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I wish I had a formula or system for developing foremen, but there is no magic bullet. However, as a company we have trained thousands of foremen in basic supervisory skills and have helped numerous companies develop their organization. Hopefully, the following insights will prove helpful in developing your field leadership.
Employee development should start by betting on and investing in your foremen. Every organization has people problems, and this issue is not going to go away. Trying to develop a solid field force can be an overwhelming proposition. By developing and maintaining stronger field supervision, you are concentrating your effort where you will have the greatest impact and get the most bang for your buck.
I have never been a fan of babysitting foremen with a construction manager or maintenance manager who rides around and checks to make sure your field employees are doing their job. This extra layer of management can be extremely expensive and prevents your organization from having better field people. For example, a general field supervisor with a truck and other payroll expenses is going to cost you a minimum of $50,000 a year. If you have five crews, this cost would be $10,000 per crew when spread out over the five foremen. If the average supervisor works 2,000 hours a year (40 hours a week times 50 weeks), the cost of such babysitting is $5 an hour. Why not develop better foremen, pay them better and stop babysitting people who cannot do the job? Not only is such babysitting expensive, it also inhibits the development of field leadership as people are not thinking and making their own decisions. Such babysitting actually enables poor foreman performance and keeps people from developing into better supervisors.
Building a better field organization and particularly field supervisors starts with two basic ingredients. First, you must have the right people with adequate potential. Second, you must train and communicate with those people so they feel part of the company and are team players.
Finding the right candidates will require some honest evaluation on your part. Start by looking within yourself and your company. Do you believe there are career opportunities within your company and that good people will work for you?
If you are going to promote from within, you must hire people with the potential to promote to foremen. If most of the people you hire have a poor driving record and can't drive a company vehicle, how will you be able to develop them into a supervisor? Take a sheet of paper; evaluate every person on the list to see who has the potential to be a foreman. If most don't have such potential, how can you successfully promote from within?
Now let's talk about training and communication. Many companies try to undertake an extensive foreman training program that requires a lot of time and effort. Such an enormous task tends to kill the effort. The goal of training should be to improve internal communication and to change the foreman's perception of their job and make them feel part of the company. What you actually teach is not nearly as important as the fact that you have some type of program. So rather than try and develop this comprehensive course, here are some simple things you can do to help your field supervisors feel part of the company.
Paperwork: Foremen are not good at paperwork. But most companies do very little to help them do a better job in this area. Have a general meeting with paperwork and review the forms. Then, set times for your office person to go over paperwork issues one-on-one or in smaller groups. This not only trains the foreman, but also develops a relationship between the office person and the foreman.
Job procedures: Critical job times are the beginning and end of a job. At least start with some standard procedures in this area. Also, review how you want employees to handle complaints; what they can take care of, who they should call, etc. Foremen also need to be aware of the scope of work issues and when change orders are needed, along with how the company's change order system works.
Safety: Safety training is a must. Your insurance company, association or even OSHA can provide information. Don't forget to include driving and seat belt requirements.
Customer presentation: Have a customer speak about what it is like to work with your company, and what they are looking for in a contractor. This need not be elaborate. The customer can share their expectations and possibly some horror stories they have encountered.
Estimate a job: Take a job or several smaller jobs and have the foremen put the numbers together for a potential estimate. When working on problems, put foremen in teams of two or three, but make sure they are not with their buddies. Problem solving is always easier to do in groups. Don't embarrass people, and have fun with the process. This can be a great way to review the analytical skills of your foremen.
Communication skills: You try to train in the areas of communication, problem solving and human behavior skills. These issues can be difficult to teach. Communication is an internal habit that's been developed with personality, lifestyle, family and many other issues. It won't quickly change. This is also an area that can be difficult to teach without the help of a professional.
Monroe Porter is president of PROOF Management Consultants, a consulting firm that moderates networking groups for contractors. Contact Monroe at (800) 864-0284 or e-mail monroe@proofman.com.