Definition of Sustainability

How sustainable is your construction business?

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Leadership Tools: Definition of Sustainability: The ability to be maintained at a certain rate or level.

Not your ability to build sustainable buildings, but the true sustainability of your business.

  • Are the market(s) that you are in stable or at least counter-cyclical to each other throughout various economic cycles?

  • Are those market(s) growing, stacking the cards in your favor that your company will continue growing?

  • Do your customers love you to the point where they keep coming back to you for projects?

  • Do you have good business development capabilities that will create predictable revenue growth?

  • Do you have good talent development systems, ensuring that your revenue growth does not exceed your ability to grow and retain leadership talent?  

  • Are you generating enough free cash flow to support your growth?

Sometimes, an outside perspective can be invaluable for helping assess and improve your sustainability. 

What does your scoreboard say?  




Coachability and Capability Matrix
Sustainable growth over time in your career and as a company has to do with being coachable and capable. Optimum growth occurs when we are stretching ourselves and others just beyond our current capabilities and then developing the needed capabilities.
Focused Resources = Maximum Results
Contracting is a relatively low-margin and high-risk business. Contractors can’t afford to spread out their resources on projects or in their businesses. Leaders must put maximum resources behind their biggest bottlenecks or opportunities.
Unicorns and the Growing Contractor
If you are having consistent difficulty finding the right person for a role, you may be looking for a unicorn. Requiring unicorns to grow is a bad plan. If you do find a unicorn, just ask them where the pot of gold is and forget about construction!