Elevate Construction

You cannot improve on chaos. Everything thrives in stability and standards, and you cannot have continuous improvement unless you stabilize first. If today is a five, tomorrow is a two, and the day after is a seven, you are not improving. You are just bouncing around in chaos. Cleanliness, organization, safety, just-in-time deliveries, and Takt planning are not about being nice or fair. They are about creating the stable foundation you need before you can optimize anything. When you strive for perfection, you get good. When you strive for good, you get okay. When you strive for okay, you get bad. And when you strive for bad, you go out of business.

What you'll learn in this episode:

• Why you cannot have continuous improvement without stability and standards first
• The real reason Jason wants cleanliness, organization, safety, deliveries, and Takt planning (to stabilize before optimizing)
• The S-curve analogy: pushing the ball uphill from bad to okay to good to perfect
• Why good is the worst thing you can be and why you need to strive for perfection
• How the labor shortage will force construction to get smarter and leaner with the workers we have

If you are good at your job or you run good jobs, that is the worst thing you can be. You have to stop being good and start striving for perfection.

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

If you keep giving up, it's because your why is not big enough. Jason and Brandon Monteiro dive deep into what it means to face your fears and live with purpose. Whether you believe in an afterlife or think this is all you get, the math is the same. You are wasting your time if you are not grinding toward something meaningful. People who retire early and do nothing wither away and become miserable. You cannot run away from weakness. You must fight it out or perish. And if that be so, why not now and where you stand? This conversation will challenge you to get uncomfortable, address your fears head on, and stop wasting the precious time you have.

What you'll learn in this episode:

• Why if you keep giving up, your why is not big enough (Eric Thomas wisdom)
• How to introduce a "noticer" that observes your emotions before you react to them
• Why people who retire too early and stop grinding wither away and die within months
• The reality that it does not matter if there is an afterlife or not, you still cannot waste time either way
• Robert Louis Stevenson's powerful quote about facing weakness now instead of running from it

You cannot run away from weakness. You must fight it out or perish. And if that be so, why not now and where you stand?

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

There are four zones in life: comfort, fear, learning, and growth. You cannot stay in your comfort zone forever or you will stagnate, regress, and make everyone around you miserable. But you also cannot live in your growth zone all the time or you will burn out. The key is pushing through the fear zone into the learning zone where you deal with challenges, acquire new skills, and extend your comfort zone. Everyone has fear. Even the bravest people in the world have fear. The difference is they push through it with courage into their learning and growth zones. That is where you find your purpose, live your dreams, and conquer your objectives.

What you'll learn in this episode:

• The four zones and why you need range between comfort and growth to avoid stagnation or burnout
• Why 5 to 15 percent of people hate superintendent bootcamp (they stay in the fear zone and never break through)
• How pushing through fear into the learning zone is what separates those who grow from those who stay the same
• Why people who arrive at positions and stay in comfort zones create broken relationships, bad marriages, and career stagnation
• Powerful quotes from Helen Keller, Theodore Roosevelt's "The Man in the Arena," and "The Dash" by Linda Ellis

When your eulogy is being read with your life's actions to rehash, would you be proud of the things they say about how you spent your dash?

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

This is not your typical solo podcast. Jason joins a live panel of lean construction leaders including Juan Sarastome, Adam Hoots, Jennifer Lacey, Spencer Easton, and Jesse Hernandez for an unscripted Saturday morning discussion about what needs to change in construction. The energy is high, the conversation is real, and the passion for improving the industry is contagious. From bashing CPM to celebrating Takt planning, from honoring trade workers to building cultures of caring, this panel proves that when lean thinkers get together, the conversation goes wherever it needs to go. No agenda, no script, just radical candor with respect and a shared commitment to making construction better for the people who actually do the work.

What you'll learn in this episode:

• Why CPM is the McDonald's of scheduling and what needs to replace it
• How building a culture of caring creates the foundation for lean tools to succeed
• The difference between theoretical architects and practical builders who respect the trades
• Why continuous improvement means you have to build first before you can improve building
• What happens when lean construction leaders gather with no agenda and just let the conversation flow

The only way to go is up when you're number one for suicide rates and not turning projects over on time. That's exciting because it means we know exactly where we need to head.

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

Too many people arrive at their leadership position, organize their desk, and enter a state of comfortable hedonism where they stop growing, stop stretching, and stop becoming who they were designed to be. Draw a line on a piece of paper from birth to when you die. On the left side, write down the beautiful moments that shaped you. On the right side, write down what you want to accomplish before you die. That right side is your why, and protecting it means you stop wasting time on things that don't get you there. Your future is so beautiful and your happily ever after is waiting for you, but nothing comes for free. You have to grind 100% to earn that remarkable life.

What you'll learn in this episode:

• The timeline exercise that helps you find your why and stop wasting time
• Why so many leaders get stuck in hedonism after they arrive at their position
• How to identify what truly matters on the right side of your line before you die
• Why 85 to 95 percent success rate exists for superintendent bootcamp versus 95 plus percent for field engineers (stuck people who won't stretch)
• The reality that you have to grind Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday with no breaks to live that remarkable life

If your career is not heading you toward the right side of your line, why are you there? What are you going to do about it?

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

Construction lacks kindness, and it's costing us more than we realize. There's actual science proving that kindness makes people healthier, more productive, and more resilient. Yet we treat trade partners like they're beneath us, we create toxic environments, and we wonder why our teams are struggling. Your job as a leader is not just to build projects. It's to create an environment where people are excited to come to work, where they know how to win every day, where they feel connected and relevant. At the end of your life, you will not look back at the buildings you built. You will immediately recognize the relationships you had, and you will hope those were positive.

