MPa Podcast. However, it was ultimately built with the same end goal in mind, too:
A) Help small business owners strengthen their businesses themselves via a step-by-step process.
B) To provide a home for small business owners to openly discuss the challenges they face in a sales and bullshit-free environment.
If you want to know more about the Construction MPa Program, check out: Program Outline Page.
Business Owners Only.
“If you want to strengthen your business today. You need Construction MPa.”
