Excellence Never is Enough

Construction

Ways to Make Yourself Better At Your Job

To make yourself better at your job, you shouldn’t just focus on delivering better reports or spending more time with your bosses. Being better at your job is a matter of self-development. The following are some of the first five ways to be better at your job;        

Be adaptable to change. Nothing is going to stay the same during the course of your work. With that said, there are always going to be change in your work environment. The way you work this year may not necessarily be the same with the way you work next year. It’s important that you maintain the quality of your work (and even improve it!) so that your boss will pay more attention to you.

Think differently. Go the extra mile and create productive things related to the construction industry. Volunteer to speak at your company’s events and even to represent your company when you’re invited. Don’t just conform to the traditional way of thinking–it’s okay to challenge preconceived notions once in a while

Prioritize and get the most important things done.You can easily be overwhelmed by your workload if you constantly face concerns and if you let these concerns easily pile up. For you to do the most important things, relate them to your job first. Ask yourself: will doing this ultimately make yourself better at your job? Will this make a difference? If yes, then, go for it. If no, it’s better that you delegate it and let someone else deal with the not-so-important matters.

Build–and consistently sustain–your network. Have you ever heard the saying that your income is the average income of the five people who you hang out the most? Make sure to connect, reach out and develop sustainable relationships with authorities in your field as you’re going to need them to help you work on your skills and knowledge.

Always keep updated with the current events in your industry. Innovation is one of the factors that can help in construction company. For you and your company to succeed, you need to have a significant competitive advantage that can help put your company at the top of the game. All the resources that you need are available online. For a better understanding, you can even attend seminars and trade shows that can be valuable in shaping your skills and knowledge.

Ways to Be a Better Co-Worker

Always be on time to show you respect other people’s time and Say a cheery “Hello!” in the morning.Do you get into the office, eyes down, shoulders slumped, and immediately start work? If so, you’re likely to find that co-workers ignore you (at best) or avoid you (at worst). Get into the habit of smiling and greeting everyone as you arrive in the morning or begin your shift. It’s amazing how fast this little courtesy can create chilly workplace relations

 Learn the art of small talk. Ask your co-workers about their interests – their favorite music, films, books, hobbies. Showing a genuine interest in them will make them feel comfortable around you. Talk about your life outside the office when it’s appropriate. This will remind the people you work with that you’re a person first, not just an employee or employer. Express your good ideas in a way that makes it clear that they are not the only good ideas, and that others may have equally good insights to add.

Avoid gossip. You don’t want anyone talking about you behind your back, so return the favor. When a co-worker comes to you bearing some gossip about an office romance or someone’s impending firing, respond with, “Really?” Then change the subject or get back to work. If you don’t respond, the gossiper will move on – and you’ll retain the trust and respect of your co-workers.

When dealing with a difficult co-worker, pretend your children are watching.This simple visualization technique will help you to keep a cool head. After all, you’ve taught your children to have good manners. With them “watching,” it will be difficult to stop to the level of your infuriating co-worker

Spread your good cheer. it might be a card for a co-worker – maybe a thank-you note for helping you out the week before, or a light, humorous card for a co-worker who seems to be a bit down. Always compliment your co-workers on their achievements – personal or professional. Too often, we focus on what people are doing wrong. Ask what they think. People love to be asked their opinion, so go out of your way to ask, “What do you think is missing from this report?” or “How do you think I should handle this situation with X?” Then give the advice-giver a sincere thank you, even if the ideas are less than helpful.

Return calls and e-mails promptly. To win friends at work, a good place to start is good office etiquette. There’s nothing more frustrating to busy people than to have their e-mails and phone messages ignored. Your silence doesn’t just make their job harder to do; it also conveys an unpleasant message to them: you’re unimportant to me.

 Here’s one for the boss: always work at least as hard as anyone working with or for you. Make it clear that you would never ask anyone to do a level of work you wouldn’t be willing to take on yourself.

Construction

4 ways to increase teamwork in construction projects

Team work is one of the most vital issue needed at work to attain a common goal and objectives. Simply bringing different people together can’t make a good team but to have a smooth cooperation and collaboration in a construction project, these following tips and techniques can help you:

 Shared goals and vision; The first step to be taken is to define the goals and vision of the construction project then communicates to all members. Shared vision is the key to motive and inspire team members. A good vision needs to create the sense of common purpose and ownership for every individual in the project People need to understand what they are working towards and how they contribute to the common objectives . A good goal should be SMART: Specific, Measurable Achievable Realistic and Time-bound  

Roles and Responsibilities; in a construction project, there are many different groups such as architects, designers, engineers, owners, investors, contractors, subcontractors. These work groups must have close connection with each other to meet the deadline and accomplish the overall goals of the project. There should be assignment of roles and responsibilities for each team member. To have the best results, the leaders should understand the strengths and weaknesses of each individual to match the work with their competencies and without duplicating their team members’ efforts.

Conflict resolution; when people work together, conflict is unavoidable. It often stems from different points of view, misunderstandings and interpersonal problems. With the diversity workforce in construction industry, managers and supervisors need to keep an eye on every employee to recognize and handle conflicts immediately. Such skills as active listening, communication, negotiation, problem solving and decision making are needed for all leaders to effectively resolve potential conflict. Never let small problems become big issues, which easily lead you to be out of control. 

Building trust: People perform their best when they feel engaged, trusted and respected enough. You can create an environment of trust by increasing and encouraging feedback from all participants and tracking day-to-day work activities to timely adjust.  As a leader, you should show your openness and loyalty to your employees first. When your employees from different professions know each other well, they will cooperate more effectively.  

Construction

Top 5 ways to improve employees productivity at site

Employee productivity is a vital issue at work which most companies aim at attaining at the best. High productivity will trigger the need for your employees to generate a certain level of output to keep the profits flowing. Improving employees’ productivity begins at the managerial level and good manager will not assert himself/herself as a regulator at work but rather serve as a mentor. Here are some simple top 5 tips you can use to improve employee productivity.

  1. . Make sure your employees wear Personal Protective Equipment
    While workers should never be careless, it is important especially for those who work in the construction business to wear Personal Protective Equipment at all times. Not only does this protect a person from injury, it also makes production faster as there is no need to be too delicate with each job done. Also make sure to provide you employees with the right equipment. More modern or electrical tools might help prevent injuries and longer working hours
  2. Make sure tasks are clearly delegated
    sometimes; a task is left undone because people are waiting for each other on who will do it. Don’t make it a voluntary thing. Make sure each task is clearly assigned to particular workers so that nothing gets left behind.
  3. Don’t assign too many tasks to one person
    Workers should have their own specific task. A carpenter focuses on the carpentry work. Architects and engineers shouldn’t be expected to hammer down pieces of wood and nails. Plumbers are assigned to install pipes and electricians are tasked to take care of all wirings. If a worker is assigned tasks that are not his expertise, work gets slower and the job becomes inferior.
  4.  Set target dates and goals.
    Everybody should know about target dates. From day 1, your workers should already know what is expected from them. There should be a daily, weekly and/or monthly goal
  5. Keep your employees motivated
    It could be a simple pep talk before each work day or you could give a hardworking construction worker a pat on the back every once in a while—there are so many different ways to motivate employees and the best way to keep productivity up is by making sure each one of your workers are determined and happy to their work.