Reasons to Run

Successfully leading in the long-term requires going beyond managing to outcomes; you must dive deeply into the underlying activities, habits, behaviors, and ultimately, to the motivations that lead to those outcomes.

D. Brown Management Profile Picture
Share

 

Leadership Tools: Motivation for Running, Away from, Towards winning, and For pure joy, only one is sustainable.

In the short-term, you can manage simply by focusing on outputs. You want those outputs to be clearly defined as Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) that are in alignment from the company level through individual job role descriptions and are integrated into the evaluation feedback systems.  

Diving deeply into motivations, you can look at three primary reasons why someone would run.  The observation from the outside will just show three people running, but digging deeper you could find:

  1. Running from fear. Running away from something. Doesn’t want to be reprimanded or judged. Fear of job loss or similar.
      
  2. Running toward a goal, whether it is winning a race, dieting, etc.  

  3. Running for the pure joy and love of running.  

To some degree, all of us probably have a mixture of the above when it comes to the things we do in life and work. While you will never achieve it, your vision should be getting yourself and those you influence doing what they do mostly because they love the act of doing it.  

That is one of the key elements of a sustainable and joyful life, career, and construction company.   


Why do you run?  

Why do those around you run?  




Cash Flow Tip 6 - Build Relationships
Build Relationships at All Levels. There isn’t a “Computer” that is negotiating your contract with you, approving your Schedule-of-Values, approving your billing or ensuring timely payment for you. It is the people.
Progressive Levels of Business Development
The most important first step for a contractor is to find a customer who will pay for a project. With continued growth, the process of business development becomes progressively more complex including how it is integrated with strategy and operations.
The What, Why, and How of a Construction Business (Vision, Mission, Values)
There are thousands of details to get right while building a successful construction project, business, or career. Clarity around the basics of what we are building, why we are building it, and how we will behave and decide along the way is crucial.