August 25, 2025 • 27 mins
#155 In this episode, we dive deep into the realities of leadership, frustration, and personal growth as a business owner. Discover why you can’t change people—and why that’s okay. Drawing from real-life experiences in the construction industry, we explore how to manage expectations, communicate effectively, and build a stronger, more adaptable team.
Check out the Duayne Pearce website here...
https://duaynepearce.com/
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
It used to make me so angry.
Why am I paying all these peoplea lot of money?
Why do I have to holdeverybody's hand all the time?
It used to really get to me asa business owner.
No one's ever going to be aspassionate about the business as
you are.
No one's going to understandthe pressure that you're putting
yourself under.
(00:21):
You've got to be able to leadby example and you've got to be
able to adapt.
That's probably the biggestthing I've learned when it comes
to leadership.
G'day guys, welcome back toanother podcast in the shed.
This afternoon we are up foranother cracking episode,
another solo one, today, andthis one is all about you can't
(00:44):
change people, so don't getfrustrated by them.
Look, this is a hot topicthat's been coming up quite a
bit lately.
A few people have reached outto me on socials about it and my
wife and I have actually had afew conversations about it with,
I guess, just with all the wetweather and what's been
happening across a couple of ourbusinesses over the last six
(01:04):
months.
So I just want to talk youthrough.
Everything I talk about on thispodcast is my.
I live and breathe it, I loveit and I like sharing my stories
, because if my stories can helpother people change their life,
be successful, realize thatthey're not the only one dealing
with something, then I'llcontinue to put this podcast out
(01:27):
.
So the reason I wanted to talkabout you can't change people,
so don't get frustrated by it isone of the things that for a
long time, used to put my stresslevels through the roof and I
would literally just be fumingall day.
Every day was because I'd turnup to my job sites and like,
(01:51):
just I can turn up to a job siteand within five I was gonna say
five minutes, but like,honestly, it'd probably be five
seconds I can look around and Ican see things not getting done
the way I would like them done,people being very inefficient,
rubbish, something not beingdone the way I've told someone
(02:13):
to do it, like all these things.
And it used to make me so angryand a lot of the time I'd be
like, well, why am I paying allthese people a lot of money?
Like, why am I paying leadcarpenters?
Why am I paying a supervisor tobe here and oversee all this?
Why am I paying a contractor?
(02:34):
Like, why do I have to holdeverybody's hand all the time
and it used to really get to meand it would make me very
frustrated.
There'd be a lot of yelling onmy job sites and then all that
that would just make everythingworse because then the people
that I was yelling at would getfrustrated and then shit would
(02:55):
just it wouldn't get done anybetter.
If anything, it'd get doneslower and worse and it was just
a horrible cycle.
That would happen quiteregularly and it's only really
been in the last few months.
Well, actually I've startedreally getting a lot better at
this for a couple of years, butin the last couple of months
(03:16):
I've just sort of had this.
I don't know if epiphany is aword, I don't know if I've ever
used that word in my life, butanyway.
But we're all different andover the last four or five years
since I've been doing a lot ofpersonal development um, doing
(03:36):
like understanding my persona,my personality, um doing disc
profiles multiple times formyself, my team, other people in
my business even Camille and Ihave done dis profiles but just
getting a better understandingof other people and how other
(03:57):
people operate has really mademe just step back and and calm
down and not get as frustratedwhen I turn up to sites and
stuff's not being done.
And I think the reality is that, as a business owner like
there's, it's few and farbetween like no, no one's ever
(04:18):
going to be as passionate aboutthe business as you are.
No one's going to understandthe pressure that you're putting
yourself under, and I can giveyou a few examples of this.
Like I've got a real examplegoing on with this at the moment
.
Um, like I put my, I'm puttingextra pressure on myself and
(04:43):
because of everything that I'mworking on and then that flows
through, to just making sure, ortrying to make sure, that
everything is flowing likeclockwork.
And reality is it's never, evergoing to all flow like
clockwork.
And so at the moment I've gotin one of my businesses.
I've got quite a big situationgoing on that we're working
(05:05):
through one of our otherbusinesses.
We're going through quite a fewchanges.
We're bringing in new staff,we're changing things up a
little bit.
My personal brand level up.
We got a lot of stuff going onwith.
We're still sort of wrapping upfrom the big event that we did.
We're tossing up whether we doanother one next year.
(05:28):
My building business has, likeright at the moment, over just
over 13 million dollars worth ofwork on.
They're all quite big projectsand there's just a lot going on
on top that.
