Part 2: Preparing Frontline Supervision for Success
In the construction industry, frontline supervision plays a significant role in the on-time delivery of cost-effective construction projects. Frontline supervisors (Foremen and General Foremen) are responsible for translating production plans into productive practice. Construction Industry Institute (CII) and Construction Users Roundtable (CURT) research findings suggest that there is significant opportunity for improvement of frontline supervision through collective industry investment in training, education and project preparation, particularly at the Foreman level (CII - CURT, RT-330, 2018). This research goes on to suggest (for the capital projects industry) that the transient nature of the Foreman position, moving from project to project, makes it difficult for individual firms (particularly non-local contractors) and project teams to justify investing in the professional development of individuals in these positions.
Melius has observed significant negative cost and schedule impacts to client project management teams (particularly on large-scale capital projects) associated with the availability of skilled frontline supervision. So much so that some project management teams have been observed to eliminate critical path execution activity due to insufficient confidence in project frontline supervision, even when sufficient numbers of labor resources are available. This dynamic has a significant negative impact on project schedule and contributes to costly delays in facility owners getting products to market. This suggests that facility owners could benefit significantly from taking a much more proactive role in supporting workforce development in their own local areas or regions.
In part 1 of this “Bringing Focus to Project Labor Management” series, Overcoming the Labor Challenge, Melius released a Project Labor Management Model, which includes four key elements associated with project labor management. This article explores how improving frontline supervision preparation during Recruiting & Onboarding efforts may help mitigate the construction labor market challenges of today and moving forward into the future.
Figure 1. Melius Project Labor Management Model
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The Melius Project Labor Management Model identifies a set of elements that may be critical to consider during the process of Recruiting & Onboarding. These include elements such as placing a focus on the quantity, quality, preparation and retention of skilled craft labor resources, as well as other broader elements such as project goals alignment, diversity planning, workforce development, leadership preparation and setting the tone for positive project culture development. In this article, Melius would like to focus discussion on Leadership Development (particularly at the frontline supervision level) and how advanced onboarding programs might be a significant opportunity to improve frontline supervision effectiveness.
Joint CII/CURT research from Research Team 330 (RT-330) suggests that improved training and education of frontline supervision may lead to significant productivity gains during project execution. Melius agrees strongly with this sentiment overall and has guided client firms (particularly facility owners) in a direction toward taking greater ownership and a more proactive role in the development of local construction labor resources. Dedicated investment in local labor workforce development by facility owner firms with an interest in their local labor population could be critical to maintaining and improving project performance moving into a future where workforce mobility has been on the decline. Additional Joint CII/CURT research data indicates that craft multiskilling has been driven organically by worker preferences for remaining in one geographic location, rather than due to a corporate strategy to emphasize multiskilling (CII RT-370, October, 2021). According to the same research, this trend looks likely to intensify in the coming years.
Figure 2 – Actual and Projected Growth of Multiskilling Craft
Facility owner firms looking to take a more proactive role could consider many strategic methods in support of local workforce development. These strategies could include contractual incentives to contractor firms for organized pre-project training and on-the-job training during project execution for local labor resources. Creating a culture of caring for the long-term development of local labor resources could be a powerful recruitment tool and effective long-term strategy for maintaining or improving construction labor performance levels moving into the future.
Additionally, Melius believes there is also opportunity for owner and contractor firms to improve project onboarding programs with greater emphasis on preparing frontline supervisors for effective project integration. During many client projects, Melius has observed what it would describe as less than optimal selection processes (particularly at the Foreman level) for filling frontline supervision positions. In many cases, these observations have included more qualified individuals turning down frontline supervisor positions due to insufficient incentive vs. the perceived “headache” that can sometimes come with the role. A collective approach by facility owners and contractor firms to better incentivize and prepare frontline supervisors through improved onboarding programs could have a positive influence on improving staffing and motivating resources who may achieve better performance in these roles. Such a strategy could potentially provide immediate short-term improvement that when coupled with contractually-incentivized long-term benefits, could result in significant project performance improvement. RT-330 research suggests that there are “ten core competencies or skills common to both Foremen and General Foremen (CII - CURT, RT-330, 2018).” These 10 core competencies are expressed as:
1. General Construction Knowledge 2. Trade-specific Knowledge 3. Verbal Communications 4. Written Communications 5. Pre-Planning 6. Problem-solving 7. Ethical Values Systems 8. People Management 9. Leadership 10. Proactive and Goal-driven
While these core competencies are important qualities in terms of advancement and recruitment efforts, Melius industry observation suggests that it is equally important, if not more important, that frontline supervisors are prepared to leverage these core competencies within the developing or established framework of each individual project through advanced onboarding programs. Project dynamics matter greatly. Project-specific work processes, procedures, technologies, supporting systems, user-interfaces and operational expectations (standards and best-practices) will vary from project to project due to differences in facility owner or contractor firm. It is important that frontline supervision has sufficient preparation on these project-specific elements to ensure they are onboarded and integrated with maximum opportunity for success.
RT-330 research findings also suggest that foremen and general foremen typically spend a significant amount of time on tasks that may not be productive compared to what could be considered “Optimal Allocation” of their time. In general, these are tasks that tend to take frontline supervision away from their crews at the workface. There has been significant industry investment in technology over the last decade to increase efficiencies in this regard. More recent joint CII/CURT research expresses that, “Despite significant investment in technology over the last decade, the impact of technology on project performance has been minimal (CII RT-370, October, 2021).” This research also includes a survey of U.S. construction industry frontline supervisors regarding their typical daily time allocation. Respondents answered only 37% of their time, on average, is spent physically supervising their crews. The rest of their time was split between other responsibilities. The earlier RT-330 research indicated that the optimal allocation of foremen time spent supervising craft professionals is 60%. This research data is shown in Figure 3 below.
Figure 3 – How Supervisors Spend Their Time by Task
The research data collected from RT-330 and RT-370 was generally derived from frontline supervisor surveys conducted over time and across many projects. In a future article, Melius will go into detail about this issue of “Foreman Availability.” Melius has been measuring Foreman Availability statistically for well over a decade and has significant learnings to share. In terms of preparing supervision to optimize foreman availability, that's accomplished through role definition, project-specific protocols and culture. The exercise of defining project- specific administrative requirements for frontline supervision is generally a siloed exercise in which each silo takes care of its own requirements with no consideration of the overall burden on the Foreman. As each functional silo develops their respective project-specific requirements, the cumulative administrative burden on the foreman increases. Who advocates for foreman time at the workface while these requirements are being finalized? All facets of execution that require foreman time away from the workface should be challenged and foreman time at the workface optimized. Who sets the expectations for Foreman Availability at the workface on your projects? What are those expectations? How are support systems and support functions optimized to minimize the amount of time that foremen are pulled away from their crews at the workface? These are important questions that a project management team must contemplate if they are to enable maximum Foreman Availability performance within frontline supervision staff.
The intent of this article is mainly focused on opportunities within the Recruiting & Onboarding element of Project Labor Management. What changes may help improve frontline supervisor effectiveness and overall project performance? HR departments, staffing firms and labor broker firms are typically focused on recruitment associated with the quantity and quality of labor resources desired, whereas Project Management typically focuses on Onboarding efforts that impact the preparation and retention of project labor resources.
As a general question to the industry, what are some additional considerations that may provide continued support toward improving the preparation and readiness of frontline supervisors? Melius would love to hear your thoughts on how we, as an industry, can improve our ability to set our frontline supervisors up for success.
The next article in the PLM series will come from the Culture element of the PLM model and will focus on Employee Engagement so stay tuned.