In our second segment, The Level, it’s time to find out how to succeed as the head coach of your construction team. And while you might have many goals on the construction site, as head coach, your one job is to win. So Alex is going to challenge you here to think about how to dial up and down your own personality style to interact better with your unique team.
What is one of the largest challenges frontline construction leaders share across the country?
The answer is people. Whether it involves figuring out how to motivate workers on tough jobs, solving issues that come up on-site, or aligning everyone on the same page to reach a common goal, people, are tough. Ultimately, many find themselves asking “how do I bring the best out of myself and the best out of the ones around me?”
On our first episode of No Bullshit with Alex Willis, take a deep dive into the four different personalities that every human being falls into, and how to be an effective leader to each one. Alex learned about the 4 Lenses Assessment over 10 years ago, and is sharing it with you today.
The assessments determine if a person’s blue, green, orange or gold. The concept, created from the research of the Myers Briggs’ Personality Type Indicator, is aimed at building better and stronger relationships through effective communication. To find out what color your personality is, click this link.
After tuning in, you’ll have:
In our second segment, The Level, it’s time to find out how to succeed as the head coach of your construction team. And while you might have many goals on the construction site, as head coach, your one job is to win. So Alex is going to challenge you here to think about how to dial up and down your own personality style to interact better with your unique team.
Make sure to hit play on our final segment, The Foundation & The Frame Out, to find out how to reach your number one goal as head coach of your construction team
Be sure to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts as well as the YouTube channel to watch full video episodes and be notified as soon as the show goes live.
[00:00:00] Alex: All right my friends. Welcome back to the level. So here's what we're going to do in here. We're gonna really take our time and understand how do you create a game plan around each of these personality assessments. Understand if you are the leader, you're what I like to call the head coach of the team.
[00:00:25] Alex: And what's the job of a head coach? I ask that question quite frequently and I get [00:00:30] a shit load of different answers. I've heard people say, well, it's your job to, uh, lead the people well, or it's your job to, uh, make sure uh, the team's head in the right direction or make sure the culture is right. And I'm like, yeah, but if you do all of that and you go, oh and 16, what's going to happen to your ass?
[00:00:49] Alex: You're getting fired. Let's just be honest. The job of a head coach is, the head coach has one job. Al Davis told us in the eighties, win baby win. The job of a head coach is to win. [00:01:00] As a leader, your job is to do one thing, win win. How do you win with projects? How do you win with getting work done? Well, it takes a damn game plan.
[00:01:10] Alex: You have to have a game plan in place. That's why coaches script out plays. They know who's on their team, they understand player personnel. So I want you to really view yourself as a head coach, understanding your player personnel, who's on your team, really beginning to identify each of those players [00:01:30] on your team and what value they bring to the team.
[00:01:32] Alex: Right now you have to ask yourself a very important question here, and this is where a lot of my leaders in construction struggle. I'll be honest, alright? The question you have to ask yourself is, what do you want? What do you want? And the second question is, what are you willing to do to get it? Because oftentimes my leaders in construction, I told you, Hey, no bullshit here.
[00:01:52] Alex: No bullshit. So what happens? Oftentimes someone makes a mistake and the leader loses their cool and they [00:02:00] lose their shit on a person, and all of a sudden morale, the team is down, work productivity is down because the leader lost their cool and couldn't hang in there versus said, Hey, whoa, whoa, wait a minute.
[00:02:10] Alex: What do I want right now? What am I willing to do if I have to reel my personality back in? I'm willing to do that for the betterment of the team to make sure we win, right? That's ultimately important. So in this segment, I wanna challenge you to think about dialing up and dialing down your personality style so that you can interact better with your team.
[00:02:28] Alex: So here's your [00:02:30] number one assignment. First. Your first assignment is this. I want you to think about. Your key employees around those people who work with you. And in the last segment to take off, we went through, uh, color assessments. I want you to start thinking and not trying to identify them, your teammates.