My wife and I have got multiplecontracts on different
developments and properties andlike we're trying to sell
(05:49):
properties, we're trying to buyproperties.
We've got properties that we'vegot DAs in getting done for.
We've got properties we'rewaiting on building approval for
.
Like there's a lot of stuffgoing on and one job in
particular at the moment it'sone of the most complicated
slabs we've done in a very longtime and it's it's got suspended
(06:12):
concrete rooftop gardens, it'sgot exposed detailed block work.
There's not a straight, there'snot a right angle in the whole
job.
It's quite a complicated slab.
It's got a huge amount of steelin it and then, because we've
got so much work on, our guysare spread pretty thin and with
(06:37):
how busy the industry is, we'vealready rebooked and rescheduled
this slab once and if you're abuilder or concrete out there,
you'd know what I'm talkingabout.
Like you've literally got tobook concrete four to six weeks
in advance.
You got to book pumps, you gotto book concreters, like there's
so many things that go on andfor an outsider that's sitting
(06:59):
back um well, not even anoutsider.
But like for the guys on site,the ones that, like the guys
that just turn up, do their jobevery day, they're just there to
do their task.
They have no idea orunderstanding of everything else
that's happening behind thescenes.
Um, and like that's becomepretty evident from a few of our
(07:22):
team members by some of thequestions that they ask, but
they just like a lot of and thisis across the industry Like
there's a lot of people thatjust turn up.
It doesn't matter what tradethey are, but they turn up every
day and they're only thinkingabout their task.
And something I've come torealize is that's fine, but
that's completely fine.
(07:42):
Like they don't have to knoweverything that happens behind
the scenes, they don't have toknow what happens if that
doesn't happen.
Like it's not their job andthey're just quite happy to come
to work every day, do theirtask and and leave it at that.
And I quite often was gettingcaught up and just thinking like
(08:03):
why don't you care?
Like where, where's the urgency?
Why are you not getting stuckinto this?
Like do you understand how much?
Like what the possible costimplications are and what the
delays are and how the client'sgoing to feel if this doesn't
happen and that's why I've cometo realize, like it, it doesn't
you can't get frustrated aboutother people on job sites or
(08:26):
other contractors, because we'reall different and even though I
might have my everything on myradar, everything that's going
on in all my businesses and allthese moving parts, and even if
it's not that, even if it's justthe I'm talking like the one
job, it's not up to the plumberand the electrician or even my
(08:48):
own team on site to understandeverything else that's happening
next week, the week after onemonth down the track on that job
.
And so I've learned just totake a deep breath and step back
and just give the people theinformation they need to
complete their job, to do itwell and to help you achieve the
(09:12):
task that you're trying tocomplete.
So, on this one particular bigjob we've got, at the moment I
talk to my supervisor about alot of things, like he has to
have his head over everything,he has to know worst case
scenario, what happens if wedon't make deadlines, and he has
to be talking to all the othertrades, thinking ahead and all
(09:34):
that sort of thing.
But the carpenters and theapprentices on site we just need
to make sure that we're givingthem very clear instructions day
to day on what they need to bedone so that we all meet the end
goal and same with the formworkers, that we've got the form
workers on that job, so theydon't need to know what my team
(09:58):
are doing, what the plumber'sdoing, um, and when a crane's
coming and all that sort ofthing.
We just need to make sure thatwe're very clear and precise.
We have a conversation withthem and we talk to them about
how long do they think they'regoing to take, when do they
think they're going to have thisready, and then talk to them
all right, well, if, are youconfident in that?
(10:18):
Because if you're confidentthat we're going to book the
steel fixer for the day afterthat to come in and he's going
to start doing his first layerof steel um, that'll.
That means you can go away toanother job for a two or three
days.
We'll get him to get all hisfirst layer in um and then
that's it, leave it at that andthen, so he just knows he's got
to come back in three days timewe don't have to tell him that
(10:41):
once the steel fixer's got thefirst layer down, we've got the
plumber coming in to do all ofhis pipe work and then, once
he's been, we got theelectrician coming in to do all
these conduits.
And then, once they've done alltheir conduits, my team's going
to come through and they'regoing to frame up all the
rebates in the slab and then,once that's done, we're going to
get the steel fixer to put thesecond layer of steel in and
then, once that's done, we'regoing to pull some lines and
(11:04):
make sure everything's sweet andthen, once that's done, the
steel fixer is going to do allthese upturned beams.
And then, once that's done, youcan come back, and I for a long
time I think that's I wastrying to give everybody too
much detail, which was leadingto a lot of frustration because
(11:26):
I thought they didn't care, butI was giving them information
that they didn't need.
