Elevate Construction

Jason makes the case that the industry's instinct to throw manpower, money, and materials at a struggling project is the very thing slowing it down. Drawing from Felipe Engineer-Manriquez's Scrum course, the Bottleneck Rules, and the Parade of Trades simulation, he contrasts pushing with building capacity and walks through the real data behind Brooks's law, team size, communication saturation, context switching, and the productivity collapse of simultaneous projects. The principles are simple: keep teams consistent, keep the rhythm steady, build capacity instead of pushing.

What you'll learn in this episode:

• Why pushing with excess labor, materials, and overtime almost always slows projects down

• The Parade of Trades lesson on variation and how rolling ones and sixes costs you weeks and millions

• Brooks's law and why team sizes between four and six hit the cost and time sweet spot

• How communication saturation grows exponentially as crew sizes increase

• Why focus collapses fast across simultaneous projects, dropping productivity to 5% per project at five projects

The fix is not faster, harder, or more. The fix is consistent, ready, and aligned. Build capacity and let the rhythm carry the work.

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 takes on the industry's favorite scapegoat in the supply chain crisis: just in time deliveries. He makes the case that just in time is not the villain, batching and overproduction are. He walks through what just in time actually is, why most projects fail to use it correctly without a Takt plan, procurement log, supermarkets, and right sized buffers, and why every batch order placed ahead of need is a project cutting in line and slowing the entire global supply chain. The episode opens with a powerful framework from a Norwegian Lean expert called the seven conditions for a sound activity.

What you'll learn in this episode:

• The seven conditions for a sound activity that must be met before any work begins

• What just in time actually means: Takt time, flow production, and pull systems

• Why required on job dates, supply chain points of release, and supermarkets are non negotiable

• How batching and overproduction trigger the seven wastes and slow the whole system

• Why honest ordering on a Takt rhythm is the only real fix to the supply chain crisis

If you must batch order to survive the chaos, at least know who's actually to blame for the chaos. It's not just in time.

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 and Katie Schroeder take on one of the hardest topics most couples avoid: intimacy in marriage and why so many relationships end up stuck in resentment, aversion, or a sexless marriage. Drawing from a book Jason felt inspired to pick up at a bookstore, they walk through the differences between how men and women approach intimacy, the grief that hits couples after the honeymoon phase, and why the three intimacies of spiritual, emotional, and physical have to be built together. It's vulnerable, candid, and grounded in why Elevate Construction exists in the first place — to bless families.

What you'll learn in this episode:

• Why for women, foreplay essentially starts right after the last time, and what that means for the cycle of connection

• How the honeymoon phase ends and the grief process couples go through when reality sets in

• Why aversion and resentment build when intimacy feels obligatory

• The three intimacies and how the five love languages can be used or weaponized

• What skin hunger is and why it shows up in both adults and children

If life is meant to be joyful, the question is whether you're willing to do the work to bring that joy back into the most important relationship in your life.

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 and Katie Schroeder sit down for a candid conversation about divine and wounded feminine and masculine traits, and how those patterns show up at home, on the jobsite, and everywhere in between. Katie walks through a chart she's been studying in her coaching program, and they map it onto leadership in construction, where the controlling, aggressive, withdrawn superintendent stereotype has done real damage. The second half turns into a real life example about misplaced keys and a locked bedroom door, and how the stories we tell ourselves about other people's behavior shape our reaction far more than what actually happened.

What you'll learn in this episode:

• The contrast between divine and wounded feminine traits and what each looks like in practice

• The contrast between divine and wounded masculine traits, including the controlling and aggressive super stereotype

• Why most "bad" behavior on a project comes from a wounded place, not a malicious one

• How the stories we tell ourselves about other people drive most of our emotional reactions

• Why showing up from your empowered self, not your wounded self, is the only place real leadership lives

If everyone is doing their best, the question becomes whether you're willing to lead from compassion when their best looks nothing like yours.

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

At a training Jason sat knee-to-knee with another person and noticed he lowered his shoulders and head to make the other person comfortable. He was diminishing himself to make others feel comfortable. Jason vowed to be authentic and let things fall as they may. Stop playing small and hiding your light under a bushel.

What you'll learn in this episode:

• Rapport Leadership training: sitting knee-to-knee exercise revealed how Jason shows up in intimate human connection
• Diminishing yourself: lowering position, playing small, hiding talents to make others comfortable takes away their choice
• Authenticity decision: be who you are, let your light shine, give others permission to do the same
• Current condition: not showing up as brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous as we are
• Challenge: pick one thing to be more authentic about, make resolution to be more fully yourself tomorrow

When we diminish ourselves we are actually taking the choice from others of whether or not they want to like us or accept us or really appreciate who we are.

