Taking your business forward –in all economic conditions

I’ve had the privilege of working in the New Zealand construction industry as a sales and leadership coach for the past 14 years. Clients include home builders, material importers, and everyone in between.

There have certainly been some boom times during that period, but also some serious recessionary environments, particularly the Global Financial Crisis. Those experiences revealed the need for ten strategies for construction businesses to thrive and survive. (This was covered in my session for the New Zealand Certified Builders (NZCB) Conference and Expo, in November, so if you couldn’t attend, you still get all the learning in this article.)

10 Strategies To Help Your Construction Business Weather All Economic Conditions

Here is a business growth strategy checklist – how many of these do you have a clear “yes” to? Tick the strategies you have in place – and highlight the ones you need to work on:

Vision Purpose Values: Do you have a Vision, Purpose, and Values that are clearly articulated so every member of your team is aware of them? This is important for motivation and growing your team culture.

Behavioural styles: Have you used Extended DISC behavioural assessments to help create self-awareness and communication skills? This significantly improves interactions with clients and amongst team members.

Sales process: Do you have a sales process that ensures you can bring in the correct amount of revenue for the business? Having a formal, documented, and milestonedriven sales process can uplift your sales by up to 20% – and is absolutely critical in a contracting market or recessionary environment.

Goal setting: Do you have personal and professional goals written down and a business growth plan? People who write goals achieve twice as much in life compared to those who don’t.

Recruitment process: Do you have a recruitment and onboarding process that yields top performers? The latest recruitment surveys tell us that this is the number one challenge in NZ businesses today, so getting it right is crucial.

Accountability: Do you hold yourself and your team members accountable on achieving your agreed weekly activities? Accountability ensures we’re all more effective in completing our roles – no more excuses for not getting things done.

Measurement: Do you know what the leading indicators in your business are? Leading indicators are the leading drivers in your business. Depending on the role, they could be appointments with potential clients; getting slabs down; or coaching frequency.

Mindset: Does your team have a powerful will to succeed and are you aware of the hidden weaknesses that are holding people back? 80% of the success we have in our roles comes from mindset. This is just as true for owners of a construction business as it is for the All Blacks, elite special force soldiers, or any other high-achieving organisation.

Leadership skills: Do you have the management and leadership skills to help grow your team? Recent data tells us that management and leadership qualities are in the top five ineffective skill sets in New Zealand businesses, so it’s an important area for all business owners to focus on.

Coaching: Do you have a coach, and do you coach your direct reports on a daily or weekly basis, and do you know what deeply motivates your team members? Coaching your team is the most effective strategy to grow capability, leadership, culture, and performance.

The number of ticks or blanks in your checklist will give you a good indication of what kind of shape your organisation is in to grow and to weather any economic storms.

Next steps

We are running a (no charge to NZCB members) Live 2.5 hour workshop in Auckland at end of first quarter 2023, to take a deeper dive into these topics so please, scan the QR Code on this page to confirm your registration.

If you’d like to know more about addressing these challenges, please contact me directly on 09 215 3378 or email jason@excc.co.nz.

Jason Dinan, Executive Coaching & Consulting. With 28 years of leadership experience working in 23 countries, Jason specialises in growing organisations through developing peak performance leaders, teams, sales effectiveness and strategy. He was the project head for a leading home builder, helping grow annual sales from between 47% to 311%.