Giving Employees Control And Responsibility For Their Production

It's one thing to show someone the historical data on what happened - it is a giant step forward when you can give them the tools they need to effectively control the outcome. One of the most effective tools you can provide to employees is Scheduling.

First of all, scheduling gives everyone more control over the job. By having the ability to see what impacts changes will have on the schedule the project manager now has the tools to make decisions that are logical and likely to generate the desired results. The benefit of this in motivating employees goes beyond the monetary one, although a job that is managed properly to finish faster will usually be more profitable and this will provide even more motivation to someone whose compensation depends on profit.

Beyond that, however, scheduling can give employees the sense of control that will provide a motivation of its own. It is hard to be motivated to work harder or smarter if you are out of control. A good example of motivating employees by giving them more control is through communications with Subcontractors. If you have ever watched a fellow contractor spend half his time on the phone - being interrupted every few minutes so he can call a sub and let them know he needs them on the job (frantically) then you know what being out of control does. Watch for these people - they are the ones who call everyone on Sunday night. And compounding the problem is that they spend so much time, energy and concentration on these calls that they do not have enough left for more important tasks - these urgent (last minute) items have them permanently occupied.

But if you use Scheduling, you now have an easy-to-use method of projecting when those subs are needed and a communication tool that puts the project manager back in control of the project. Give them a project schedule at the beginning of the project. Then update them on a weekly or semi-monthly basis. Faxing reminders/notices to individual subcontractors a few days before they are needed on the project. You may then wish to follow up with a reminder call the day before the schedule shows them starting work on the job. This will ensure that they are ready and available when needed on the job.

And something else has happened - we have raised the "level" of that person's job. By removing the busywork of all of those calls we have freed up some time that can be spent on the more important tasks in the day - the proper analysis of what is happening on the job. Instead of a day filled with frantic and basically uninteresting calls, this person now has a job that requires a little more thought and is certainly a much better job.