The Dancefloor Strategy: How Construction Firms Can Create Great Culture, Boost Morale, and Make More Money
Read time: 4 minutes and 27 seconds
Welcome to Building Balance, a weekly newsletter where you'll get actionable strategies to help you build balanced construction companies, careers, and people.
Today's Highlights:
The Goal: Teach you “The Dancefloor Strategy” — a system for getting buy-in for your culture from the top to bottom of your organization.
Culture is the greatest differentiator in business. Great cultures retain more people, boost productivity, and achieve higher profits.
Anyone can implement this strategy, and if you do, you’re going to love going into work everyday. Let’s get you and everyone else dancing and having fun!
No matter the size of the business, building a great culture is one of the most significant challenges facing Construction Companies these days.
Construction has survived without modernizing for years, but now we’re at a tipping point. Firm leaders are recognizing the need for cultural change — like how to manage remote work vs. in-person, the transition from Baby Boomer to Millennial, mental health and personal time, and so much more that Construction hasn’t had to fully address until now. The New-School and the Old-School are merging!
I think this is a great opportunity for firm leaders to stand out and push their businesses not just to survive, but to thrive. But how do you do it? How do you create a great culture with all that going on?
As a young guy who loves strategic management — but with a lot to learn — I often find myself thinking about these types of questions in my spare time. And sometimes I find answers in unusual places.. like last month, when I was at a wedding in Baltimore, MD.
The DJ started playing his music and I watched the first brave couple hit the dance floor. Moments later, a second couple got up, then a third, and before I knew it, even the guy at my table who had previously proclaimed he “isn’t a dancer” was out there doing his best with the rest of the crowd. He looked uncomfortable and awkward, but he was trying. And it was commendable!
So why am I telling you this? And what does it have to do with culture at Construction Companies?
Well, it’s really quite simple:
As business owners and leaders, if we want to create a great culture, then the first thing we need to do is inspire the first few brave people to get up and “start dancing”. We need them having an absolute blast on the dancefloor! Then, slowly but surely, we need to inspire the people who “aren’t dancers” to join in. Once they can see how fun it is and how well it’s working, it won’t be as hard! So those first people are key.
Here are 3 of the questions I think firm leaders should be asking themselves to a) get their top leaders on the dancefloor b) communicate the culture to the rest of the organization and c) get everyone else to join in on the dancing.
If you want to create a great culture, you are going to need everyone bought in.
This is The Dancefloor Strategy.
Let’s jump into the 3 questions.
1) How do you get your key people talking about your culture?
At a wedding, what do you do to get the first few people out on the dancefloor?
Find a good DJ
Play good music
That’s pretty much it — because for people who love to dance, it doesn’t take much of a push!
Well, our top leaders and executives are the same way.. they love to dance, they love to talk strategy, they love to create a positive culture.
So getting them to talk about it is pretty easy! All you need is a good DJ and good music — or in our world — a leader who can confidently define an exciting direction for the business. Typically, this would be the Founder, Owner, or President who defines a clear mission, vision, and values. Then, they use that mission, vision, and values to push their team to create a culture that serves all stakeholders — employees, their families, clients, etc. — above all else.
Something like: “Make the construction industry a better place for all people.”
With a mission like that, the first few brave “couples” (your Executive team) will understand what you’re doing and bravely be the first out on the dancefloor.
Give them a mission to follow, and they’ll set the cultural example.
2) How do you communicate your culture in a compelling and consistent way?
I think a lot of companies — especially in the construction industry — get hung up here.
They may have a people-focused Mission, a clear three-year Vision, and five strong Core Values, but they don’t know how to communicate it to anyone outside of the Executive team.
Employees in the trenches aren’t interested or straight up “don’t get it”, and when you think about it, that makes a lot of sense! Why? Because most companies don’t take the time to define key terms and communicate them in a consistent way.
Imagine if you were at a Wedding with three DJs all playing slightly different songs. No one would be in rhythm! In fact, people would start walking off the dancefloor because they couldn’t figure out what’s going on.
The same thing happens when you have three Vice Presidents defining your culture in three slightly different ways. People get confused and frustrated and have no reason to buy-in. So it’s critical to define all key terms and communicate your culture in a consistent and compelling way.
For example, our team recently read Pat Lencioni’s “Ideal Team Player”. In it, Lencioni describes 3 traits — Humble, Hungry, and Smart — as the main attributes of a team player. He then goes on to define exactly what each term means.
Now, when our team meets and we say, “hey we need to be smarter about this” or “that’s not a very hungry way to act”, we all know exactly what that means! Because we share a common definition of smart and hungry from Lencioni’s book. It’s a total game-changer.
So, in order to make your communication consistent and compelling, define the key terms and get really clear with your leadership team about what they mean. Then, encourage them to start teaching everyone else in the organization.
Now, we’ve got everybody listening to the same song.
Now, we’ve got the pieces in place to create a great culture.
Harmony ensues
3) How do you get buy-in at every level in the organization?
By now, you’ve clearly defined your culture and any key terms for achieving it.
Then comes the hard part: getting the skeptics to buy-in.
But then again.. why does it have to be hard? Why can’t it just be fun?
Think back to the dancefloor. What got that guy who “doesn’t dance” out there partying? It’s simple:
He saw how much fun everyone else was having and he didn’t want to be left out!
His fear of being alone outweighed his fear of dancing.
So he got up and joined in.
The skeptics in your organization will do the same thing.
All you need is for your Executive team (and anyone else who is bought in at this point) to start showing everyone how fun it is to be aligned under a common culture!
Once they demonstrate that it’s fun and works, more and more people will join in. Eventually, everyone will either be out there helping drive the culture forward, or they will self-select themselves as “not fitting in”. Both are going to happen. And that’s okay.
The job of a leader is not to make everyone happy — it’s to be honest and help them achieve a better future than they ever could have alone.
Focus on demonstrating that and you will get people on the dancefloor with you all night long.
We can all be dancers
At the end of the day, we’re all humans. And humans want to be happy, safe, and having fun.
If we can create an environment in our organization for all three of those things to happen, a lot of the other stuff with take care of itself.
So — no matter your role — don’t be afraid to go in on Monday and figure out a) how you can be one of the brave few on the dancefloor or b) drop your ego and finally get out there with everyone else.
I promise it can lead to better culture and a much more fulfilling career and life.
Once you do, let me know how you do.
Matt's Mental Health Corner
If you're like the rest of us, you love Ted Lasso and his ability to make everyone around him feel like the most important person in the world.
He's got his issues, but he somehow finds a way to make sure everyone around him is happy.
A good friend sent me this article on what Ted Lasso can teach us about mental health and I highly recommend checking it out!
Spark Notes:
Conflict is a huge part of construction.
Most of it stems from one side or another using the Contract as a weapon.
You can use the Contract more effectively if you do these 4 things:
Read the Contract
Know the key terms
Set boundaries with your partner
Stay objective
You’ll be running better projects with less conflict in no time.
Go give it a try tomorrow, and let me know how you do.
