Real Strategies to Maximize Workforce Potential

Do you wish your people could do more for you? Discover how to get the most out of your workforce on the Contractor Success Forum with hosts Wade Carpenter and Stephen Brown. 

This episode dives into leveraging individual strengths in your team, the importance of aligning roles with personal skills and passions, and the challenges of managing family members and technological obsolescence in construction businesses.

Tune in for tips on optimizing team dynamics, promoting a team mentality, and building a legacy of success. Don't miss this insightful discussion!

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Topics Wade and Stephen cover include:

• 00:45 Understanding Different Personalities in the Workforce
• 02:24 Aligning Skills and Job Roles
• 06:51 The Importance of Passion in Job Performance
• 12:46 Team Dynamics and Leadership
• 19:36 Generational Differences and Cultural Fit

LINKS

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Wade Carpenter, CPA, CGMA | CarpenterCPAs.com
Stephen Brown, Bonding Expert | SuretyAnswers.com

Transcript

[00:00:00] Wade Carpenter: Do you wish your people could do more for you? What do you have to do to get the most out of your workforce? 

Welcome to the Contractor Success Forum. I'm Wade Carpenter with Carpenter Company CPAs. With me, as always, my amazing co host, Stephen Brown, with McDaniel Whitley Bonding and Insurance. 

Stephen, common subject around here, how do we get more out of our people? What are your thoughts on this today?

[00:00:23] Stephen Brown: Wade, I appreciate the introduction. It's amazing. I think you're amazing too. And let me tell you, the reason I'm able to say that you're amazing too is because folks say, well, Stephen's a people person. I don't know. Where do you get that from? My dad was a Type A introvert, and my mom would get right up in your business within 10 seconds, right?

And so that's really the subject matter. And it's so important for us to talk about different personalities when we talk about getting the most out of your workforce. And we see that here at McDaniel Whitley. You see it at Carpenter & Company all the time. 

Different people have different skill sets. They have things that they like to do. They have things that are good at doing that are, that are easy for them. You know that. And we have a lot of contractors that get so busy pushing the job through. 

The old mentality when I was growing up is you'll do the job because you need a paycheck. And because I tell you to do it. Whether you're miserable doing it or not. You might say, well, digging a ditch is miserable work in the winter, but there are people that like digging ditches. It's a fact, okay? I mean, for some crazy reason, my son, who's now an accountant, used to love digging with the post hole digger, obsessed with it. 

But here's the thing. I was talking at lunch today with a friend of mine, and we were talking about his kids and coming up into the business. You know, everybody has a desire to bring their kids into the business, to build up something, a legacy for them to come take and run with it. 

And I always say, unless you have two brothers that are polar opposites, but get along, you should only let one family member into the company business. That's a general rule of thumb. And you can say, well, that's not the case here. And you're wrong, and my kids get along great. Okay, that's fine. That's wonderful. 

But they have different personalities. They have different things that they're complemented to do. I've seen so many contractors, Wade, take people and push them into a job description because that's who they needed. That's not what they were best qualified to do. 

So, does that make sense? Kind of where I wanted to head with this topic today?

[00:02:40] Wade Carpenter: Yeah, that does hit home for me, too, because that's something I've learned over the years, as an accountant. First of all, I don't like digging ditches. I'll tell you that.

[00:02:48] Stephen Brown: Yeah.

[00:02:49] Wade Carpenter: But I have also learned like just for me, looking for an accountant, you can talk about the attributes like detail oriented or whatever, but there are just some people in the world that are wired to be an accountant, some people that are not.

And a marketing person has to be like a creative type person, but they would be pulling their hair out trying to do accounting stuff. 

[00:03:10] Stephen Brown: Absolutely. Everybody's got equipment operators that are introverts. Just leave them alone on a piece of equipment and they're in heaven, you know? But that doesn't mean you have to be an introvert to be a good equipment operator. You're so right, Wade. You know, everybody has born with gifts. They have certain gifts and talents and attributes. We all have them. 

