Elevate Construction

In this episode, Jason calls out a pattern he sees constantly during schedule updates: superintendents sitting back while a scheduler does all the work. He walks through five levels of engagement, from pointing at the screen to fully driving the schedule software yourself, and explains why anything less wastes time and stalls your own growth. He pushes back hard on the excuse that superintendents are not good with technology, framing it as a decision rather than a limitation. It is a direct challenge to get hands on with the tools that actually run the job.

What you'll learn in this episode:

• Why watching a scheduler work is a sub optimized system
• Five levels of engagement during a schedule update
• Why superintendents should be technology proficient
• How collaborating live on the schedule improves outcomes
• Why not knowing the software is a decision, not an excuse

If you have been sitting back and letting someone else run your schedule, the real question is not whether you can learn the software, it is why you decided not to.

If you like the Elevate Construction podcast, please subscribe for free and you'll never miss an episode. And if you really like the Elevate Construction podcast, I'd appreciate you telling a friend (Maybe even two 😊).

Also, here are links to our YouTube Channels:

· Jason Schroeder YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4xpRYvrW5Op5Ckxs4vDGDg

· LeanTakt YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/leanTakt

· LeanSuper YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzQDevqQP19L4LePuqma3Fg/featured

· LeanSurvey YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-Ztn3okFhyB_3p5nmMKnsw

In this episode, Jason takes on a question he thinks we ask far too often, both at work and at home: did you like it? Using a story about his daughter's reaction to a leadership training, and a comparison to heart surgery and personal training, he makes the case that liking something was never the point. He challenges leaders to stop asking what people liked or disliked about a meeting, training, or coaching session, and start asking whether it actually moved them forward. It is a pointed reminder that real feedback and real growth rarely come from comfort.

What you'll learn in this episode:

• Why liking something is the wrong measure of value
• How negative feedback can quietly cost other people their growth
• The real purpose behind coaching, training, and hard conversations
• Why plus delta questions beat like or dislike questions
• How to run meetings around purpose instead of preference

The next time you walk out of a meeting, a training, or a hard conversation, ask yourself honestly whether you are evaluating whether it moved you forward, or just whether it made you comfortable, because those are rarely the same question.

If you like the Elevate Construction podcast, please subscribe for free and you'll never miss an episode. And if you really like the Elevate Construction podcast, I'd appreciate you telling a friend (Maybe even two 😊).

Also, here are links to our YouTube Channels:

· Jason Schroeder YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4xpRYvrW5Op5Ckxs4vDGDg

· LeanTakt YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/leanTakt

· LeanSuper YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzQDevqQP19L4LePuqma3Fg/featured

· LeanSurvey YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-Ztn3okFhyB_3p5nmMKnsw

In this episode, Jason breaks down the ladder of accountability, a simple poster he came across on a jobsite that separates victim behavior from accountable behavior. He walks through the four stages of victim mentality, unaware, blame others, I cannot, and wait and hope, and shows how each one strips a person of empowerment. On the accountable side, he explains why acknowledging reality, owning it, finding solutions, and making it happen puts control back in your hands. He is candid about catching himself in victim mode at home, using it to show how easily anyone can slide down the ladder without noticing.

What you'll learn in this episode:

• The four stages of victim mentality
• Why waiting and hoping is not a strategy
• How blaming others removes your empowerment
• The four steps on the ladder of accountability
• Why believing it is your fault is actually empowering

If you look honestly at how you responded to the last problem that landed on your desk, were you climbing the ladder toward ownership, or were you quietly waiting and hoping it would fix itself?

If you like the Elevate Construction podcast, please subscribe for free and you'll never miss an episode. And if you really like the Elevate Construction podcast, I'd appreciate you telling a friend (Maybe even two 😊).

Also, here are links to our YouTube Channels:

· Jason Schroeder YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4xpRYvrW5Op5Ckxs4vDGDg

· LeanTakt YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/leanTakt

· LeanSuper YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzQDevqQP19L4LePuqma3Fg/featured

· LeanSurvey YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-Ztn3okFhyB_3p5nmMKnsw

In this episode, Jason lays out the responsibilities a CEO or president cannot hand off to anyone else. He opens with a follow up on resourcefulness, then walks through knowing the financials, protecting operating cash, filling key seats, owning the business rather than operating inside it, and personally creating raving fans. He is candid about his own early mistake at Elevate, when delegating too freely nearly cost him clients and shook the company's cash flow. The core warning is simple: mistakes happen because of what leaders cannot see.

