Written by Troy Clark for TroyClarkInsight.com
There is a line often attributed to Leonard Bernstein:
To achieve great things, two things are needed: a plan, and not quite enough time.
The attribution to Bernstein is uncertain, and versions of the thought appeared in print long before it was connected to him. The idea behind it, however, will sound familiar to almost anyone who has managed construction work.
There is almost never quite enough time.
The schedule is already moving. Materials arrive later than expected. Another contractor is occupying the area where the crew needs to work. An inspection changes the sequence. Equipment breaks down. Someone leaves the project. The owner wants to know whether the milestone will still be met.
And standing in the middle of much of that is the supervisor.
We talk frequently about planning projects. We may not spend nearly enough time preparing the people who will have to execute those plans when the schedule becomes difficult.
That preparation cannot begin when the project is already in trouble.
The Deadline Is Coming Either Way
A construction supervisor rarely has the luxury of learning one responsibility at a time.
A person who was recently one of the strongest craft workers on the crew may suddenly be responsible for manpower, production, safety, quality, coordination, materials, equipment, documentation and communication with several levels of management.
Knowing how to perform the work remains important. Supervising it requires something more.
The supervisor has to anticipate what is coming, recognize when conditions are changing and make decisions before small problems become expensive ones. The supervisor also has to communicate those decisions well enough that other people can act on them.
That is difficult under normal conditions.
Add schedule pressure and the weaknesses become visible quickly.
A supervisor who has not learned to delegate begins trying to control everything personally. One who has not learned to plan spends the day reacting. Someone uncomfortable having difficult conversations may allow a problem to continue because addressing it will take time.
Eventually, the project begins teaching lessons that should have been learned before the project needed them.
Mount Rushmore Offers an Interesting Example
Construction of Mount Rushmore took place from 1927 through 1941 and involved nearly 400 workers. The conditions described by the National Park Service were difficult by any measure. Workers climbed hundreds of stairs before being lowered over the mountain in bosun chairs. Dynamite was responsible for roughly 90 percent of the carving. Weather ranged from intense heat to bitter cold and wind.
Yet the National Park Service reports that no fatalities occurred during the 14 years of carving.
That fact should not be used to suggest that construction practices of the 1920s and 1930s represented modern safety standards. They did not.
There is another lesson in the story that is more useful.
The work depended on people understanding their responsibilities and coordinating closely with one another.
Before blasting, workers had to be cleared from the mountain. Hoist operators controlled workers suspended hundreds of feet above the ground. Young workers called call boys relayed messages between the people operating the winches and the workers below so movement could be controlled. The drilling, blasting, hoisting and carving operations depended on people performing very different jobs as part of the same operation.
It would be easy to tell the Mount Rushmore story entirely as one of courage.
It may be more useful to look at it as a story about coordination.
Nearly 400 people did not simply arrive at a mountain with tools and eventually produce four enormous faces. The work required people with different skills performing different functions while depending on one another.
That remains true on a construction project today.
The Supervisor Cannot Be the Entire System
Sometimes we approach supervisor development as though the objective is to create one exceptionally capable person.
That misses part of the problem.
The strongest supervisor in the company can still become overwhelmed if every decision, question and problem has to reach that individual.
Developing supervision should therefore include developing the workforce around the supervisor.
Foremen need opportunities to plan work instead of receiving plans. Lead workers need opportunities to coordinate small scopes. Experienced craft professionals need to understand when conditions have changed enough to raise a concern instead of quietly improvising around the problem. Newer workers need enough understanding of the operation to know not only what they are doing, but what their work affects next.
The more capability that exists throughout the crew, the less dependent the project becomes on one person having every answer.
That matters when time becomes scarce.
Development Has to Happen Before Promotion
One of the easiest mistakes to make is waiting until someone receives the title before beginning supervisor development.
By then, the clock is running.
A better approach starts while that person is still developing toward the position.
Potential supervisors can begin participating in planning meetings before they receive the title. They can prepare manpower and equipment needs for an upcoming activity, take responsibility for a limited portion of the work, and then review what went well and what did not.
Development should also expose them to scheduling, safety planning, quality requirements, cost awareness and coordination with other trades. They should have opportunities to watch experienced supervisors handle difficult conversations and, when appropriate, begin handling some of those conversations themselves while coaching is still available.
Not every lesson needs a classroom.
Many of the best development opportunities already exist inside the work. Companies simply have to recognize them and use them deliberately.
A Good Plan Includes the People Who Must Deliver It
Project planning usually focuses heavily on quantities, durations, sequencing, equipment and manpower.
It should also ask a harder question:
Is the workforce prepared to execute this plan?
Having enough people is different from having enough capability.
A project may show the correct number of supervisors and craft workers on an organizational chart while still lacking enough people who can plan ahead, solve problems, recognize changing conditions and communicate effectively.
That weakness may remain hidden while everything is going according to plan.
It becomes obvious when the project no longer has quite enough time.
And eventually, nearly every project reaches that point.
The goal of workforce development is not to eliminate pressure. Construction will continue to have deadlines, changing conditions and unexpected problems.
The goal is to make sure the people facing those conditions have already developed some of the judgment they will need.
Do Not Wait for the Project to Develop the Supervisor
There will always be a temptation to believe that promising people will figure it out once they are placed in charge.
Some will.
The cost of that approach is that they are learning while the project is depending on them.
Organizations can make a different choice.
They can identify potential supervisors early. They can gradually give them responsibility. They can teach planning before demanding plans, provide opportunities to lead before handing over an entire crew, and build depth throughout the workforce so the supervisor does not become the single point through which every decision must pass.
Mount Rushmore took fourteen years to carve. The workers still dealt with hard conditions, dangerous work and the daily demands of getting the job done. Nearly a century later, the finished monument remains evidence of what coordinated human effort can produce.
Construction companies face a much smaller version of the same challenge every day.
There is a project to complete.
There is a plan.
And there probably is not quite enough time.
What matters is whether the people responsible for carrying out that plan were being developed before the clock started working against them.