And so one thing I can't stressenough is if you, if you want to
be efficient on your job sites,if you want to achieve goals,
then you've got to make sureeach individual has the right
information.
You're very clear onexpectations and if you have to,
(11:50):
you draw things like I.
I was taught you always Icalled them storybooks, whereas
now we've every one of our jobshas got detailed whiteboards and
ask people if they're unsure,if they're not clear, or even if
you're hesitant for a minute,if you think that they're not
quite getting what you'retelling them, go to the
whiteboard.
(12:10):
If you haven't got a whiteboardon site, grab a bit of
cardboard, grab an off-cutterply or something, but write it
down.
Just by writing things down hasallowed us in my building
business to eliminate orprobably mitigate is a better
word.
I think, as builders, a lot ofwhat we do is we're always
mitigating.
We're mitigating delays, we'remitigating problems and always
(12:34):
trying to come up with solutions.
So give the right people theright information.
Don't overload them with toomuch information.
And I think as builders, ifyou're a builder listening to
this podcast, you've got to makethe time to show up when you're
needed so you might not have tobe there every single day.
(12:55):
But a lot of builders, Ipersonally believe these days,
feel that they can just rely ontheir trades too much and think
that they can run a buildingbusiness from the office or from
driving around their truck.
And that's possibly that's fineif you're doing very simple,
straightforward work, but if youwant to do quality work, you
want to produce quality results,then you need to make sure
(13:18):
you're on your sites at crucialtimes to make sure that every
contractor understands exactlylike you set expectations and
you give everybody theopportunity to give you feedback
and work together to make sureyou achieve the outcome that
you're wanting to achieve.
And on my projects, I've justeven today, I've just been out
(13:38):
on this big slab that we'redoing.
It's a crucial point.
We're pouring that slab inthree days' time.
Today was a crucial point.
We're sort of two-thirdsthrough the prep and I knew that
I had to get that job today tojust get an overview of it, to
talk to everybody on site, talkto the supervisor, get clarity
(13:59):
around the schedule, make sureeverybody's on track completing
their task and look it was.
It was like, luckily, I wentout to that site like everyone
was so head down, bum up,getting shit done.
Having a set of fresh eyes,just walk around the job and
pick some things up was veryvaluable, because there was a
lot of spots where the steel wastoo close to the ground.
(14:22):
The chairs had sunk down.
We've had a lot of rain.
There was some steel touchingsome brick and block work that
shouldn't have been.
So I was able, like I was onsite for two hours, but I was
able to go around, talk to eachindividual, I guess, set new
expectations around what Iwanted, show them what I was
(14:43):
unhappy with and how I wanted itresolved, and then I, for an
hour, I actually worked withthem and and helped some of the
younger guys understand why Iwas picking on the things I was
picking on and why I wanted itdone a certain way.
Um, so yeah, there's, I thinkit's.
It's really important to realizelike you can't get frustrated
(15:05):
by other people just thinkingthat they don't care or they're
not interested, because we'reall very, very different and I
think, as a business owner, it'sour responsibility, like we, to
be a good leader.
You've got to show up all thetime.
You've got to be able to bevery clear with people.
(15:26):
You've got to be able to leadby example and you've got to be
able to adapt.
Like.
That's probably the biggestthing I've learned when it comes
to leadership in the lastcouple of years is a leader has
to be able to adapt to everysingle different type of
personality persona.
You need to listen to people.
(15:48):
You've got to be able tocommunicate very well, but even
the way you communicate withpeople changes depending on the
type of person they are, and Ifeel like it's a reason why our
industry has so many problems,because everyone, like I know I
(16:09):
did this for a long time Like Isee the older guys in my team I
have to pull them up on it nowThey've definitely got a lot
better but I see so manycontractors doing this as well,
and that is treating everybodyin your team the way you were
treated and I've learned nowthat that's not going to get you
(16:34):
anywhere the way that, whetheryou were taught five years ago,
10 years ago, 15 years ago, theworld's changing.
And it's funny like we recordeda podcast a couple of weeks ago
with an old bricklayer, absolutecracker of a guy's real
character, and he pointed outreally well, like he's been a
(16:56):
brickie for 43 years or 42 years, and he was saying like he's
literally a brickie for 43 yearsor 42 years, and he was saying,
like he's literally like every10 years, things change.
So he's seen four, lots ofchanges.
And it really highlighted to melike he's 100 correct, like
I've seen, I've been in theindustry nearly 29 years now, so
, yeah, I've experienced three,lots of generations, I guess, um
(17:21):
, and we're all very, verydifferent.