What you'll learn in this episode:

• Which duties a CEO can never delegate
• Why cash is fact and profit is theory
• How unfilled key seats quietly damage companies
• The difference between owning and operating a business
• Why delegation without oversight creates blind spots

If mistakes really do come from what leaders cannot see, then the honest question for anyone running a company is which part of the business you have quietly stopped looking at, and what it might already be costing the people who depend on you.

If you like the Elevate Construction podcast, please subscribe for free and you'll never miss an episode. And if you really like the Elevate Construction podcast, I'd appreciate you telling a friend (Maybe even two 😊).

Also, here are links to our YouTube Channels:

· Jason Schroeder YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4xpRYvrW5Op5Ckxs4vDGDg

· LeanTakt YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/leanTakt

· LeanSuper YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzQDevqQP19L4LePuqma3Fg/featured

· LeanSurvey YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-Ztn3okFhyB_3p5nmMKnsw

In this episode, Jason makes the case that most project problems are not resource problems at all. He walks through the common excuses teams reach for, not enough time, money, technology, or education, and shows how each one usually masks a lack of resourcefulness. He shares how he built Elevate Construction out of a small backyard shed rather than buying his way into looking successful, and explains why overtime is often just waste covering for ineffectiveness. It is a direct challenge to stop solving with purchases and start solving with creativity.

What you'll learn in this episode:

• The difference between resources and resourcefulness
• Why buying tools rarely fixes the real problem
• How overtime can mask hidden ineffectiveness
• Why excuses point back to the system
• How to lead teams toward creative problem solving

Before you approve the next purchase, the next software subscription, or the next round of overtime, it is worth asking whether you are genuinely short on resources or simply out of practice at being resourceful with what you already have.

If you like the Elevate Construction podcast, please subscribe for free and you'll never miss an episode. And if you really like the Elevate Construction podcast, I'd appreciate you telling a friend (Maybe even two 😊).

Also, here are links to our YouTube Channels:

· Jason Schroeder YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4xpRYvrW5Op5Ckxs4vDGDg

· LeanTakt YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/leanTakt

· LeanSuper YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzQDevqQP19L4LePuqma3Fg/featured

· LeanSurvey YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-Ztn3okFhyB_3p5nmMKnsw

In this episode, Jason answers the real questions that came out of the first two hours of the Takt Production System training. He covers whether Takt works on horizontal, civil, and complex projects, how it pairs with the Last Planner System, and how procurement logs and buffers protect the trains from supply chain surprises. He also explains why Takt zones are planned around processes rather than material types, and which KPIs actually tell you if implementation is working. Along the way he pushes back on the idea that superintendents will not study, because mastery is a choice available to every builder.

What you'll learn in this episode:

• Why Takt works on any project type
• How Takt and Last Planner fit together
• Using procurement logs to protect the trains
• Why zones are built around processes, not materials
• The three KPIs that measure Takt implementation

With books, boards, courses, and videos all sitting within reach, the real question is no longer whether Takt planning can work on your project, but whether you are willing to become expert enough in the system to run it properly.

If you like the Elevate Construction podcast, please subscribe for free and you'll never miss an episode. And if you really like the Elevate Construction podcast, I'd appreciate you telling a friend (Maybe even two 😊).

Also, here are links to our YouTube Channels:

· Jason Schroeder YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4xpRYvrW5Op5Ckxs4vDGDg

· LeanTakt YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/leanTakt

· LeanSuper YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzQDevqQP19L4LePuqma3Fg/featured

· LeanSurvey YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-Ztn3okFhyB_3p5nmMKnsw

In this short episode, Jason reads a leadership passage on authority, dignity, and the fine line between firmness and harshness. He uses it to clear up a common misunderstanding about his zero tolerance talk, because holding a standard has never meant humiliating anyone. He draws the line between consequences and punishment, and shows how one simple question, what is the most respectful thing here, answers almost every hard people decision on a jobsite. He also explains why respect for people is the first principle of Lean and what happens to workers when it is not.

What you'll learn in this episode:

• The difference between consequences and punishment
• Why hard conversations do not require harsh delivery
• How to lead firmly without humiliating anyone
• The one question that guides tough people decisions
• Why respect for people comes first in Lean

If every correction you have made this year were replayed in front of the worker's family, would it hold up as firm and respectful leadership, or would you find that somewhere along the way firmness quietly turned into something else?

If you like the Elevate Construction podcast, please subscribe for free and you'll never miss an episode. And if you really like the Elevate Construction podcast, I'd appreciate you telling a friend (Maybe even two 😊).

