
Leading a “partnering” session for my contractor client, their customer and other contractors who would contribute to the final project completion, one of the members stated that all of the trades were in a noble profession. From the looks on the other faces in our meeting, I wasn’t the only one that appeared to be caught off guard with such a viewpoint of our construction industry.
I must admit personally that through the years I have encouraged many contractors and leaders to love what they do. Yet, when I heard that description, “noble profession,” I was speechless when I considered that I had never once considered the construction industry a noble profession. It’s not that I think of the industry as a bunch of thieves and losers; but I’m not sure that I have ever considered our industry to be a noble profession.
The more I thought about this comment from the contractor who spoke it, the more I realized that he was right. We are in a noble profession and that got me to considering some of the types of projects that contractors contribute.
- Hospitals — places where people are cared for, healed, receive hope for a better life.
- Schools — what is more important than the education of our kids?
- Offices — where some people make a living to support their families.
- Parking garages — so people can park their cars in a safe manner.
- Sidewalks — walkers, joggers, children walking to school, etc., all benefit from a safe distance from cars.
- Houses/Apartments — most people prefer these to tents or worse.
OK, maybe I’m a little silly here but the fact is, what more “noble profession” can anyone embrace than contributing in some small or large way to what makes our lives more comfortable, safe and productive? While doctors, teachers and preachers are certainly important to our society, they alone do not have the market cornered when it comes to serving in a noble profession.
The partnering session I was leading involved the building of a water treatment facility. The contractor who coined our new learned term, “noble profession,” backed up his position. He shared with us a study that showed that clean water, coming right from our faucets, have more to do with sustaining healthy people, and in many cases, save more lives, than is often attributed to hospitals with doctors and nurses. Thus, those contractors about the table that day were engaged in a noble profession to have such a safe and positive impact on the hundreds of thousands of water paying customers.
Take a look at what your organization performs each week. Pick out the noble aspects of your specialty. Try sharing a few of the following ideas with your employees.
- Communicate with your workers the importance of what your company performs: Whom does it help? What long-term benefit does it provide?
- Be proud of your workers when they perform a project in an excellent manner.
- When a job is poorly executed, make part of your debrief with your workers about “Who are we doing this work for?”
- Begin to lead your workers to taking pride in the little things of preparation, cleanup, attention to details, returning tools and equipment to their rightful place, etc.
- Let our employees know that you inform your customers about how much your crews care about the customer’s needs.
Several years ago I worked with a general contractor who was expanding a cancer hospital that specialized in working with children. The superintendent for this project purposely ate his lunch two to three days a week while sitting in the waiting area of the hospital. When I asked him why he did this he couldn’t hold back the tears.
“Brad, I eat lunch there because I get to see moms and dads bringing their sick kids to get chemo or radiation. I see the joy and fear on their faces, mostly on the parent’s faces. I just don’t want to forget why I’m leading this project. I'm not just seeing that the mortar, steel, wires, etc., are going in as per the drawings, I’m building a place where lives are saved and cared for in the most comfortable and loving environment possible.”
I have to admit, I started to tear up when he shared this experience. Man, how could any of us not feel more noble in our profession than this!
Here’s to being a noble contractor!