And if you spend a little time thinking about your workforce and maybe what their attributes are, and if you don't know them well enough, ask them. You know, what gets your motor running? What are you passionate about? 

First of all, they're going to appreciate the fact that you asked them, more than you could possibly know. That you took the time. Hey, let's have lunch, I'm going to swing by. I want to pick you up. I want to talk to you about something. 

But I have great customers that really know all their folks. And the best owners understand different personalities get the job done. I've always had customers say, well, I've got so and so on this project. They're perfect for it. They love it. They love this particular project and they're going to town. And then you've got other situations where you've got the worst possible person doing something that's vital to your organization.

And another thing that came up, Wade, that I wanted to ask your opinion about, was what happens when you have someone that you're paying for a job that becomes technologically obsolete, but you want to keep them on the workforce? 

So I'm kind of digressing a little bit. But how many times do you have a bookkeeper or someone like that, that they just did it somewhere else so they're doomed to be a bookkeeper the rest of their life but they hate it?

The reports are always late, they always struggle with it, and they're always complaining. Yet, day in and day out, you're paying them to do that job. And what might be even worse is you're related to them. 

I have so many customers that have family members working for them just so they'll be employed, and they put them in a position because they need someone to do it.

And then when I say, well, don't you need a professional to take care of that? Nah, I'm paying them to do it. Yeah, but they're not doing it. They don't want to do it. They don't like doing it, and they don't have the knowledge to do it.

[00:05:23] Wade Carpenter: I didn't know this is where you were going with this episode, but it's a sore subject that I see a lot of contractors deal with, and comes in my world. Just, as I was saying, there are people that are not wired to be an accountant, don't want to be an accountant, but you know, it is one thing when you put your spouse or significant other or whoever it is.

And even if it's family, they just, maybe they're doing it as a favor or whatever, and it's an afterthought. They don't put the thought into it that they need to, or the priority and it's your business. And definitely one of those things that, I think a lot of people say, well, okay, well, I can get anybody to do QuickBooks because it's supposed to do all this stuff for me.

And I'm not picking on QuickBooks, but, it's not really that easy, but it's also another thing that if somebody's not staying on top of things like job costing, it doesn't get done. So, there's a lot of thoughts, and I know we've had our conversations about hiring family members, but that's one that hits home for me a lot too.

[00:06:25] Stephen Brown: Sure. I mean, it really does. And how many times do you have a project manager that's good at running a project, but you really don't ever want them in front of an owner, you know, or an architect engineering group you're working with, you just don't. You don't want to expose them to that person's personality because they hate it and they're going to show it and they're going to do the opposite of what you need them to accomplish by meeting these people.

So, you know, that's a great point, Wade. It's what are you wired to do? That's one thing. What do you have the training and knowledge to do? That's another thing. But I would say the most important thing is what are you passionate about? What gets your motor running? 

You know, my friend I had lunch with, his two young boys are obsessed with building anything. One of them is very organized. Everything has to go in a box, just so. Right. You could say he's a perfect accounting CFO person. The other one has an engineering mindset. So when we were talking about it, I said, well, you know, what about bringing in your daughter, what if she's outstanding in sales?

So I guess the thing to think about is, is what is your workforce currently doing now that they don't like doing and they're underperforming? If they're underperforming the job, there could be all sorts of issues behind the scenes that you don't know about, that you, you have a right to know about if they're underperforming, or you have to fire them.

And in the construction industry, a lot of good people get fired because they are put in the wrong position. At the same time, if you find the perfect role for them and they can meet that, they could be absolutely one of the best employees you have. And someone that you don't think is capable of doing something that you have a need for might be outstanding at the project that you have for them to do, but you just don't know it because you haven't taken the time to get to know them a little bit. 

So I guess what I'm saying is how do you bring that to the forefront of your thought process and what would you do, Wade, if you were implementing this as a business owner?

[00:08:24] Wade Carpenter: There are certain skills that you can train and it is true that sometimes older people are less able to grasp the technology. But, I'm thinking more like from a top level, like we talked about, say a bean counter, you may want detail oriented. 