Also, here are links to our YouTube Channels:

· Jason Schroeder YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4xpRYvrW5Op5Ckxs4vDGDg

· LeanTakt YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/leanTakt

· LeanSuper YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzQDevqQP19L4LePuqma3Fg/featured

· LeanSurvey YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-Ztn3okFhyB_3p5nmMKnsw

In this short episode, Jason breaks down Kanban and the mantras that make a Lean mindset practical in the field. He explains why handoffs, not the workers, are where most projects lose their rhythm. From there he walks through starting less and finishing more, protecting the bottleneck instead of pushing work through it, and staging materials so crews are not tripping over them. It is a fast, field ready look at how visual work management protects flow.

What you'll learn in this episode:

• What Kanban is and how Scrum builds on it
• Why handoffs matter more than the runners
• How unfinished work multiplies waste
• Why pushing a bottleneck never speeds it up
• How just in time staging keeps zones clean

If most of the delay on your project is hiding in the space between trades rather than inside the work itself, what would change about how you lead if you spent your day managing the handoffs instead of the crews?

If you like the Elevate Construction podcast, please subscribe for free and you'll never miss an episode. And if you really like the Elevate Construction podcast, I'd appreciate you telling a friend (Maybe even two 😊).

Also, here are links to our YouTube Channels:

· Jason Schroeder YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4xpRYvrW5Op5Ckxs4vDGDg

· LeanTakt YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/leanTakt

· LeanSuper YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzQDevqQP19L4LePuqma3Fg/featured

· LeanSurvey YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-Ztn3okFhyB_3p5nmMKnsw

In this episode, Jason answers a listener who is constantly handed broken projects and asked to rescue them alone. He explains why parachuting in a closer is a band aid, and why real recovery happens when the team is coached to fix the work themselves. From there he walks through the four things it actually takes to become an expert: reading deeply, studying the history of the field, spending years experimenting, and surrounding yourself with people who share and learn openly. It is a direct look at accountability, earned experience, and why shortcuts to authority end up hurting the people you lead.

What you'll learn in this episode:

• Why rescuing a team is a leadership failure
• How accountability changes behavior at the source
• Why closers create band aids, not lasting recovery
• The four requirements of real expertise
• Why earned experience protects the people you lead

If the only proof of your expertise is what you say rather than what you have actually built, what would it take this year to close that gap and become the kind of leader people can trust with their careers?

If you like the Elevate Construction podcast, please subscribe for free and you'll never miss an episode. And if you really like the Elevate Construction podcast, I'd appreciate you telling a friend (Maybe even two 😊).

Also, here are links to our YouTube Channels:

· Jason Schroeder YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4xpRYvrW5Op5Ckxs4vDGDg

· LeanTakt YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/leanTakt

· LeanSuper YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzQDevqQP19L4LePuqma3Fg/featured

· LeanSurvey YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-Ztn3okFhyB_3p5nmMKnsw

Jason lays out the enhancements he believes the Last Planner System needs to actually create flow, quality, and respect on projects. He walks through the seven principles of the Last Planner System and, agreeing with most of them, offers specific corrections where he sees the industry going wrong: penalizing trade partners for finishing early, targeting anything less than 100 percent plan complete, ignoring trade flow across zones, comparing single zone pull plans in isolation, and treating percent plan complete as more important than roadblock removal. He uses the powerful analogy of a university student punished for turning in an assignment early to make the case that this practice is quietly burning out the entire construction workforce.

What you'll learn in this episode:

• Why finishing early should be marked green, not red, and why buffers are the source of quality

• The university student analogy that makes the "no buffer" culture obviously wrong

• Why quality, final inspections, sign offs, demobilization, and finish as you go all require buffers

• The seven Last Planner System principles walked through with what to keep and what to update

• Why the term "constraint" should be replaced with "roadblock" for clarity of action

• Why roadblock removal is a leading indicator and PPC is a lagging indicator

• Why single zone pull plans without cross zone comparison silently create trade stacking

Buffers aren't sandbagging. They're the source of every good outcome downstream. Update the practice and the trades finally get room to actually flow.

If you like the Elevate Construction podcast, please subscribe for free and you'll never miss an episode. And if you really like the Elevate Construction podcast, I'd appreciate you telling a friend (Maybe even two 😊).

Also, here are links to our YouTube Channels:

· Jason Schroeder YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4xpRYvrW5Op5Ckxs4vDGDg

· LeanTakt YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/leanTakt

· LeanSuper YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzQDevqQP19L4LePuqma3Fg/featured

· LeanSurvey YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-Ztn3okFhyB_3p5nmMKnsw