PL KEY 10:   IF YOU GOTTA EAT CROW, EAT IT WHILE IT’S STILL WARM. WHEN IT’S COLD IT’S HARD TO SWALLOW. If you have screwed up, admit it and apologize. The Chinese say when you bow, bow low. It is tough for some of us to say I made a mistake, I let you down. When it happens say it and mean it, “I’m sorry.”

Standing up for what you believe is not always easy.  Neither is taking a step back and trying to understand what others believe to be true. PL KEY 9: COURAGE IS THE FIRST VIRTUE (PLATO) If you don’t have courage you can’t live any serious values. Without courage you won’t stand up for your position much less as is sometimes necessary, stand up for your adversary. To take a stand takes courage, to be honest and tell the truth, takes courage. Push hard for what you believe; have consideration for the other guy. Balance the two – courage and consideration.

Safety is emotional and it SHOULD be emotional.  It is the Leader’s job to make sure that Safety is the number one priority on each and every project. PL KEY 9 PEOPLE CARE WHEN THEY KNOW YOU CARE

PL KEY 7: NEGOTIATION IS JUST PROBLEM SOLVING, NEVER TAKE YOUR EYE FROM THE BALL Negotiation should not be thought of as win/win, give and take or compromise, we should think of it as just problem solving. People in our business sometimes bring tactics to the table to get an advantage – focus on the problem not what the people are doing to perhaps distract your attention. Just focus on the problem.

Getting your Team’s buy-in and participation is the key to becoming successful. PL KEY 6:   INVOLVE THEM AND YOU MAY GET THEIR COMMITMENT, DON’T AND YOU NEVER WILL. People want to matter, to make a difference. They want to feel a part of a bigger undertaken. When we participate we can’t help but move toward commitment.

More than anything, we want to feel we are in control of ourselves, but we can’t do that if we feel we are in the control of our boss.  Listen to this key to help your people be all they can be. PL KEY 5: RELAX YOUR GRIP We all resist being controlled, being managed, understand that people produce most and best when they do it themselves.

William Gladstone and Benjamin Disraeli were two dominate leaders in the 19th Century.  Gladstone was a powerful public figure for more than 60 years.  It was said that when you had dinner with Gladstone, you thought that you were with the most interesting, brilliant, and provocative conversationalist.  And it was said that when you dined with Disraeli an equally charismatic figure – you felt that you were the most interesting , brilliant and provocative conversationalist.  If you are a boss, ask yourself which are you most like – Gladstone or Disraili?  There is a big difference. PL KEY 4:   IF …

Recognizing that in any new major Heavy Civil Construction project there may be issues with trust between an Owner and Contractor, awareness of the importance of trust and building trust is paramount.  That TRUST is an effective multiplier: Trust (Project Team x Mission) = Result If Trust is less than one, it robs our effectiveness.  If it is one or greater, we genuinely experience synergy.  It is of value to everyone to work on trust.  Here are the behaviors.Learn more about trust and how it is the foundation to the success of any team endeavor. PL KEY 3: PEOPLE TRUST …

We don’t communicate enough.  We make assumptions that the other person understands and sees things the way we do, and what is clear to us is clear to everyone.  It never is.  We all see things based on what is going on in our own heads, based on our own personal history and our own personal beliefs and biases.  We don’t check to see that there is a mutual understanding.  We have more ways to talk to each other than ever before yet “lack of communication” is always at the top of the list of things that go wrong when …

The first “Swing Key” in successful leadership and Partnering is to Take Dead Aim.  Know where you want to go first and foremost.  Listen to my second podcast and learn why it’s so important, I ranked it #1. PL KEY 1: TAKE DEAD AIM Do you have clarity in where you are taking them, do they know it?