We can't be teaching like wecan't get frustrated at our
apprentices because of howthey're doing things, what
they're doing, how they'relearning, because they're very,
very different people to what wewere when we were taught, doesn
?
It doesn't matter whether it's10 years ago, 20 years ago, 30
(17:42):
years ago.
It's a different world now.
It's faster paced.
Everybody's onto technology,everybody's on love it or hate
it, everybody's on their phonesand so we need to learn to adapt
to that and we need to teachthings very differently.
And something I've seenhappening in my team is the more
(18:04):
that I encourage people to bethemselves and to step up and
make us aware if something's notright or they're not
comfortable or they didn't quiteunderstand things.
That's flowing through thewhole team.
And even the older guys likemyself that were taught like man
(18:26):
, like run around the site, likeliterally get shit thrown at
you, get kicked up the ass ifyou fuck something up or did
something wrong.
We cannot do that anymore andwe shouldn't do that.
So we're seeing a lot of growthin our team by just being
vulnerable, having openconversations, getting the team
(18:51):
involved, like I, I make sureevery time I turn up to my job
sites before I leave.
We have a quick teamdiscussions or sometimes it's
quick, sometimes it might befive, ten minutes, other times
it could be half an hour.
But just having thoseconversations, checking in on
everybody, asking everybody ifthey've got any questions, got
any problems, asking everybodyare they happy with what's going
(19:13):
on, asking if they've got anyfeedback on what's happening on
site, on the schedule, the workthey've been doing, doing that
on a regular basis is huge and Ifeel by doing that the more
often you do that and make thata standard part of your site
visits, the more your team willsee that you're a good leader
(19:37):
but the less chance there is ofyou getting constantly
frustrated all the time thatshit on site's not what you
expect it to be.
And one thing I get told from alot of members in my Live Life
Build business is the biggeststruggle for a lot of builders
or business owners it doesn'tmatter whether you're a builder
(19:58):
or a tradie is when yourbusiness gets to that point
where it's big enough that youneed to step away.
You need to spend time doingadministration work and taking
that step back from site andlook, I, I'm, I feel you, I hear
I I still, uh, get that sort ofsituation myself.
(20:19):
I'm having that on that bigslab I'm doing at the moment
where I'm like, fuck, I've gotso much shit to do, I've got
meetings to have, I've got shitto organize like I can't be here
all the time, but it's a bigslab, it's a complicated slab,
like I want to be there, I wantto be checking everything, like,
and all I'm thinking all thetime is like is this going to be
right?
Are they going to pull it off?
Is it going to be ready on time?
(20:39):
And in my head I'm thinking like, fuck, if this isn't ready and
we don't get this clean andwe've got to, like, we can't
delay it, we won't getfrustrated by how other people
(21:05):
are, because we're all differentand I can't I can't force
people to learn like me.
I don't want people to learnlike me.
The reason we're a team and thereason we get so much done and
the reason we work well togetheris because everybody's
different.
We all have different strengthsand weaknesses and really, as a
leader of the team, it's up tome to work with the team to gel
(21:30):
all those strengths andweaknesses together and figure
out who's good at what, who getsanxious about something, who
doesn't like doing a particulartask, why they don't like doing
that task, all those things like.
The more you can figure thatout with your team, um, the the
better your work environment isgoing to be, the more work
(21:51):
you're going to get done.
Productivity, efficiency, allthat stuff will improve, because
you won't just be turning up toside of the time going off and
complaining about why shit's notgetting done and why it's not
happening the way you want it tohappen.
So, guys, look, I think this isa topic that needs to be
discussed more like like there'sso much frustration out there
(22:13):
because we all expect a lot fromeverybody but we have no idea
and we don't understand who theyare, how they operate, what
type of persona, personality,they are, and people aren't
putting the effort into it.
I personally believe that everysingle person should be made to
(22:35):
a dis-profile, anddis-profiling is something that
has helped me out incrediblywith understanding myself, with
my relationship with my kids,with Camille and I, and with my
team.
So stop getting frustrated inthe people around you, because
you can't change them, but whatyou can do is learn about
(22:59):
yourself and learn about them.
Go and check it out.
Check out what a dis-profile isand look, guys, if you've got
questions, reach out to us.
If there's something inparticular you want us to talk
about on this podcast, let meknow.
But look, as usual.
I hope you got a lot of valueout of this podcast.
You might be sitting therethinking you're the only one out
there in the industry that getsfrustrated about people that
(23:20):
work for you or contractors orwhatever, but believe me, you're
not.
Anybody that employs people orhas a business deals with this
every single day.
