Construction Nation,
Last month I wrote about the one trait that puts you into the top 5% of all construction leaders – that is to be ridiculously responsive – respond in the first minute.
We must ask ourselves, If we know that fast action is the key to success then why do so many teams move so slowly? Why do 95% of all of us take an average of 48 hours to respond? This month, we’re going to explore what makes us go slow. We are going to explore 5 demotivators that slow or stop us.
Demotivator #1: Lack of Urgency
When faced with a question, issue, or action you will ask yourself if this is urgent or not. If it is urgent, you will want to respond very quickly. What is you don’t know if it’s urgent or not? What if this issue is important, but not urgent? What if it is urgent, but not so important? This lack of knowing can stop us from responding. It is not so easy to determine how quickly you should respond. What if your response has a long-term effect?
You don’t have to respond fast to everything, you just need to determine when you need to have a sense of urgency. What if you responded quickly to get more information so that you can create the best answer and better determine if this is urgent or not? Now you are no longer demotivated to respond.
Demotivator #2: Fear
If you respond quickly, you could be wrong, get angry, or make a mistake. This creates fear and makes you overthink what you need to say. You might be concerned about the motivation of the person asking. There could be a complete misunderstanding of what is needed. You could miss an opportunity.
Fear prevents us from responding. The more we consider the what the motivations are of the one asking, the more we see risk in responding. Overthinking does not get you more information.
Responding to get more information will get you more information and open a dialogue so that you can help understand what is needed and allow others to understand your point of view or ideas. This will drive out the fear.
Demotivator #3: Things Keep Changing
Speed comes from confidence. Your brain does not want to respond fast, it wants to protect you. When you see things are changing, and keep changing, you probably wait to see if the changes stop. You are not confident in what is happening, or how to respond. So, you sit back and wait. But what if the changes don’t stop? This mode of stepping back and waiting, becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy and your team and project are all going to naturally slow down.
All projects have “change,” and the teams that respond quickly with several solutions or ideas are the teams that don’t get slowed down and become spectators at the events unfolding.
Demotivator #4: A Pattern of Roadblocks
Leaders and teams that get set back, after set back, after set back, tend to slow down and wait for the next thing to happen. Similar to waiting for the changes to stop, roadblocks are things that prevent progress. It could be a third party that inserts their requirements, or the inability to get a decision, or a myriad of other roadblocks we face on projects. When you have a pattern of roadblocks you can either slow down so you don’t get lost in the continuous new problems, or you can seek out the roadblock and try to overcome it quickly.
Many of our roadblocks are “people” made and not technical issues. Even if it is technical there is likely a people solution. The expert who could solve the problem. Yet, we feel helpless to change anything, I see many teams just give up and wait. Don’t let these roadblocks determine what’s possible for you and your project team. Act fast. Take hold and work to create a way to get past the roadblock – move forward, and maybe gain momentum.
Demotivator #5: Lack of Leadership
When there is a lack of leadership in a team or organization, the authentic power of the leader diffuses back down into the team. The result is power struggles and silos. When you have a team that has a lack of leadership, no one is likely to respond quickly, because it could set up a power struggle amongst those below. So, getting decisions is very slow, as there is no clear decision maker, and when one person tries to make a decision, it can ignite a power struggle over who’s decision will rule.
Knowing how to respond to build consensus is a great skill to have in these instances. Once a leader and team can learn how to come together to make decisions and see them “stick” the team will be able to respond and move more quickly. Teams move at the speed of decision making.
I hope these “demotivators” that make us go slow resonate with you and help you and your team to go faster – and gain more satisfaction.
In Trust,
Sue
Sue Dyer, MBA, MIPI is a Master Partnering Facilitator & Founder for OrgMetrics LLC, WSJ bestselling author on Trusted Leadership for construction leaders, Founder of the International Partnering Institute, and President of sudyco® LLC. You can contact Sue at suedyer@orgmet.com or 510 504-5877.