What you'll learn in this episode:

• The Rabbit Effect study that proves kindness makes people healthier on a molecular level
• Why the construction industry lacks kindness and what it's costing us
• How to create connection on your project team through measurement, clear expectations, and knowing people's families
• The true measure of courage: having hard conversations without getting mad or punishing people
• Why you need to be around kind people and step away from negative, destructive environments

Are people excited to come to work on your project? Do they know how to win every day? Have you told them how special they 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

If you're managing six different scheduling systems and it's taking forever to update them all, you're missing the integration that makes everything work. Jason just had the epiphany that changes everything. The work steps in Takt planning translate directly into your weekly work plan and your sprint backlog. That means you're not recreating plans over and over. You're pulling from a collaborative flow system that already has the production rates, the trade sequencing, and the make ready work packaged. Instead of spending hours populating weekly work plans from scratch, you're pulling pre-planned work steps based on formulas and flow. This is the magic formula that will save you one twelfth of the time managing your schedule.

What you'll learn in this episode:

• How Takt work steps translate directly into weekly work plans and sprint backlogs
• Why this integration saves you one twelfth of the time managing schedules
• The difference between planning far ahead in CPM (guessing what will happen) versus Takt (identifying what should happen based on production rates)
• How trades can actually commit in Last Planner meetings because supply chains are managed through the Takt system
• Why the current condition of managing six different scheduling systems is breaking down and what to do instead

The current condition is it takes way too long to do our schedules and short interval planning. Now that we know how to integrate these systems, it's time to go.

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

You need to stop sounding like a professor and start using words that stick. Construction teams need simple, memorable phrases that rally them toward the right behaviors, not technical jargon that goes in one ear and out the other. A good buzz phrase gets everyone focused, re-centered, and moving in the same direction. When Jason created the rally cry "clean and steady" at the research laboratory, it worked because people could understand it, remember it, and repeat it. The question isn't whether you use buzzwords. It's whether you're using the right ones to create focus and drive the behaviors your project needs right now.

What you'll learn in this episode:

• Why simple buzz phrases work better than technical jargon for rallying teams
• Jason's favorite lean construction rally cries and what each one means
• How "clean and steady" became a war cry that transformed behavior on the research laboratory project
• Key phrases like "plan it first, build it right, finish as you go" and "flow where you can, pull when you can't, don't push"
• Why "create flow" is the one word Jason would take if the whole lean house was burning down

What's your buzz phrase? What's your rally cry? What does your project need right now to get everyone focused on the same thing?

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

Not all owner's representatives are created equal, and how you work with them can make or break your project. Some have high expectations that stretch you into becoming better, and you should thank them for it. Others create chaos, overburden your team, and slow the job down while thinking they're helping. And some are completely hands-off, which means you need to step up and take control. The question isn't whether your owner's rep is difficult. It's whether you're leading the project in a way that prevents problems before they ever need to get involved.

What you'll learn in this episode:

• The three types of owner's representatives you'll encounter and how to work with each one
• Why reasonable owner's reps with high expectations are a gift that makes you better
• How unreasonable owner's reps destroy flow by overburdening your team and sympathy voting designers
• Why you can't just do what the owner's rep tells you if you know it's wrong—you're paid to get it done right
• How to take control of the project and prevent situations from escalating in the first place

At the end of the day, it's not about what they told you to do. It's about whether you had the leadership to take charge and fix the job before they ever needed to step in.

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 records from Southern California while finishing the second edition of "Elevating Construction Takt Planning." Opens with story: superintendent on failing project wants coaching, "That's not coaching, that's project recovery." Key warning: if your project is struggling and you start pushing harder ("I need more material, more manpower, keep pushing, rush it"), you're just extending the overall duration. "The more busyness you have, the longer it's going to take and the more it's going to cost. Unless you create flow, unless you stabilize the project with Takt planning, you will not recover your project. That is scientific." How to visit projects with purpose: talk to all levels (craft workers, janitors, entry-level engineers, foremen, senior team), attend team meetings to assess energy and trust, do lunch with leaders to get real feedback, walk the job using Ono circles (stand and observe flow for 30 minutes to 2 hours), ask about their problems, assess if people's strengths match their roles, use team health surveys. Signs of a project in trouble: lack of flow, poor safety culture, high turnover, dysfunctional team, bad bathrooms with graffiti, cancerous people not removed, more than one trade not performing, unreasonable owner's rep. Distinction: Lorna Gray (University of Arizona) had high but reasonable expectations that made Jason better; unreasonable reps believe every area must be busy, default to adding manpower, undermine GC with trades.

What you'll learn in this episode:

• The busyness trap: pushing harder when behind ("more material, more manpower, rush") scientifically extends duration and increases cost, only flow and stabilization recover projects

• How to visit projects effectively: talk to all levels (don't walk past everyone to PM's office and close door), attend team meetings to assess energy/trust/conflict, walk the job using Ono circles

• The lunch technique: creates mental trigger for looseness and real-time feedback, "if you see them having fun, good sign; if stuffy, there's issues"

• Ono circle method: find a perch, stand for 30 minutes to 2 hours, observe energy and flow or lack of flow, see the waste

• Signs of trouble: lack of flow, poor safety culture, high turnover, bad bathrooms with graffiti, cancerous people not removed, more than one major trade not performing

• Reasonable vs unreasonable high expectations: Lorna Gray held impossible-feeling standards but they were logical; unreasonable reps believe in overproduction, busyness everywhere, adding people as first default

"You will not recover your project if you start pushing. The only way to do it is if you start flowing."

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