So, guys like, comment, share,subscribe all the things that
you have to do to make thispodcast successful.
We really appreciate everybodylistening and look, we'll see
(23:41):
you on the next one.
Cheers, guys.
It used to make me so angry.
Why am I paying all these peoplea lot of money?
Why do I have to holdeverybody's hand all the time?
It used to really get to me asa business owner.
No one's ever going to be aspassionate about the business as
you are.
No one's going to understandthe pressure that you're putting
yourself under.
(00:21):
You've got to be able to leadby example and you've got to be
able to adapt.
That's probably the biggestthing I've learned when it comes
to leadership.
G'day guys, welcome back toanother podcast in the shed.
This afternoon we are up foranother cracking episode,
another solo one, today, andthis one is all about you can't
(00:44):
change people, so don't getfrustrated by them.
Look, this is a hot topicthat's been coming up quite a
bit lately.
A few people have reached outto me on socials about it and my
wife and I have actually had afew conversations about it with,
I guess, just with all the wetweather and what's been
happening across a couple of ourbusinesses over the last six
(01:04):
months.
So I just want to talk youthrough.
Everything I talk about on thispodcast is my.
I live and breathe it, I loveit and I like sharing my stories
, because if my stories can helpother people change their life,
be successful, realize thatthey're not the only one dealing
with something, then I'llcontinue to put this podcast out
(01:27):
.
So the reason I wanted to talkabout you can't change people,
so don't get frustrated by it isone of the things that for a
long time, used to put my stresslevels through the roof and I
would literally just be fumingall day.
Every day was because I'd turnup to my job sites and like,
(01:51):
just I can turn up to a job siteand within five I was gonna say
five minutes, but like,honestly, it'd probably be five
seconds I can look around and Ican see things not getting done
the way I would like them done,people being very inefficient,
rubbish, something not beingdone the way I've told someone
(02:13):
to do it, like all these things.
And it used to make me so angryand a lot of the time I'd be
like, well, why am I paying allthese people a lot of money?
Like, why am I paying leadcarpenters?
Why am I paying a supervisor tobe here and oversee all this?
Why am I paying a contractor?
(02:34):
Like, why do I have to holdeverybody's hand all the time
and it used to really get to meand it would make me very
frustrated.
There'd be a lot of yelling onmy job sites and then all that
that would just make everythingworse because then the people
that I was yelling at would getfrustrated and then shit would
(02:55):
just it wouldn't get done anybetter.
If anything, it'd get doneslower and worse and it was just
a horrible cycle.
That would happen quiteregularly and it's only really
been in the last few months.
Well, actually I've startedreally getting a lot better at
this for a couple of years, butin the last couple of months
(03:16):
I've just sort of had this.
I don't know if epiphany is aword, I don't know if I've ever
used that word in my life, butanyway.
But we're all different andover the last four or five years
since I've been doing a lot ofpersonal development um, doing
(03:36):
like understanding my persona,my personality, um doing disc
profiles multiple times formyself, my team, other people in
my business even Camille and Ihave done dis profiles but just
getting a better understandingof other people and how other
(03:57):
people operate has really mademe just step back and and calm
down and not get as frustratedwhen I turn up to sites and
stuff's not being done.
And I think the reality is that, as a business owner like
there's, it's few and farbetween like no, no one's ever
(04:18):
going to be as passionate aboutthe business as you are.
No one's going to understandthe pressure that you're putting
yourself under, and I can giveyou a few examples of this.
Like I've got a real examplegoing on with this at the moment
.
Um, like I put my, I'm puttingextra pressure on myself and
(04:43):
because of everything that I'mworking on and then that flows
through, to just making sure, ortrying to make sure, that
everything is flowing likeclockwork.
And reality is it's never, evergoing to all flow like
clockwork.
And so at the moment I've gotin one of my businesses.
I've got quite a big situationgoing on that we're working
(05:05):
through one of our otherbusinesses.
We're going through quite a fewchanges.
We're bringing in new staff,we're changing things up a
little bit.
My personal brand level up.
We got a lot of stuff going onwith.
We're still sort of wrapping upfrom the big event that we did.
We're tossing up whether we doanother one next year.
(05:28):
My building business has, likeright at the moment, over just
over 13 million dollars worth ofwork on.
They're all quite big projectsand there's just a lot going on
on top that.
My wife and I have got multiplecontracts on different
developments and properties andlike we're trying to sell
(05:49):
properties, we're trying to buyproperties.
We've got properties that we'vegot DAs in getting done for.
We've got properties we'rewaiting on building approval for
.
