Laws Control the Lesser Man

Growing construction businesses need processes and accountability systems the same way society needs laws, police, courts and jails.

D. Brown Management Profile Picture
Share

You can also never create enough laws or prisons to correct an underlying lack of strong values and shared mission.

Quote: Laws control the lesser man, right conduct controls the greater one. Mark Twain.

As a contractor starts growing leadership needs to put some processes in place to keep things running smooth.  This is called enabling bureaucracy because it is the standardized set of rules that allow sustainable growth. As a contractor grows past about 150 people or starts to expand geographically there will likely be a point where too much process starts to creep into the business.  This is considered coercive or stifling bureaucracy.  

Leaders must always be working on the balance between aligned mission, culture or behavioral norms, processes and accountability systems.  

If you find yourself and others pulling heavily on the process and accountability lever with diminishing returns the likely problem is lack of balance with people and their behavior. 


Learn More:

Compliance Will Only Take Safety So Far

Books:

Schedule a call with us to learn how we help contractors scale their businesses sustainably 




Mark Twain - Boundaries of Knowledge
Whether you are learning or training it is important to understand the boundaries of your own knowledge as well as the boundaries of those you are working with.
Fee Structures for Preconstruction Services and CM@Risk Projects
How much should you charge? How much can you charge? How should you structure it? What do you really want out of it? Answering these four questions sets the stage for effectively selling your preconstruction services.
Incentive Compensation for Contractors - Audience Question: Higher Base Compensation?
There is absolutely no perfect ratio between base vs. incentive compensation. Here are the variables and some rules of thumb.