Production Tracking - Don't Be a Dry Monkey

Put a few monkeys in a cage with a ladder that has bananas on top. One monkey immediately goes for the bananas.

D. Brown Management Profile Picture
Share

Cold water sprays on the others.  

Field Productivity: Don't Be a Dry Monkey. Know the Why behind production, know the how of troubleshooting and know the when and the who for escalation of production problems.

One more monkey might try to go for the bananas again after they dry off and forget.  The cold water sprays the others again.  

All of these original monkeys are now conditioned to not go for the bananas.  

Replace one of the monkeys and the new one immediately goes for the bananas but the others stop him because they don’t want to get sprayed with cold water again.  

Replace another of the original monkeys and the pattern repeats itself.  

Replace all of the original monkeys until no monkey has ever been sprayed by water yet the group think conditioning remains so no monkey will ever be allowed to go for the bananas.  

This behavior keeps us safe in some ways but in many more ways it simply stops learning and innovation.  

When it comes to production tracking don’t let anyone on your team be a dry monkey.  Always encourage learning and smart risk taking by leading the way to find a better way.  


Improving Labor Productivity Workshop


Production Tracking - Don't Be a Dry Monkey
Field labor is the often the biggest variable on a construction project - making it the biggest risk and opportunity....

Production Tracking - Don't Be a Dry Monkey
Field labor is the often the biggest variable on a construction project - making it the biggest risk and opportunity....

Foundations for Growth (Life, Career, and Construction)
A calm mind, focused thinking, and deliberate action forms the strongest and most resilient foundation you can have in your life, career, and construction. Achieving this for yourself requires constant work and is a lifelong process.
Incentive Compensation for Contractors - Prerequisites
From Stephen Covey’s top selling book, “Seven Habits for Highly Effective People,” Habit #2 is to “Start With The End in Mind.” This principle applies to organizations in general and incentive programs in particular.
The Productivity-Talent Bonus
Contractors will receive a major talent bonus when they put a relentless focus on field productivity. They will become “Talent Magnets” for the best in the industry making them unstoppable even in the face of major talent shortages.