Like there's a lot of stuffgoing on and one job in
particular at the moment it'sone of the most complicated
slabs we've done in a very longtime and it's it's got suspended
(06:12):
concrete rooftop gardens, it'sgot exposed detailed block work.
There's not a straight, there'snot a right angle in the whole
job.
It's quite a complicated slab.
It's got a huge amount of steelin it and then, because we've
got so much work on, our guysare spread pretty thin and with
(06:37):
how busy the industry is, we'vealready rebooked and rescheduled
this slab once and if you're abuilder or concrete out there,
you'd know what I'm talkingabout.
Like you've literally got tobook concrete four to six weeks
in advance.
You got to book pumps, you gotto book concreters, like there's
so many things that go on andfor an outsider that's sitting
(06:59):
back um well, not even anoutsider.
But like for the guys on site,the ones that, like the guys
that just turn up, do their jobevery day, they're just there to
do their task.
They have no idea orunderstanding of everything else
that's happening behind thescenes.
Um, and like that's becomepretty evident from a few of our
(07:22):
team members by some of thequestions that they ask, but
they just like a lot of and thisis across the industry Like
there's a lot of people thatjust turn up.
It doesn't matter what tradethey are, but they turn up every
day and they're only thinkingabout their task.
And something I've come torealize is that's fine, but
that's completely fine.
(07:42):
Like they don't have to knoweverything that happens behind
the scenes, they don't have toknow what happens if that
doesn't happen.
Like it's not their job andthey're just quite happy to come
to work every day, do theirtask and and leave it at that.
And I quite often was gettingcaught up and just thinking like
(08:03):
why don't you care?
Like where, where's the urgency?
Why are you not getting stuckinto this?
Like do you understand how much?
Like what the possible costimplications are and what the
delays are and how the client'sgoing to feel if this doesn't
happen and that's why I've cometo realize, like it, it doesn't
you can't get frustrated aboutother people on job sites or
(08:26):
other contractors, because we'reall different and even though I
might have my everything on myradar, everything that's going
on in all my businesses and allthese moving parts, and even if
it's not that, even if it's justthe I'm talking like the one
job, it's not up to the plumberand the electrician or even my
(08:48):
own team on site to understandeverything else that's happening
next week, the week after onemonth down the track on that job
.
And so I've learned just totake a deep breath and step back
and just give the people theinformation they need to
complete their job, to do itwell and to help you achieve the
(09:12):
task that you're trying tocomplete.
So, on this one particular bigjob we've got, at the moment I
talk to my supervisor about alot of things, like he has to
have his head over everything,he has to know worst case
scenario, what happens if wedon't make deadlines, and he has
to be talking to all the othertrades, thinking ahead and all
(09:34):
that sort of thing.
But the carpenters and theapprentices on site we just need
to make sure that we're givingthem very clear instructions day
to day on what they need to bedone so that we all meet the end
goal and same with the formworkers, that we've got the form
workers on that job, so theydon't need to know what my team
(09:58):
are doing, what the plumber'sdoing, um, and when a crane's
coming and all that sort ofthing.
We just need to make sure thatwe're very clear and precise.
We have a conversation withthem and we talk to them about
how long do they think they'regoing to take, when do they
think they're going to have thisready, and then talk to them
all right, well, if, are youconfident in that?
(10:18):
Because if you're confidentthat we're going to book the
steel fixer for the day afterthat to come in and he's going
to start doing his first layerof steel um, that'll.
That means you can go away toanother job for a two or three
days.
We'll get him to get all hisfirst layer in um and then
that's it, leave it at that andthen, so he just knows he's got
to come back in three days timewe don't have to tell him that
(10:41):
once the steel fixer's got thefirst layer down, we've got the
plumber coming in to do all ofhis pipe work and then, once
he's been, we got theelectrician coming in to do all
these conduits.
And then, once they've done alltheir conduits, my team's going
to come through and they'regoing to frame up all the
rebates in the slab and then,once that's done, we're going to
get the steel fixer to put thesecond layer of steel in and
then, once that's done, we'regoing to pull some lines and
(11:04):
make sure everything's sweet andthen, once that's done, the
steel fixer is going to do allthese upturned beams.
And then, once that's done, youcan come back, and I for a long
time I think that's I wastrying to give everybody too
much detail, which was leadingto a lot of frustration because
(11:26):
I thought they didn't care, butI was giving them information
that they didn't need.
And so one thing I can't stressenough is if you, if you want to
be efficient on your job sites,if you want to achieve goals,
then you've got to make sureeach individual has the right
information.
