4. Trailblazing Tactics: Asking Tough Questions

Hey everyone, and welcome back to another episode of Construction Trailblazers Paving the Way to Excellence, your go to podcast for innovation, success, and streamlined excellence in the building industry. I'm Samantha C. Prestidge, your host and expert in operations and processes. I've seen the transformative effects of adopting smart, efficient processes. These changes not only boost company revenue, but also restore peace of mind for owners overwhelmed by the daily grind.

Today, we're diving into a topic that might make some of you feel a little bit uncomfortable, but trust me, it's crucial for real growth and solving those deep seated issues in your business. We're talking about the importance of asking tough questions and how to dig deep so that we can find real solutions. If you're all about leaving behind the daily firefighting and moving towards a future of freedom and predictable success, then you're in the right place.

Discover more about us and catch up on past episodes at ConstructionTrailBlazers. com.

Alright, let's get into it. So, a few weeks ago, I was meeting with an engineering client who came to me with what they thought was a singular issue, and they were looking for a quick fix solution. If you listened to our episode about understanding when something is and isn't worth your time, then you know I am not a fix it flash, and I wasn't going to be giving that client a quick fix solution unless it was actually the best solution for them.

Because here's the thing, a quick fix is usually a band aid solution. It's a remedy we think will solve the problem when it's really only addressing the surface level of that problem and we're not getting down to the real issue. So my client was not ready for what happened after they told me about their problem because I started asking them some tough, uncomfortable questions. These were questions that just needed to be asked and no one on their team was asking them.

So things like, do we know the revenue lost from this problem? Did anyone actually communicate to this person what the expectation was? Or was there any followup or follow through after you all discussed this at your last strategy meeting? These are questions that might sound tough, but are really just to get a lay of the land. Let's figure out what's happening. What is the real problem here? After most of these questions, the room would usually go quiet for a few moments.

And then someone would chime in and say, Whoa, Sam, you're cutting deep. Yes, I do cut deep, especially when we've got big challenges that are leaking money. Asking uncomfortable questions is not about just causing stress for the sake of it. I don't like making my clients feel uncomfortable and squirm in their seats.

Although, honestly, if whoever you've hired to solve the big challenges, whether it's a consultant like me, an employee, your VP of strategy, if they aren't making you shift in your seats and feel a little uncomfortable sometimes, then they aren't really doing their job. So I don't like making my clients feel uncomfortable, but I do like helping them solve their challenges with effective solutions.

Big challenges are usually a result of small issues that add up over time and have never been properly addressed and resolved. So to solve those problems, you need to dig into all of those issues and understand why they happened in the first place. Those tough questions helps. Dear the conversation toward the heart of the issue and understand that why, this is what leads us to make meaningful change.

Instead of feeling like we're just throwing spaghetti at the walls, it takes you beyond that quick fix-it flash mentality and temporary solutions, and instead towards strategies that tackle root causes. And that's where the pain of change actually pays off. So, why do most of us not ask tough questions? Why do most of us not like digging deep? Sometimes, we're afraid to ask tough questions because it might feel like we're trying to point fingers and blame someone.

So, that question earlier, did anyone actually communicate to this person what the expectation was? It can feel like an attack, even though it's really just Figuring out who is responsible for what, where have, where could things might have gone wrong. We're not trying to play the blame game, we're just trying to understand what happened.

Sometimes we don't ask tough questions because we don't want to step on someone's toes, and we're just trying to politely stay in our lane, so we might see problems spiraling out of control, but if we bring it up, it might feel like We're stepping outside of our lane like that. That's not our responsibility. They've got it under control. and we're, you know, trying to tiptoe around egos when really egos do not have a place when we are problem solving.

There's no room for egos because we should all have the same goal in mind, which is to be better to excel together to achieve goals together. Right? So staying in our lane, staying in this comfort zone, that's what leads us to Band Aid solutions. And Band Aid solutions come with a hidden price tag. They may offer temporary relief, but they don't really solve the problem. So those same issues tend to come up again months down the line and usually have an even bigger price tag then.

If you're used to band aid solutions, it likely means your team is also used to never navigating conflict and giving tough feedback to each other. This is what I call a kumbaya team. Everyone tries to get along. Things seem to be going okay. But we're not really achieving anything great together and there's usually also a lot of tension that just exists under the surface. Tension that gets brushed under the rug every day.

Kumbaya teams crack as soon as someone starts asking tough questions because they just don't know the difference between healthy conflict and destructive conflict. Kumbaya teams can also crack when their main leader is out of play. So I've seen this happen a few times where a CEO has been leading a company for decades and thinks everything is great. And instead of selling and exiting, they just start another passion project or they become a part time founder, part time CEO of another company.

