Why Training and Implementation Are Not Optional

After I wrote that post about why training is not optional, I got some really good feedback from someone I respect a lot: Hal Macomber. Anybody who knows me knows I am a big Hal Macomber fan. I believe he is one of the most underrated Lean experts in the industry, and one of the people you will want to learn from the most, because of how he has all of this put together in his head. I am a byproduct of his coaching and mentoring. His point made me realize I didn’t dig deep enough: being well practiced and competent at what you have been trained on is not optional either.

Short answer: Training alone is not enough. Training without practice on the job is waste. Once you are trained, implementing and mastering what you learned on a real project is non-negotiable. If you don’t do it, you don’t know it. Project teams should talk openly about the training each person has had or wants, decide how the team will help them practice it on the project, and name who will coach them along the way.

Why Is Training Without Practice Waste?

Here is what Hal wrote about it: “Your conviction and commentary are on the money, and I like your shaming too. May I propose for a follow-up the following topic: being well practiced, that is, competent at what you have been trained on, is also not optional. In fact, training without practice on the job is waste.”

He went on: “When I was the CEO/COO of the Neenan Company, I asked each project manager to have an open conversation with the extended team about what training you have had or learning that you desire. I followed that with how the team can support you in getting practice on the project. This includes who will be coaching and practicing along the way. Projects are the opportunity to grow people even more than training.” So the three questions are:

• What training have you had, or what learning do you want?
• How can the team support you in getting practice on the project?
• Who will be coaching you and practicing with you along the way?

He also recommended sharing The Pocket Sensei: Mastering Lean Leadership by Hal Macomber and Calayde Davey with your project teams. I personally recommend it too, because I love the Pocket Sensei. You can get discounts on bulk orders, and it is a really, really good reference. I have written about one of its ideas in Dissatisfaction Is the Mother of Improvement.

What I Was Forced to Master at Hensel Phelps

I learned for years at Hensel Phelps, and I have a big soft spot for them. I don’t know if they still do it, but when I worked there, they forced you to master certain things:

• Survey, layout, and control
• Lift drawings and a drafting technique
• AutoCAD and Revit, with certifications in both
• Scaffolding, safety, and their quality program
• Scheduling

Stacking Up Training at DPR

Fast forward to DPR. When I got there, they had an employee reimbursement incentive (I don’t know if they still do) that reimbursed up to $5,000 of training expenses if you went and got training relevant to your role. So I thought, woohoo, I’m going to do this, and I packed it in. I did the AGC’s CM-BIM and CM-Lean certifications, the DBIA certification, and the Lean Core training courses. I went to Rapport Leadership International. I went to Tony Robbins events. I went to LCI, trained there, and got certifications there. DPR also had an internal PSP program (planning, scheduling, and production planning), and I helped with the group that first put that effort together.

All of it hit at the perfect time, about five months before a project where I was going to be the project superintendent, so I was able to pull it all into a system and implement it. Hal is saying it is great to learn stuff and great to be taught stuff, but it is the implementation and the projects that matter. I also have to give Charlie Dunn a shout-out. We were taught prefabrication, room kitting, and a number of other really good prefab techniques before we started the BSRL project, the University of Arizona’s Bioscience Research Laboratories in Tucson.

Implementing With Zero Friction

I make a big deal about training, but I very rarely make the point that the key was being able to implement it afterward. I had the perfect storm in Tucson. I worked at a company where I had autonomy (not anonymity, autonomy) to go do what I needed to do, and I worked with a team to implement it. I also attempted to stack the deck. At least four people were hired who were direct friends of mine from other companies. Because I helped hire them and we had worked together before, we were close friends, and they were pretty loyal. And I worked with the best project manager on earth, Ryan Young. I had zero friction implementing:

• Room kitting? Let’s go.
• Takt planning? Let’s go.
• Preconstruction efforts that involved Lean? Great, let’s go.
• An integrated preconstruction effort, mobilized locally, with design, our CM-at-risk involvement, and early trade partners? Go.
• Zero tolerance? Go.
• The Last Planner® System on the project site? Go.
• Bigger trailers so we could get bathrooms? Go.

If You Don’t Do It, You Don’t Know It

Because of mastery and implementation, I could do any of these things tomorrow:

• Make a lift drawing, run AutoCAD, create a coordinate geometry file, and traverse your project.
• Create your schedule.
• Create your risk and opportunity register, your buyout log, and your procurement log.
• Go through the specifications and build a testing and inspection register.
• Read and evaluate your prime agreement, and negotiate a change order.

I have said this before, and I will say it again: if you don’t do it, you don’t know it. That is the path to mastery.

What Does Knowing the Last Planner System Actually Look Like?

Somebody says, “Yeah, that sounds like what we do,” or “I kind of know Takt,” or “I know the Last Planner System.” Well, let’s walk your job. You know the Last Planner® System if your project has:

• Pull planning
• A six-week make-ready lookahead
• Weekly work planning
• Day planning
• Percent plan complete (PPC) being tracked
• Trade partners you collaborate with in a respectful environment, and actually call trade partners
• The visuals in your office, and a bought-in environment

But if you say you know it and you don’t have that on your job, you don’t know it. I’m sorry to offend you. I’m not trying to be offensive. Don’t ever say you know how to do something if you are not doing it, or can’t do it right now, because what we are looking for is a level of mastery. I appreciate what Hal is preaching to us here. Not only is there a requirement to do your training, it is non-negotiable to implement it.