You're very clear onexpectations and if you have to,
(11:50):
you draw things like I.
I was taught you always Icalled them storybooks, whereas
now we've every one of our jobshas got detailed whiteboards and
ask people if they're unsure,if they're not clear, or even if
you're hesitant for a minute,if you think that they're not
quite getting what you'retelling them, go to the
whiteboard.
(12:10):
If you haven't got a whiteboardon site, grab a bit of
cardboard, grab an off-cutterply or something, but write it
down.
Just by writing things down hasallowed us in my building
business to eliminate orprobably mitigate is a better
word.
I think, as builders, a lot ofwhat we do is we're always
mitigating.
We're mitigating delays, we'remitigating problems and always
(12:34):
trying to come up with solutions.
So give the right people theright information.
Don't overload them with toomuch information.
And I think as builders, ifyou're a builder listening to
this podcast, you've got to makethe time to show up when you're
needed so you might not have tobe there every single day.
(12:55):
But a lot of builders, Ipersonally believe these days,
feel that they can just rely ontheir trades too much and think
that they can run a buildingbusiness from the office or from
driving around their truck.
And that's possibly that's fineif you're doing very simple,
straightforward work, but if youwant to do quality work, you
want to produce quality results,then you need to make sure
(13:18):
you're on your sites at crucialtimes to make sure that every
contractor understands exactlylike you set expectations and
you give everybody theopportunity to give you feedback
and work together to make sureyou achieve the outcome that
you're wanting to achieve.
And on my projects, I've justeven today, I've just been out
(13:38):
on this big slab that we'redoing.
It's a crucial point.
We're pouring that slab inthree days' time.
Today was a crucial point.
We're sort of two-thirdsthrough the prep and I knew that
I had to get that job today tojust get an overview of it, to
talk to everybody on site, talkto the supervisor, get clarity
(13:59):
around the schedule, make sureeverybody's on track completing
their task and look it was.
It was like, luckily, I wentout to that site like everyone
was so head down, bum up,getting shit done.
Having a set of fresh eyes,just walk around the job and
pick some things up was veryvaluable, because there was a
lot of spots where the steel wastoo close to the ground.
(14:22):
The chairs had sunk down.
We've had a lot of rain.
There was some steel touchingsome brick and block work that
shouldn't have been.
So I was able, like I was onsite for two hours, but I was
able to go around, talk to eachindividual, I guess, set new
expectations around what Iwanted, show them what I was
(14:43):
unhappy with and how I wanted itresolved, and then I, for an
hour, I actually worked withthem and and helped some of the
younger guys understand why Iwas picking on the things I was
picking on and why I wanted itdone a certain way.
Um, so yeah, there's, I thinkit's.
It's really important to realizelike you can't get frustrated
(15:05):
by other people just thinkingthat they don't care or they're
not interested, because we'reall very, very different and I
think, as a business owner, it'sour responsibility, like we, to
be a good leader.
You've got to show up all thetime.
You've got to be able to bevery clear with people.
(15:26):
You've got to be able to leadby example and you've got to be
able to adapt.
Like.
That's probably the biggestthing I've learned when it comes
to leadership in the lastcouple of years is a leader has
to be able to adapt to everysingle different type of
personality persona.
You need to listen to people.
(15:48):
You've got to be able tocommunicate very well, but even
the way you communicate withpeople changes depending on the
type of person they are, and Ifeel like it's a reason why our
industry has so many problems,because everyone, like I know I
(16:09):
did this for a long time Like Isee the older guys in my team I
have to pull them up on it nowThey've definitely got a lot
better but I see so manycontractors doing this as well,
and that is treating everybodyin your team the way you were
treated and I've learned nowthat that's not going to get you
(16:34):
anywhere the way that, whetheryou were taught five years ago,
10 years ago, 15 years ago, theworld's changing.
And it's funny like we recordeda podcast a couple of weeks ago
with an old bricklayer, absolutecracker of a guy's real
character, and he pointed outreally well, like he's been a
(16:56):
brickie for 43 years or 42 years, and he was saying like he's
literally a brickie for 43 yearsor 42 years, and he was saying,
like he's literally like every10 years, things change.
So he's seen four, lots ofchanges.
And it really highlighted to melike he's 100 correct, like
I've seen, I've been in theindustry nearly 29 years now, so
, yeah, I've experienced three,lots of generations, I guess, um
(17:21):
, and we're all very, verydifferent.
We can't be teaching like wecan't get frustrated at our
apprentices because of howthey're doing things, what
they're doing, how they'relearning, because they're very,
very different people to what wewere when we were taught, doesn
?
