WHY do you have your construction business?

Start With Why 

This is not an attempt to overshadow or mimic anything Simon Sinek lays out in his tremendous book, Start With Why. This is our attempt to appeal to our audience within the construction industry to stop and ask ourselves the premise of Sinek’s book: Why are you doing what you’re doing with your construction business?

Cutting the turkey in half

Last Thanksgiving we were at my mother-in-law’s celebrating with all of the family. We were prepping the turkey and my wife was reading the directions from an old family recipe book. The next step we landed on was to “Cut the turkey in half.” I had never heard of this technique before, so I asked my wife, “Why do we cut it in half?” She didn’t have an answer, so we asked her mother in the other room. She too was unsure so we went to Grandma. She quickly and easily responded with, “Oh, we always cut the turkey in half because our oven was too small to fit the entire turkey in at one time.” 

Pause and question what you’re doing

Time passes and habits and routines get passed down. Those of  us in business seldom stop to assess our situation, surroundings and outcomes. We find ourselves in construction as teenagers as laborers. The work was enjoyable so we stayed in it and rose in rank. We became site supers, then project managers and then we had the thought, “I could do this on my own, make more money and set my own schedule.” With that, we started our businesses. When asked why we decided to start a construction business, we simply state, “Because I have always worked construction and I knew how to [fill in the blank] (swing a hammer/lay block/run wire, etc).”

You find yourself doing what you do because that’s what you’ve always done. There’s a better way to approach your business and work. The former manner does not breed ultimate fulfillment or success. When you lead from a position of vision, mission, values and why, you and your team will reach new heights. 

What life are you trying to create

Starting with a deeper understanding of what you’re looking to achieve and accomplish will cause your business to begin to blossom. It begins with you. We have a template that you can use to ask yourself some probing questions about why you have your business. This is the beginning of the process. From here you must implement routines throughout your business that carry through and touch everyone so that they know the company “why” and their individual “why.” 

When you cement your why and create a culture where others know exactly what everyone is looking to accomplish, work will become more enjoyable, productive, and lucrative. You will begin to see things come to pass that had seemingly been taking forever. 

Right now you have an option

With this brief four minute read you have been confronted with an option. You can continue doing what you’ve always done and cut the turkey in half. You can continue to grind day in and day out, make a decent living, struggle to hire and keep good workers, and frequently ask yourself, “Why did I start this construction business” never really intending to get to the root. 

Or, you can stop for 60 minutes this week and begin to dissect what exactly you’re trying to accomplish through this business both professionally and personally. Where do you want to be in 12 months? 36 months? What’s your endgame?

Only the first step

This isn’t the one and only step you’ll need to take to create a stellar business, but it is necessary in your journey. Our commitment to you is to follow up with anyone that fills out this survey. Once you’ve done so, we will give you our feedback and set you on the course for what’s next.