But, I was actually just talking to my team this past week about problem solving skills. And in the construction world, I think, you can have somebody trained to go put up crown molding or whatever it is you do. But if, you know, it's like, okay, well, we got something in the way here, how do we solve this problem?

And I also think there are people that can take what they've learned, just the basic skill, and say, we need to be able to adapt this to a different use, if that makes any sense. So, I would think you want, these people that can solve problems, looking for that as a feature, as a foreman, or a superintendent, or a project manager, that can deal with the problems, not just take care of these little things that we've trained to do, but you know, what makes a good foreman on your job?

[00:09:31] Stephen Brown: And it changes. It really does change. You need a project manager to be more tech savvy than ever before. But at the same time, you should have that tech in place and train all your employees in it. For example, everybody needs to know how to do a basic spreadsheet to explain numbers. They need to be able to type up a document on Word. I would say just about everybody out there has some ability to do two things, maybe not. 

But on the other hand, you might have someone that is absolutely gifted teacher Their natural attribute is to teach. They might be the perfect person to implement a new technology so that they can teach it to the rest of your company. And so once that mission's accomplished, that person might be excellent in teaching safety programs or implementing the proper teaching and communication of a safety program. 

There's other people that, you know, are natural salespeople. And they're going to be great in front of customers. They know what they're talking about and they're professional and they make you look good. So why would you want them doing something that they weren't naturally good at doing? 

At the same time, I understand with small business, sometimes employees have to wear a bunch of different hats. But if you can minimize that, you know, then you're at peak flow. And we have a future guest coming up, and she used that term, maximum flow state. And I, I can't wait to ask her more about that.

But to me in that mindset is when things are flowing smoothly like down a stream or something. And they're just flowing gently down, you can increase the water pressure and it flows faster and you've got the right team in place to make it flow. Or you could present obstacles, logs and dams and other stuff that keep that stream from flowing.

So that's the kind of analogy that I was thinking about, Wade. What are some true life stories with contractors that we've seen where the owners just didn't get it? I can definitely tell you any kind of casebook studies about having the wrong personality in the wrong position.

And also, someone with a child in the business who's just adamant in showing them that, that they're right in just about everything. And costing the company to go under. I've seen that happen. I've seen owners of construction companies that built something up by having lots of different gifts and abilities, and be able to mobilize and utilize those as needed and instinctually doing what they need to grow the company.

Put someone in a position of leadership or responsibility who's a family member and not the best person. The best person might be an employee to take over your company. Are you prepared to think like that? It's for the best of your company and it's for the best of your kids to not let that happen.

[00:12:27] Wade Carpenter: Well, I think you went down a path that, you said it a little differently, that you know a teacher or somebody, I was going to say, more strong communicator that you want like in roles of not just to teach but to make sure that things get done and they are good communicators.

But If I can, I'd like to shift a little bit, a different thought here. Just calling the team player. Whether it's the trade people on the job or, whether it's supervisor or, somebody. And I don't even know where it really fits here, but, there are people that are wired to be loners, like you were talking about, or there's people that are wired to be more of hey, let's do this as a team and work together as a team.

And that's an attribute I always look for in my accountants. If somebody's down, somebody step in and help whatever. And that's the way we run our firm is that, if somebody is out sick or on vacation, they have backup. And they have more than one person to do that, but it takes a team attitude to do that.

What are your thoughts on that?

[00:13:27] Stephen Brown: No, you're exactly right. Some of our best employees' attributes are that they grew up playing sports. It's all about teaching that team mentality. It's also certain attributes of playing sports and learning leadership skills as a young adult in different ways. 

Traditionally, in the old days, it used to be, you know, you'd look for an Eagle Scout because they were taught to be leaders, and they overcame a lot of obstacles to get that. So it already showed that that person had the instinctual leadership and abilities that you need, you know, be prepared.