And then that leadership team on the original company just doesn't know how to navigate conflict without their main leader, that CEO, and things start falling apart. So what seemed like an amazing, well running team was really a kumbaya team that could not function without the CEO solving all of their conflicts every day. Like, yes, we definitely need a CEO to steership. We need a main leader to give us that vision and that guidance.

But as a leadership team, we should still be able to solve problems without that CEO's input all the time, right? If you were to take our What Kind of Superhero Are You? quiz, you would probably end up scoring a Glide Guardian here. So again, that's the team that's doing okay, but not really achieving ambitious goals. That healthy conflict and tough questions is what catalyzes us for growth. It's what equips us to be able to achieve ambitious, awesome goals.

And by digging deep, we can understand the numbers behind our issues, whether it's lost revenue, wasted resources, damaged reputation, whatever it is, and then we can understand really why that issue is happening and take steps toward effective, strategic solutions.

Okay, so if you know my content, you know I'm not just going to leave you with a strategic concept. I'm not just going to tell you, deal with healthy conflict and then find the solutions. I am going to equip you with the next steps, the real action you need to take to implement this idea of digging deep, asking tough questions. So, if you've taken our quiz, if you're a Glide Guardian, a Fix It Flash, even a Mayhem Maverick, then you're going to start small here.

When issues come up, you're going to just start asking questions in low stake situations. This could be doing one on one meetings with your team or even just casual conversation when someone pops up into your office, they reach out to you on Slack or Teams with some kind of small problem. You're gonna just start asking the why, And starting to ask some follow up questions here.

The goal here is to just get used to a little bit of discomfort without the high pressure of a big decision on the line. You want to embrace curiosity. If you are a Thunder Trooper, you're a Captain of Excellence, you're doing awesome here, you're doing great here. Your goal is to continue to embrace curiosity. So also if you've started small, you've gotten used to that discomfort. Now you're going to embrace curiosity into the next step.

You're going to start asking why multiple times to peel back all of the layers, get that dirt from under the rug. Here's an example of what this could look like. Let's say you have a project that is running behind schedule. Instead of asking. Why are we behind? You're going to ask, why were we not able to anticipate these challenges that would delay our schedule?

Or if you do want to ask why are we behind and just see what that person says, then whatever the response is, you're going to follow up with another why. So if they say, well, we had an issue with our trucking team getting here on time, then you're going to ask, why did we have this issue? Is this an issue that happens often? Is this like a one time thing? We just want to get curious when we start digging deep,

let's be clear. You cannot do this effectively and in a way that isn't going to bruise egos or tear people down if you don't have solid communication skills and the basics of active listening. So if you are, Coming at them aggressively and saying, why are we behind schedule? People are just going to want to defend themselves. They're not going to give you the real answer. They're immediately going to put walls up and then we're not solving anything together.

And if we're not actively listening to their response, then we're not asking the right follow up questions and we're still not getting to the heart of the issue. There's also no point in doing this if you're not going to be persistent in trying to understand the issue and then be persistent in following up with a real solution.

So if we have gone to the point where our team can now navigate some conflict together, they're trusting us, they're not defensive, they're being vulnerable with their challenges, but then we don't do anything with that, we don't take any action toward a solution. then they're just going to be confused. They're going to be like, why did you even ask me? Why did you care about my opinion? Right?

So if we're going to start asking why, if we're going to embrace this curiosity, we've got to be ready to start working toward a solution together and taking action. Lastly, I don't want you to be afraid of simple solutions here. Sometimes there is a quick, simple answer to something. Simplicity is the name of the game. The point is that we cannot accept that first quick fix solution if we're not confident that it actually addresses the root cause of a problem.

So today, I encourage you to not shy away from discomfort. Embrace that curiosity because that's where the key to progress and success lies. That's how we're going to achieve ambitious, awesome goals together. Thank you all for listening. And remember that paving the way to excellence means building a team that can handle the road ahead and navigate healthy conflict so you can achieve those goals together.

If you feel like you've been fighting fires in your business, or that your team isn't asking the tough questions, then I highly recommend taking our easy quiz to find out what kind of business hero you are. And most importantly, What action you can take to reduce those fires in your business ASAP. You can do that at construction trailblazers. com. And if you have your own story to share about asking tough questions, then reach out to us at hello at construction trailblazers. com.

You could be our next podcast guest. Thanks for tuning in and we'll see you next time.