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

Every system has a bottleneck. As you optimize bottlenecks, more will show up. Pushing manpower, materials, and money at a bottleneck increases pressure but does not increase flow. The FOCCCCUS formula is Find, Optimize, Coordinate, Collaborate, Curate, Upgrade, Start again.

What you'll learn in this episode:

• Law of bottlenecks: every system has one, optimizing reveals new ones, increase capacity not push through
• FOCCCUS formula: find, optimize, coordinate, collaborate, curate, upgrade, start again
• Trench box story: sequencing allowed capacity increase without second trench box
• Paint shop story: canopy with heating lamps increases capacity on rainy days
• Challenge: find five bottlenecks at work by breaking down process steps

The better way to increase flow is not to push things through a bottleneck but to increase the capacity of the bottleneck.

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

Niklas Modig has been researching lean for almost 20 years and studied the Toyota production system in Japan. The foundation of lean is teamwork and respect because flow requires cross-functional work and we are dependent on each other. Niklas tells two stories about respect with his dad: the bad respect story where he told his dad he was not sweaty after the gym and should not have fika, and the good respect story where he apologized years later. The International Scale of Respect is one to ten, and we need stories to give the word meaning.

What you'll learn in this episode:

• Foundation of lean: teamwork and respect because flow requires cross-functional work and dependence on each other
• Scale of respect one to ten: stories give meaning to abstract concepts, allows measurement of behaviors
• Bad respect story: Niklas told dad he was not sweaty after gym, should not have fika, dad never came back
• Good respect story: Niklas apologized years later, acknowledged he was wrong, thanked dad for trying to improve health
• Trigger positive spirals: if someone treats you with a two, choose to give them a nine for pattern interruption

If we really want to create flow within an organization then we have to work together like a relay game where I run first, you get the baton, and then you run, and you cannot give the baton with a one or two because you give them with eight, nine, or ten.

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

All lean construction techniques can be scaled to smaller projects. The only thing that changes is coverage systems are harder and you need to get creative. Get help from PMs, safety directors, logistics foremen, or office administrators for coverage. Stop using small project size as an excuse for not implementing good systems.

What you'll learn in this episode:

• Technology principles: should do what humans should not do, should not do what humans should do
• Active versus passive information: visual management must be accessible, don't hide on databases
• Small projects can implement: tax plans, make ready, weekly work plans, meetings, procurement, zero tolerance, all systems
• Coverage solutions: get creative with PMs, safety directors, logistics foremen, office administrators watching project
• Pre-construction is critical: demand to be in early, plan the job, negotiate schedule, builder involvement required

If one person can implement lean systems on a small project then you can too, because you are smart enough to figure this out and the problem is not that they are small jobs but that you are not getting creative enough.

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

Terminating an employee is about respect, not punishment. If you approach it from a punishment mindset, you will not do it successfully. Always talk to HR first, document everything, and create action plans with specific consequences. Ask yourself questions before terminating: Would you hire them again? How would you feel if they left tomorrow? In the termination meeting, state the reason in two factual sentences, then shut up and let them process.

What you'll learn in this episode:

• Respect not punishment: enable people to live remarkable lives, make hard decisions with right mental state
• Always contact HR: they have good training, can anchor to professionals, know what to do
• Documentation and action plans: write specific consequences, be open about cultural fit and alignment
• Questions to ask: does position hold high risk, would you hire again, have you looked at everything but their behavior
• Termination meeting: state reason in two sentences, shut up, let them process, don't get emotional or ramble

The problem is we keep people in unhappy situations because we think termination is about punishment when it is just not about that, and we anchor it back to punishment too often instead of respect for people.

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

The Superintendent Commandments include 20 principles like prioritize your task list, study drawings 30 minutes daily, take reflection walks, and remove roadblocks as top priority. Do not work more than 55 hours per week. The Superintendent Secret Sauce lists 32 items including sees the future, drives with urgency, creates flow, and does not delegate safety, quality, and schedule. Motion does not equal value. Overproduction and inventory is the mother of all waste.

What you'll learn in this episode:

• 20 commandments: prioritize tasks, study drawings 30 minutes daily, reflection walks, visualize plan, remove roadblocks as priority
• Daily tasks: morning huddle, safety planning 10 minutes, drawing study 30 minutes, schedule review, reflection walk
• Secret sauce: sees future, doesn't work more than 55 hours, drives urgency, creates flow, equal to PM
• Reading list: Two Second Lean, How to Win Friends, Switch, Speed of Trust, Extreme Ownership
• Project expectations: everyone knows how to be safe, what to install, makes improvements daily, nothing hits floor

A good superintendent does not keep a plan in his or her head because they know that communicating the plan to everyone is what creates success on the project.

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