Finishing What You Start

By Charles Vander Kooi

Each contracting company requires what I call the "Happening Man," someone who takes someone else's idea and builds it - makes it happen.

But with the personality of the Happening Man often comes an inherent problem. Many times, they are such aggressive, get-on-to-the-next thing people that they are not good finishers. They are not good at seeing and performing all of the little final details that need to be done to finish a job. Several of our clients have identified that problem with many, if not all, of their key, high production foremen or supervisors. They can get a job going and smoke through it until the last 10% of the job. When they get to the last 10% they flounder, begin to lose money and often times they never get it all done right.

Rather than try to push a rope uphill, trying to make these people something they are not (i.e. a "Finisher"), develop a finishing crew. For every 2, 3 or 4 crews that you have starting and doing jobs, have 1 small crew that specializes in coming in and finishing a job.

We had a Finisher when we were building golf courses. We had people who could go in and move great quantities of dirt, build greens and put in massive irrigation systems. They could get it within 90% of how it should be. Then, we would pull them off the job and send them to start up another one and bring it to 90% done. When they were gone, we brought in the Finishers, people who could see all of the little things that needed to be done to get that job finished and looking good. They had a seventh sense and an eagle eye to methodically and consistently go through the job and finish it.

The Finisher because of his somewhat slower methodical approach typically isn't very good at being a Happening Man either. But you can't beat having a crew of Finishers to wrap up a job right while allowing your Happening Man to get another job moving.