Real Life Lean 047

Happy Monday lean construction family and welcome to another edition of Real Life Lean. This newsletter is intended to give construction professionals worldwide 4 quick and easy resources to grow and continue on your lean journey.

Today's Summary:

• Lean Article - Your Construction Project Is Not A Race

• Lean Podcast - How Leaders Influence Culture

• Lean Event - 3rd Annual Last Planner System Conference

• Real Life Lean - The Power of Peer-To-Peer Learning

Lean Article

How often have you experienced trades racing to get their material installed in an area, just so they can get out an move onto the next area? They have no regard for other scopes in the space and want to race to the next area, eager to be out of the superintendents line of fire. Unfortunately this is all to common in our industry, but for us to be successful, it needs to change! In the article below, Keyan Zandy shares a playbook for superintendents to follow that will help eliminate this from your workstream.

Takeaway - Overall I like the central message that Keyan shares that is all around respect. Building a culture that values respect for each trade is key to eliminating this race to the end mindset and encourages the foreman to see each other as real people with real work to be completed.

Lean Podcast

Culture is a buzz word that seems to float around the construction world quite a bit. Good or bad, a project is known for the culture it creates. If you’ve spend time listening to the videos or podcasts that Elevate Construction puts out, you know that culture is the root of everything. I’ve heard Jason say it hundreds of times (this episode included) “We don’t blame people, we blame culture”. As a leader, our behaviors and actions shape the culture.

Takeaway - “The organization will become exactly what the leader is” is a line from this episode that stuck out to me. This sums up what it means to be a leader and the importance of the culture that a leader values. When we reward hard work, good systems and the correct actions, we are shaping the culture at our company and/or our projects.

Lean Event

Mark your calendar for March 22nd and 23rd for a wonderful event hosted by The Lean Construction Blog. Over two days, attendees to this virtual event will learn the ins and outs of The Last Planner System, taught from some of the best in the business.

Takeaway - I have attended this conference twice and have loved the valuable information that comes from it. I was looking over the speakers listed on their website and am excited to hear the current best practices from this group. If you are new to lean, this is a great first event to get exposure to how lean construction can change the way you build.

Real Life Lean - Lean practices in the real world

For the past year and a half or so I have been attending monthly meetings with superintendents from around the country. Although I can’t attend nearly as much as I’d like, I always leave the session with a new perspective, thought or book/article recommendation and inspired to take action. The group I attend is dubbed the “Old Dawgs” and consists of superintendents and foreman from around the country at various stages of their lean journey. The format is that of a lean coffee, with topics being presented by the attendees, voted on by all and then discussed until the group feels it is time to move on or the clock runs out. Old Dawg Dan Fauchier was kind enough to compile the lessons from our group and share them in a blog post linked at the bottom of this section.

I encourage you to find a group of your own “Old Dawgs” or join us for our twice monthly Real Field Talks. It is amazing what can take place when a group of like minded individuals break down the company barriers and share their current best practices, struggles and wins with a group. Together, we all get better.

Takt University Special Offer

I have partnered with Spencer Easton from Takt University to share a great offer for Real Life Lean subscribers. Purchase Spencer’s Introduction Course at the link here and enter “reallifelean2023” for 50% off your purchase!

Have a Real Life Lean story you think would be a great feature in an upcoming newsletter? Send me an email at [email protected].