The productivity of the construction industry worldwide has been declining over the past 40 years. One approach for improving the situation is using lean construction. As reported by the Ministry of Statistics, more than 295 infrastructure and construction projects have been delayed with overrun of more than INR 1 lakh crore. It can be reasonably presumed that time overrun would lead to cost overrun which in turn would lead to disputes.
‘Lean’ can deliver significant benefits as well as being a key tool in supporting the organization to deliver its strategic objectives. Let’s talk about fundamental cultural prerequisites to bring in lean in construction domains.
Evaluate the organizational culture
Construction requires new tools to assess the performance and gauge factors such as waste, value, cycle time or variability. It is important to understand the current mindsets and behaviors of your workforce. What is required here is to device a culture by asking the leaders what they think and act accordingly. It is important to obtain feedback from a representative cross-section of the organization to deploy standards and enact.
Identify and incentivize
Identifying the right attitudes and behaviors as well as appraisal for their performance is critical to motivation and engagement. It is equally important to get these incentives at the right time. If you are paying attention towards short term initiatives and wasting money and energy then the reward and recognition will not be having the desired long-term impact. It is essential to understand what essentially motivates your employees and triggers them to work.
Clear Vision coupled with innovation
Self-actualization essentially requires leaders to understand the inherent motivating factors for their employees. Promoting a culture of feedback, analysis, and collaborative planning is important for variation and responding to puzzling market situations. A consistent involvement of employees in the loop at all levels when strategizing will not only provide a breadth of insight and ideas to innovation, but by and large these ideas will be amplified.
Working towards a progressive path
Start prominently by an example. The communicable nature of behaviors in the office is very influential. Demonstrating positive behavior will have a spontaneous impact on the vibe of the organization. Even a small change can stimulate people and ultimately they will acclimatize to the changing scenario, but changing your organization’s culture is not an instant overnight process, it takes continued persistence, approach and leadership.
Thus, it is imperative to clarify the challenges that exists in construction industry and also disputes to resolve issues efficiently and economically.
We shall talk about the nuts and bolts of Lean in Construction industry in the coming articles.
About the Author:
Faber Vishal Kulkarni is one of the founding members and Director of Faber Infinite Consulting, with operations in Asia Pacific, Africa & Middle East. He holds a masters degree in Operations Management with his 1st degree being in Production Engineering.
This article was originally published on AfternoonDC. Original link available – here
