12. Struggling With Team Building? Why Promoting Too Fast Hurts Your Contractor Business (And What to Do Instead)

This is something we've gotten wrong more than once.

2

And every single time it costs us a lot from time and money.

3

Promotions sound like an amazing thing.

4

Like you're doing the right thing, rewarding your team.

5

But if you do it too fast, can actually hurt your business.

6

Hey, I'm Che Toya.

7

I've spent more than 10 years in construction.

8

working behind the scenes in marketing, hiring, and I've seen how overwhelming it can be

to grow a business.

9

That's how we've learned to build a sustainable business using clear systems, strong

communication, and intentional recruiting.

10

If you're ready for better hiring, smarter remarketing, and a business that doesn't fall

apart when you step away, welcome to building better contractor businesses.

11

So before we get into this, I personally want to invite you to our Facebook group,

Building Better

12

contractor businesses.

13

This is where we are going to talk about our current struggles, where you can connect with

other contractors and actually get a real solution for your business.

14

The link is in the show notes.

15

So today, we are going to be talking about promotions.

16

We are going to be talking about the importance of not promoting too fast, which we've

done a lot of times.

17

So in the past, we've had people on our team

18

who were doing a really, really good job.

19

know, possibly they were just showing up, they had a great attitude.

20

They were doing the things that they were supposed to do for that position.

21

And so we would get super, super excited.

22

And like think, this is the person that's going to take our business to the next level.

23

So what did we do?

24

We would give that person more money.

25

We would give that person more responsibility.

26

We would put them at a higher,

27

position, but when it did not work, not because they were bad, but because they weren't

ready for that position or didn't even possibly want it, things would just fall apart.

28

That person who worked for us, they were no longer excited and they would turn into a

so-called bad employee.

29

And it's a lot easier to give someone money than to take it away.

30

And every time that we in the past that we've had to take something back, unfortunately we

lost them.

31

which also caused them to no longer see the vision.

32

And this is the problem that we've created by being emotional when it came to promoting

people that worked for us.

33

So today I just wanna share with you some tips of things that I have learned of just kind

of more of taking a look into your business before you just start promoting people.

34

And so number one is what I learned is that we were promoting people off of emotion.

35

We like them.

36

We love our people that we know work with us.

37

We wanted to reward them.

38

So we got very, very excited.

39

But promotions should never come from that.

40

Promotions should never come off of emotions.

41

And we've had to learn the hard lessons more than once.

42

So tip number two is what we've learned through real life promoting people too fast is

that we now have to test first.

43

give them a three month period before we actually give that promotion up.

44

We give them a period, amount of time before we promote anyone.

45

We let them actually step into that role.

46

Before there's any new title, before there's any new pay, the pay does not change.

47

Just to really see, can they really handle it?

48

Do they actually take ownership?

49

Do they even like it?

50

Maybe they don't even like that role.

51

So that just gives us an opportunity on both parties, which benefits both of us.

52

Before we actually promote them, they're being tested to see if they actually even like it

and to see if they're actually even good at it.

53

And that is something that we recently had to learn.

54

And so number three is to also understand that not everyone wants that role.

55

Another thing that I've had to learn is to ask people, is this the role you want?

56

Have a full understanding, what is their dreams?

57

What are their desires?

58

Just because my desire is this doesn't mean that the person that I think should be here do

this is the person that actually wants that.

59

So for that reason, having a full understanding, does this person actually want that role?

60

This was a big one for us.

61

Like we would get very, very excited.

62

As I said, emotions have a lot of emotions.

63

Just because someone was good at their job,

64

does not mean that they're wanting or needing a leadership role.

65

And that is something that I've had to learn to ask, you know, when it comes to promoting,

know, Kevin's had to learn to ask, do you want this role?

66

Should we like, you know, it's going to take time to spend with that person.

67

Like, are you the person that wants it?

68

Because if not, like, cool, it's no worries.

69

You don't have to take it.

70

But at the same time, like, I need to know, do you want it?

71

Number four.

72

This is also a big one.

