March 2012: Full Contact Project Management

It’s Sunday afternoon as I write this, but not just any Sunday. It’s Super Bowl Sunday, and a good part of the country is joining in the celebration of food, fun, family, friends and, oh yeah, football!

Some actually watch the entire game, but I suspect that most watch the commercials and just enjoy the day. There are teams involved, and they are good enough to illustrate an important lesson for us in leadership.

Let’s begin by watching those two teams come running out of the tunnel and onto the playing field. The one thing you’ve got to admire is the players’ enthusiasm as they follow their coaches and captains out onto the ole gridiron. They believe in them, and so they follow.

U.S. Army says:?? I Am the Infantry, the Queen of Battle. Follow me! – U.S. Army Motto, Combat Infantry School, Ft. Benning, GA

Some teams get to that final game via a run of good luck. But, mostly, it has to do with the quality of their organizations. And, if you did make it to that game, your organization probably has some quality leadership.

Lombardi says:?? The strength of the group is the strength of the leader ??? I am the first believer. Leaders must have the quiet confidence, the certainty of professional preparation and personal conviction that the task can and will be done. If so, it will. – Vince Lombardi

Some things you can control. Others are way beyond your capabilities. For instance: It’s one thing for you to properly and accurately lay out your job, measure your quantities, order your materials, and get the right crews in place. You’re a pro. But, truth be told, that’s not your biggest worry.

For a lot of us, we are hemmed in by huge federal, state and local bureaucracies, all seemingly bent on getting bigger still – usually, at our expense. Small or large, what can a company do to best protect itself? In the early years of professional football, all teams were struggling financially, until a league was formed, benefitting all the teams. Regarding the winning of World War II, all the countries that desired freedom, rather than imperialism or Nazism or fascism, came together to defeat a common enemy.

In construction, the same holds true. Most of us do not have a clue about what we ought to be doing when it comes to dealing with out-of-control agencies, special interest groups, and activists who want all growth to come to an end – now that they have moved into your neighborhood. Fortunately, a solution exists, and it’s right in the pages of this magazine: the MCAA, along with other industry associations, chambers of commerce, and groups of like-minded contractors.

Henry Ford says:?? Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success. – Henry Ford

For us today, it’s more like, “?Ķor get out of business.”

And, one of Paine’s contemporaries, Benjamin Franklin, reminded us, “We must all hang together or, most assuredly, we shall hang separately.”

The next time your crew takes the field, will it be a level playing field for your company? Will there even be a field for you? You have a say in the matter. In fact, you have an obligation to your family, business and industry to ensure that the field will remain level.

My advice is simple: Follow someone who knows the way. Be a part of something greater than yourself. That’s why I am allied with Masonry Magazine and the MCAA. They know where they are going, and I want to go there, too. Follow me!

Gary Micheloni is a working project manager, speaker, author, consultant and coach. Write him at FullContactTeam@gmail.com.