Until now, what it means to be “organized for success” has eluded many contractors. What does it take to move from a “run of the mill” company to “world class?"

The answer is that some construction enterprises organized for success and others are not. Many operate in the dark.

After years of research as a recovery specialist, I asked myself why there is such a difference in profitability among contractors of the same size, type and, geographic area, when each has access to the same resources, labor pool, materials and they produce the same variety of projects? I spent decades analyzing construction companies of every type and size, delineating their strengths and weaknesses to ascertain their inherent capability. This lead to a series of questions that created a system of self-analysis that any contracting enterprise can follow. The questions zero in on the precise identification of the firm’s strengths in order to expand them and recognize the firm’s limitations in order to correct them or compensate for them. To accomplish this requires a critical analysis of the organization.

Schleifer

It’s not necessarily pain-free.

If the answer to the questions are, “That’s the way we always do it,” or “Dad’s approach worked,” or “If it was good enough for grandpa, it’s good enough for us,” you know are in trouble. Practices that are part of the fabric of the organization and never reexamined or scrutinized just don’t work as well as those that are updated or replaced with current best practices.

To continuously improve, it is necessary to explore and ask: “Do some of our methods, processes or procedures need to be tuned up? Has something been developed that works better?”

To help companies figure themselves out, I created a diagnostic program designed to give a greater understanding of the complex functional areas of your business from corporate structure and financial management to operational capabilities.

Some will be surprised at what they discover and will be comforted by the simplicity of the solutions. Eighty percent of your effort will be in discovering weaknesses. The remaining 20% to fix them is easy because these vulnerabilities are not necessarily systemic. They are just not perceived as limitations and may even be considered advantages.

The easy-to-use yes/no question format is employed for simplicity and there is no right or wrong answer. This diagnostic program provides the equivalence of an independent expert analysis of every aspect of a construction firm, identifying in detail their strengths and weaknesses. You can find the program and and download it as an Excel spreadsheet from my blog, letstalkbusiness.net, under “tools. It should give you all you need to turn your company into a world-class organization.