73

You know, just because they are a hard worker doesn't mean they are ready.

74

Just because they're a hard worker does not mean they're good at leadership.

75

Being in leadership is, you know, it can be difficult.

76

Learning how to manage people, it can be very hard.

77

So just because they're a hard worker, just because they're good at their job doesn't mean

they are ready to take on a leadership role.

78

This one was very, very tough for us to understand.

79

that not everyone has that ability to take on a leadership role.

80

You know, some of the things that we may look for during the test is, do they take

ownership?

81

This is something that I can't teach.

82

You know, we can teach someone to how to do their job, but we can't teach them to take

ownership.

83

I can tell them to take ownership, but doesn't mean that they're actually going to do it.

84

Another thing that we also need to look at is accountability.

85

Do they take accountability for their actions?

86

And then also are they able to manage other people's accountability as well?

87

Last week I talked about setting higher standards for your team.

88

And so that being said, as a leader, you have high standards because you have to set

higher standards for your team as well.

89

So the accountability piece is very, very important.

90

Another thing that's very, very important is decision-making.

91

And this is something that I've had to learn.

92

when it comes to working with a team is are they good at making decisions?

93

As a leader, sometimes you don't have time to wait on myself or Kevin or whoever you're

currently waiting on.

94

You just have to make a decision.

95

So that aspect of leadership, being able to make decisions, not just waiting for me, I'm

not always available, and we can always fix a mistake.

96

So having the ability to make decisions is very, very important.

97

Also, I would say is, you know, as I've worked with people and they're like, okay, like

they don't ever have any type of input.

98

Like to me, it's important to have some type of input because I don't believe I know

everything.

99

I don't believe Kevin knows everything or anyone that we work with.

100

So having input to me as a leader is very important as well.

101

Another thing, number five,

102

And this is something that we've had to learn as well recently.

103

We stopped creating busy work.

104

And so something that we used to do is really try to keep people is to create busy work

because maybe we were slow and we're like, you can just do this.

105

But people have to see the value in what they're doing.

106

And if they don't, they're not going to actually put in that real effort that's needed to

make that successful.

107

So it's not just about creating busy work.

108

It's just very important.

109

If they're going to grow, it has to actually help the business move forward.

110

So number six, this is a very important one.

111

We must think long term.

112

So this is a big thing that we have had to learn.

113

You know, just because something feels right at the moment, is it going to feel right two,

three months from now?

114

If we give that person the promotion today, are we going to be happy tomorrow?

115

And so,

116

really taking into consideration within the business, is this the right decision to

promote that person?

117

In another way that to think long term, we've kind of really dove into is really, we have

people that we speak to, our HR, but really speaking to our HR, letting, we work with LMC

118

Consulting for our HR, and I will go ahead and put her information in this link.

119

But really speaking to Leah before we make any type of decisions.

120

And that is part of the long, she understands where we're going.

121

And so before we make any decisions on promoting anyone, really truly having a

conversation with Leah and she can kind of help us decide if this is a good decision with

122

promoting that person because promotions affect everything.

123

They affect payroll, they affect the team.

124

They also affect the culture.

125

So if you are thinking about promoting someone right now, be sure to ask yourself, am I

doing this because I'm very excited or because they actually proven that they're worth

126

that promotion?

127

Let them step into it first and then decide.

128

We personally have learned this the hard way more than once.

129

One wrong promotion doesn't just affect one person, it affects the entire team.

130

If this has helped,

131

Be sure to share it with another contractor and come join the Facebook group.

132

This is where you are going to be able to talk through real struggles that you are

currently having in your contractor business.

133

And let's continue building a better contractor business.

134

If you believe that this episode brought you real clarity, be sure to share it with

another contractor who also needs it.

135

And if you want to keep this conversation going, be sure to join our community of

contractors inside Building Better Contractor Businesses Facebook group.

136

This is a community where we talk through the real problems

137

that you are having in your business.

138

The link will be found in our show notes.

139

And remember, we are not just completing projects.

140

We are building better contractor businesses.

141

I will see you next time.