Growth is the Expectation

Every parent is thrilled by the first uncertain steps their infant takes, but no parent would be excited by the prospect of their perfectly healthy teenager crawling on all fours and asking for their butt to be wiped (they should be wondering if they read the wrong parenting books). There’s an assumption that, under normal circumstances, the child will shed the stages of infancy, grow up and become a fully formed human adult. Applying the metaphor to a work environment it’s no different: employees may start out like uncertain infants, falling down every three steps, but with time, effort, and the right support they will come to own their roles and grow into new ones. 

At Optimum Construction, we’re not content to leave our employees at the baby stage. We have an assumption of growth, personal and professional. We expect everybody on the team to challenge themselves to do the stuff that stretches them beyond what they thought they were capable of. Growth only occurs when we reach the limits of what is known and venture out into uncharted territory– this is as true in life as it is in the construction business. For many people, that is a frightening prospect. Getting good at something puts you in the vulnerable position of being bad at it until you develop the skills. But the only way forward is to charge through the discomfort, not around it. In this business, that means doing the stuff you don’t know how to do (yet) and focusing on the things you aren’t good at (yet). 

Success at this kind of work doesn’t come yards at a time, it comes in hard-earned inches. Each inch gained is a small victory, and confidence is built on the scaffolding of these victories. That doesn’t mean the first steps won’t be awkward and wobbly, but it is only by making a start that we find firm footing in our steps. The only way to learn something is to do it – to get in there and get messy. 

"Hey kid, take the keys . . ."

Case in point: Luke Rainsford, one of our long-running part-time employees who has now joined us full-time. If the name sounds familiar, his dad is one of our veteran team members. Just that fact alone speaks to the kind of people that work with us. Luke had never driven the hauling trailer and the time was ripe. Other employees were occupied, and the job needed to be done, so we tossed him the keys. If driving a trailer for the first time seems like an incident of little consequence, you’ve never been around heavy machinery. Everybody remembers their first time backing up a trailer, trying to master the magic of the mirrors. Now picture your first time being maneuvering up a narrow, steep driveway with houses on either side and New England traffic stopped by your teammates waiting to charge past while you do it. Imagine the consequences if you clip  the side of a house or a parked car. Or worse, hit an unwitting pedestrian walking past? There is a lot at stake operating heavy machinery, and it requires respect. Luke knew the risks of screwing up, but he did it anyway. 

Growth is expected, but we've got your back.

Part of what gave Luke the confidence to risk moving the trailer is that he knew the support structures that Optimum has in place. First steps require a guiding hand, the same as training wheels are needed before you ride the bike on two wheels. Growth can only occur if our employees know we have their back when they venture into new territory. We may throw our employees into the fire, but we'll never do it without multiple hands waiting with fire extinguishers. The occasional screw-up is expected, that’s part of learning. We want to give our employees the courage to learn from their mistakes. That means we don’t focus on the error and tear the person down like a prima donna chef ripping out the heart of his sous chef for overcooking a flambé. For instance, if Luke had clipped the side of the building while moving the hauling trailer, we wouldn’t have stripped him of the keys and told him he was an idiot. Instead, old-timers would have given feedback on what he could have done differently, and solutions would have been created to fix the damaged property. The main concern is never on the problem itself, but on how it happened and how we’re going to fix it. 

A commitment. A mindset.

One key reason why our company has continued to grow each year is that all of our employees have a mindset of growth. We’re constantly finding new ways to do things better, which means that we’ve been able to take on new processes and bigger projects. That is only possible when everybody is committed to learning and growing.  Even our most veteran employees who’ve seen it all and witnessed the many evolutions of this business have the same hunger to learn as the younger employees. From the most seasoned employees down to the new hire, all are willing to adapt to new technologies and new obstacles that pop up on every job site. 

Part of what makes Optimum special is the dynamic way in which we’ve grown. Our philosophy is not the ‘grow or die’ model of big corporations; that would be to outstrip our capacity and diminish the quality of the work. Think of it more like a family that has grown and multiplied. Take Luke for instance; when he was younger his dad would bring him out to job sites. He started off pounding nails into 2x4s while his father watched over. Then, while in high school, he started doing demo work and framing when Optimum was still small. After six years of working summer and winter breaks through high school and college, he now works for us full-time in an assistant project manager role. Luke could have decided to stick to one aspect of this business and become a specialist, but he wanted to learn every aspect and increase his skill set with first-hand experiences. That means he’s had to take on roles he wasn’t expecting, and do jobs that are not strictly within his job description—like backing up a trailer or getting on all fours in the summer heat to drag wires through an attic crawl space. 

These are the kinds of stories we love, stories that fit the mold of Optimum’s overall mission: to be a strong company that does good work, builds solid relationships, and does the right thing without taking shortcuts (no matter how difficult). The only way we can hope to live up to this high standard we set for ourselves is by assuming that we're all committed to growth, personal and professional.