It doesn't matter whether it's10 years ago, 20 years ago, 30
(17:42):
years ago.
It's a different world now.
It's faster paced.
Everybody's onto technology,everybody's on love it or hate
it, everybody's on their phonesand so we need to learn to adapt
to that and we need to teachthings very differently.
And something I've seenhappening in my team is the more
(18:04):
that I encourage people to bethemselves and to step up and
make us aware if something's notright or they're not
comfortable or they didn't quiteunderstand things.
That's flowing through thewhole team.
And even the older guys likemyself that were taught like man
(18:26):
, like run around the site, likeliterally get shit thrown at
you, get kicked up the ass ifyou fuck something up or did
something wrong.
We cannot do that anymore andwe shouldn't do that.
So we're seeing a lot of growthin our team by just being
vulnerable, having openconversations, getting the team
(18:51):
involved, like I, I make sureevery time I turn up to my job
sites before I leave.
We have a quick teamdiscussions or sometimes it's
quick, sometimes it might befive, ten minutes, other times
it could be half an hour.
But just having thoseconversations, checking in on
everybody, asking everybody ifthey've got any questions, got
any problems, asking everybodyare they happy with what's going
(19:13):
on, asking if they've got anyfeedback on what's happening on
site, on the schedule, the workthey've been doing, doing that
on a regular basis is huge and Ifeel by doing that the more
often you do that and make thata standard part of your site
visits, the more your team willsee that you're a good leader
(19:37):
but the less chance there is ofyou getting constantly
frustrated all the time thatshit on site's not what you
expect it to be.
And one thing I get told from alot of members in my Live Life
Build business is the biggeststruggle for a lot of builders
or business owners it doesn'tmatter whether you're a builder
(19:58):
or a tradie is when yourbusiness gets to that point
where it's big enough that youneed to step away.
You need to spend time doingadministration work and taking
that step back from site andlook, I, I'm, I feel you, I hear
I I still, uh, get that sort ofsituation myself.
(20:19):
I'm having that on that bigslab I'm doing at the moment
where I'm like, fuck, I've gotso much shit to do, I've got
meetings to have, I've got shitto organize like I can't be here
all the time, but it's a bigslab, it's a complicated slab,
like I want to be there, I wantto be checking everything, like,
and all I'm thinking all thetime is like is this going to be
right?
Are they going to pull it off?
Is it going to be ready on time?
(20:39):
And in my head I'm thinking like, fuck, if this isn't ready and
we don't get this clean andwe've got to, like, we can't
delay it, we won't getfrustrated by how other people
(21:05):
are, because we're all differentand I can't I can't force
people to learn like me.
I don't want people to learnlike me.
The reason we're a team and thereason we get so much done and
the reason we work well togetheris because everybody's
different.
We all have different strengthsand weaknesses and really, as a
leader of the team, it's up tome to work with the team to gel
(21:30):
all those strengths andweaknesses together and figure
out who's good at what, who getsanxious about something, who
doesn't like doing a particulartask, why they don't like doing
that task, all those things like.
The more you can figure thatout with your team, um, the the
better your work environment isgoing to be, the more work
(21:51):
you're going to get done.
Productivity, efficiency, allthat stuff will improve, because
you won't just be turning up toside of the time going off and
complaining about why shit's notgetting done and why it's not
happening the way you want it tohappen.
So, guys, look, I think this isa topic that needs to be
discussed more like like there'sso much frustration out there
(22:13):
because we all expect a lot fromeverybody but we have no idea
and we don't understand who theyare, how they operate, what
type of persona, personality,they are, and people aren't
putting the effort into it.
I personally believe that everysingle person should be made to
(22:35):
a dis-profile, anddis-profiling is something that
has helped me out incrediblywith understanding myself, with
my relationship with my kids,with Camille and I, and with my
team.
So stop getting frustrated inthe people around you, because
you can't change them, but whatyou can do is learn about
(22:59):
yourself and learn about them.
Go and check it out.
Check out what a dis-profile isand look, guys, if you've got
questions, reach out to us.
If there's something inparticular you want us to talk
about on this podcast, let meknow.
But look, as usual.
I hope you got a lot of valueout of this podcast.
You might be sitting therethinking you're the only one out
there in the industry that getsfrustrated about people that
(23:20):
work for you or contractors orwhatever, but believe me, you're
not.
Anybody that employs people orhas a business deals with this
every single day.
So, guys like, comment, share,subscribe all the things that
you have to do to make thispodcast successful.
We really appreciate everybodylistening and look, we'll see
(23:41):
you on the next one.
Cheers, guys.
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