So, yeah. And creating that mentality, it's not you against them, but it's us. And it comes from you as the owner. Every bit of it comes from you as the owner. And if you find that your employees are not acting like team members, then maybe you're not reinforcing that. Maybe you are not a team member, and maybe you don't appreciate that. 

So, I can just tell you that I've worked with a lot of contractors whose mentality is just, it's my way or the highway. You want to work for me, you'll do it. And it's my way or the highway and almost invariably those old folks, um, ended up with ulcers and all sorts of things. They may have ended up with money, but they didn't end up happy. What kind of legacy are you leaving behind? What kind of legacy are you building? Well, in an ideal situation, you're building a legacy to promote the best people you have.

And you have people that have certain gifts, but they need the training, some additional training. You supply that for them. You have people that don't have the gifts that need to be pushed in a little different direction. How do you do that? And how do you make it enjoyable for them? These are the questions you have to ask all the time.

And I guess that was the main point I wanted of this podcast is that you're asking those questions. You're asking the questions of, can I I tell someone that I don't know about m yself and everyone in our organization and what their best attributes are? Can I sell them when I'm talking about my company? And how well do those attributes help our vision become a reality? That's a $100,000 question right there.

[00:15:49] Wade Carpenter: Yeah. Well, again, there's a lot of things here that, you really need to think about beyond just what's on somebody's resume. I already said it a little differently, but adaptability, things happen a certain way. I don't even really want to call this like physical or mental resilience.

If something changes, they have the endurance to continue to manage some psychological or physical issue that comes up with a job? Those kinds of things. Do they have grit, fortitude, whatever the word you want to use?

[00:16:18] Stephen Brown: Yeah. No, you're exactly right. I work with a young fellow who has a gift for knowing about different people's personalities. It's not instinctual. He asks a lot of questions. Almost obnoxious about it. Get to know you personally. But he locks it away. His heart's in the right place and he's constantly thinking about that person and whether they're happy and whether they need help with anything. And that's a great business model. 

I had a customer back in the eighties who had a huge company picnic, and he encouraged you to invite all your family and friends. And I know that he knew everything about all of them. Just hanging out with some family members, finding out some hobbies that his employees were really good at doing just would blow his mind.

And he would think about that and think, how can I use that to help the company perform better and to help him or her become more fulfilled in what they're doing? Because a happy employee is an employee you keep, and construction industry is always battling that. 

One of the key things we always hear is, are you doing a project that really would get that employee's motor running? Are you constantly in the same rut, doing the same thing over again, or do you need to offer change? You might have a workforce that just loves what they're doing over and over again and do it to perfection. And you just have to make sure they're well paid and they don't get burnt out. And you keep those teams together, right? But I've had lots of customers buy other construction firms just simply because they worked with them before, and their team was really close and really efficient, and really got along with each other.

[00:18:04] Wade Carpenter: I know I keep throwing a couple of different curve balls at you here, but I think things like the technical aptitude, obviously that's what people are looking for, usually on a resume. But some of these things we're talking about that, maybe going beyond well, they have the leadership ability or decision making, and what role you're putting them into. 

And, I think some of those things you don't see on a resume, some you do maybe, but, I have some thoughts about how to look for that. What are your thoughts about some of these things like, whether they're a natural born leader or, do they have a customer centric, we're going to take care of the customer. In certain roles, you're going to need something like that.

[00:18:44] Stephen Brown: I think whatever your mission statement is. Everybody's got a buy in to it, right? It's communicated from the top all the way down. And if you're going to hire someone that's going to implement some new technology or accounting or anything else, you need to know a little bit about it before you hire them. Or get some help in hiring them with another, you know, consultant friend that you use: banker, CPA, bond agent attorney, anyone like that that you might use. Bring them into the hire if you want, but either way everyone will tell you it starts from the top and goes down.

So it's you, it's the owner of the construction company, to know your employees. And if you just don't want to do that, but you know it needs to be done, you might want to take on a partner with that gift.

[00:19:35] Wade Carpenter: That's actually a good point. I never thought about when I was going, you know, I do some testing, they have all kinds of personality tests and stuff like that, and I use one called AcuMax Index. 

