Top Business Practices that Give Freedom to Construction Leaders

Every construction business owner goes into business for themselves dreaming of making their own schedule and taking control of their own lives. But the reality is that most construction owners end up running around putting out fires and managing every aspect of their business. In other words, they never take a break. How do the rare exceptions make it happen? And how can you take control of your business so it starts working for you instead of the other way around? 

Cody Rich, serial entrepreneur, founder of the Backcountry Fuel Box and host of the Rich Outdoors Podcast joins host Mike Merrill to give details on how you can do that in 2022. Cody was on the show back on episode 37 where he talked about ensuring leaders aren’t only putting out fires but actually leading their teams. Today he is going to walk us through what it takes to be able to walk away from your business for periods of time, providing insights into how to incentivize your team, keep company culture right where you want it and why you need to be consistently evolving your leaders.

Key Takeaways

1. Give your team more than a paycheck. Good teams are not driven by fair pay. Fair pay is just the start. What keeps teams around is having input into the decisions and outcomes of the business. The best place to start is the $500 rule, where you give employees a dollar amount that they have full control over. Their ability to make those decisions gives them an investment in the business and frees up the owner from making every decision. 
2. Not every bad apple is a poor worker. Sometimes destructive or distracting people inside of a company might also be among the hardest working. The key to handle those people is to know what drives your culture forward and make it more valuable than anyone on the team, including yourself. Remove anyone that takes away from that drive and your culture will be protected.
3. Employees are not meant to last forever. No employee should stay with your company forever. If you have people that stay and never grow then you aren’t doing your job as a leader. You should be leading your people in such a way that they are driven and develop themselves out of your business. It is the healthiest thing you can do for yourself, your team and your business.