Grumpy People Need Culture

If you've gotten a feel for how Optimum works and what we care about most, you might have asked yourself "Why make such a big deal of the whole "relationships" thing? Aren't you a commercial construction business?" And you'd be right to ask, we really are aiming for something quite different in the way we do the work we do. 

But if you've ever worked in the construction business, you might agree that you could also ask, "Why are people in construction often so miserable and grouchy to each other all the time?" While there are exceptions, we've found that construction sites are often places that are not really that pleasant to be on. People are stressed out, competitive, passing blame for mistakes in an angry game of back and forth, chucking tools in frustration, yelling at each other when things go wrong, you name it. It begs the question, why is this acceptable in this industry when in so many others, if you did something like that, you'd be out of a job in 30 minutes? 

Imagine a nuclear reactor operator slamming his keyboard into a screen and storming out of the room when something didn't go his way. His coworkers look at each other, shrug, and say "He'll cool off." An hour later he's back on the job and no one says a word. Pretty hard to imagine that happening. These kinds of explosions (did you get the pun?) make good viral videos but that's because in most industries they're shocking. In construction, they are all too common. 

That's what got Optimum's founder Kendrick thinking: Why is it like this and does it have to be?

Does it have to be this way?

You might just chalk it up to construction being a rough business, so you gotta be tough. That might be a part of it, but there are surprising things, more structural, that make it like this. For one thing. There is a bottom line on every commercial endeavor and if that is the beginning and end of your thinking, things are going to get rough. Because there is one pie and everybody wants a bigger bit of it. So the subcontractors want to do as little as they can within the scope agreement and the project managers want them to do as much as they can, doing more within the same scope improves margin. The two are now at odds with one another. “Your mistake costs me money” vs “Your scope change costs me time, your ordering delay left me hanging.” It's me against you. 

So the work environment becomes an adversarial environment where everyone is looking for some sort of way to leverage something to get an advantage over others. In Kendrick's previous job he was required by his superiors to not just ensure a safe environment for everyone to work in but to actively go hunting for OSHA violations to write fines for, he even had a quota of how many he had to find. Then when they found them, they were used as bargaining chips to get concessions for changes of scope out of the subs. If I had to do that or had someone doing that to me….I'd kinda want to smash something too, wouldn't you.

But again Kendrick asked, does it have to be this way? Is the bottom line the only reason we work? There is more to being human than making a paycheck, right? Of course the answer is YES! But. It’s. Not. Easy.

Different from day one

When Kendrick started Optimum, it wasn't the normal step from the trades to management/ownership. He was taking a big gamble on trying to start a company that would, from the beginning, be different. Instead of an adversarial environment, why couldn't it be a collaborative team environment?

Instead of trying to fight for every bit of the pie on this one job we're on now, why don't we collect a really quality set of subcontractors and employees that we really like working with, really get along with, and do a bunch of really high quality jobs over the next ten years together, enjoy ourselves and each other on the way, and and make a good living together while we're at it. In the end, scrapping for every dime may not be the most sustainable route to success.

It sounds so simple…

Who wouldn't want to work at a place like that? A positive environment, personal growth, making a living! But it ain't that simple. Everybody loves a team until you have to be the one that sacrifices something for it.

Working through conflicts and disagreements actually takes a lot more work and energy than chucking a tool and walking off the worksite does. Dealing with difference of opinion means sometimes you just have to suck it up when you're sure you're right and you know the other guy's wrong, because the relationship is worth more than being right all the time.

You can only do this if you don't see yourself as the only thing that matters, if you're willing to be a part of something bigger than yourself, if you see the team's growth and success as the pathway to your own. This takes a fundamental reworking of the way construction is normally done, where it is about winning alone, “Me first”, “My career.” 

But if you're at a place where the company cares about your winning, your growth, professional and personal, you don't have to hold on so tightly to your little piece of the pie. But you have to aim higher. And that higher place is the heart of Optimum construction. If an ambitious new hire asks Kendrick, "how do I grow in the industry?" this is how he sums it up.

"Go right to our core values. If you focus on these, you will grow. If you stop worrying about running a bigger job or getting a promotion, if you focus on the daily grind process of winning rather than on the winning itself, what you want will work itself out. Here is the playbook: It's straight talk, it's listening, it's solving problems in new ways, it's never settling for anything less than dura beauty."

You might be reading this as a player in the commercial construction industry looking to make a change. While what we are aiming for is an attractive prospect, we should warn you, it's not for everybody. It takes work, sacrifice, and extra time spent on relationships, but we think that it is worth every bit of it. If you are interested, we're always looking for like minded people (subcontractors included!) Give us a call and come learn more about the unique way we do things.

We think the proof is in the pudding. When you see people flourishing in the right environment, you are winning together. After all, it sucks winning alone.