But, just thinking about things like cultural fit, or different generations have different mindsets. So what are the generational differences between your workers? Older people, they have, I don't want to generalize or anything like that versus somebody with a younger, and sometimes there's stereotypes about younger or older people, but, just taking those into account that how do they all interrelate?

[00:20:11] Stephen Brown: Absolutely. That's a great point, Wade, because I'm constantly having to check myself up among the different younger generations with the different alphabets behind their name and trying to understand where they're coming from. And being an old man, I want to lecture him and say, oh yeah, well, you should have been the son of a World War II veteran.

You think you're having it hard? In my world, it was my dad's way or the highway. It was a hundred percent. When they called them the greatest generation because they were, but would my dad have been good running a construction company? Oh, he could build anything but he was the worst electrician in the world, and he was a doctor.

You know, so he would have been lousy. I mean, in retrospect, now he's been gone for years, he would have really been happiest being a naval architect. It was his passion, designing boats. He was obsessed with propellers. From growing up during the Depression, he could do anything he had to do.

That didn't mean he enjoyed it, you know.

[00:21:15] Wade Carpenter: And also, well, should a bond agent be installing many split air conditioners in their--

[00:21:20] Stephen Brown: Oh, that's painful. Yeah.

[00:21:22] Wade Carpenter: Sorry about that.

[00:21:24] Stephen Brown: Yeah. There it is up there. I blew out the compressor. They but you're right. 

[00:21:29] Wade Carpenter: Sorry,

[00:21:29] Stephen Brown: It was not a gift I had, Wade. Okay. And

[00:21:33] Wade Carpenter: But you did it.

[00:21:33] Stephen Brown: The manufacturerr rep had so much fun making fun of me for literally accomplish something that hardly anyone has ever done, installed in there.

But nevertheless you're right, Wade. That's a real good analogy, as painful as it is. 

And I can just tell you that, that I have also seen folks put the oldest member of a family unit of siblings and to a key position that they weren't good at doing and all their brothers and sisters working with them knew it.

The parent was adamant about it. But this is the way it's going to be. as an outsider, it's almost painful to see that, you know? So I would say, talk to someone completely different about their observations about your workforce and just see what they have to say. You know, being the boss, they might want to tell you, but I can tell you what your spouse will sure tell you, won't they?

[00:22:28] Wade Carpenter: Mine sure has no problem with that.

[00:22:30] Stephen Brown: Yeah. That's all I had on this topic. Wade, are there any other thoughts or comments? 

[00:22:35] Wade Carpenter: You know, we could, we could talk about some things like, do they stick around and those kinds of things, but, hopefully our listeners got some kind of value out of just thinking through, are we just looking for skills on the resume? Looking for the right fit, looking for who is going to help you build your company.

I think that's what we were talking about today.

[00:22:54] Stephen Brown: That's kind of what I'm thinking too, Wade. It just all it takes is looking at things from different angles to see a perspective that might really be good for you and your company. And that's what we try to introduce this week on the Contractor Success Forum. 

Take it or leave it. We hope it helps you. Sometimes you might say, well, all this stuff is self evident, guys. Well, you know, you, you have the right to just turn us off, right? But if it's speaking to you and you're saying, yeah, I might be that person that they described, or I'm tired of fighting the same employees over and over and over again for not doing their job, maybe I need to look at it from a different angle. So hope we helped.

[00:23:34] Wade Carpenter: I thought it was a great topic. Thank you, Stephen. 

For any of our listeners, you got any thoughts or feedback on today's discussion? We're always happy to hear any questions or hear your thoughts on things you'd like us to cover in the future. Drop them in the comments below. 

Wanted to thank you all for listening to the Contractor Success Forum. Check us out on Carpenter CPA's YouTube channel or Profit First Construction or wherever you're listening, whether it's Spotify, Apple Music, or whatever. If you enjoyed the episode, please share, subscribe, do all that stuff. We appreciate it. Follow us every week as we post a new episode, and we will look forward to seeing you on the next show.