[00:02:47] Alex: What, what color do you think they are? Where do they land? Because that's gonna be important for you to identify that first, to know your key personnel. So that if you know your personnel, now I can begin to script out plays and [00:03:00] how to interact and how to deal with them, right? That's gonna be very, very important to understand how to deal with them, how to work with them ultimately, so that you can be super, super successful.
[00:03:08] Alex: Right? So with that being said, I wanna go through right now to talk about what does each player bring to the table, right? So my blue team, team Blue, as I said. Team players phenomenal with people when they're at their best. My friends, they are great people, motivators. They're empathetic, they're aware of other people's feelings around [00:03:30] them, so they understand that they also are great at personal relationships and bringing people together, right?
[00:03:36] Alex: That's when they're at their best. But now, hear me out on this. They're, they have a, a side of their worst side also, when I like to say, they're getting too blue, right? So when they get too blue, What happens? Well, here's what happens when they get too blue, they try to carry and rescue, rescue everyone. Uh, they feel guilt ridden when they can't.
[00:03:56] Alex: They try to, uh, be a superhero and try to save the day all [00:04:00] the time. And also they carry guilt and burdens for a long time, right? So understand that that's them at their best as well as them at their worst, but your job as a leader is to bring the best out of them so that they're the glue that keeps the team together, right?
[00:04:14] Alex: My greens. When they're at their best, what do they bring to the table? Well, they're, they, they bring conceptualization, systematic thinking. They plan like none other. So you are bulletproof 6, 9, 12, 2 years down the road [00:04:30] because they're thinking about that shit, right? Uh, they're fair and firm. They understand, uh, theory and those kinds of things, and they're able to explain it well, but now hear me out when they're at their worst.
[00:04:41] Alex: When they're getting too green, it's turned up too much. What happens? Well, they become mental gymnasts and they want to think about it all the damn time. You need to answer that. I need to think about it. Let me think some more. Right? Uh, they can miss the immediate because they're thinking so far down the road on things as well as they tend to not want to work [00:05:00] in groups.
[00:05:00] Alex: They can appear aloof and impersonal and want to be by themselves all the time. That's when they're their worst, right? So estimate their best. This is them at their worst, my goal team. What do they look like when they're at their best? Now understand, they're great administrators. They understand order and discipline.
[00:05:17] Alex: They understand structure. They take charge. They take control when they're at their best now, but when they're at their damn worst, understand that's my friends. They're nitpick. They're nitpick. They can be very [00:05:30] rigid. They can be arrogant at times as well as they're stubborn and don't like flexibility, right at their best, at their worst.
[00:05:39] Alex: Last but not least, my oranges, what do they look like? Well, at their best, phenomenal problem solvers, right? Flexible can get things done on the fly. They love, uh, just thinking on the fly, immediate and resourceful, as well as their quick starter. Now, but when they're at their damn worst, it's a shit show, [00:06:00] right?
[00:06:00] Alex: What do I mean by that? Well, they create problems when there are none, right? When they're at their worst, uh, they have low interest beyond the practical. At times they get very bored and distracted, really, really easy as well as there's little follow through when they're at their worst. So your job as a leader is to understand all of these personality styles.
[00:06:19] Alex: What happens when they're at their best. What happens when they're, they're worse, and it's your job to say, okay, I see who's in front of me right now, and I'm willing to do my best to [00:06:30] influence them so that I bring out the best in them. Your job as a leader, my friend, is to create belonging environments.
[00:06:37] Alex: Now, when we talk about diversity, equity, and inclusion, oftentimes we leave out belonging, right? Belonging means you do a phenomenal job as a leader of reeling them in. Based on their personality and their style. So they understand that they belong on this team, they're a part of the team, and understand that goes beyond everything else that we see.
[00:06:57] Alex: Race, gender, ethnicity, uh uh, [00:07:00] what I believe, all that stuff. We're just talking about personality at the deep core of who we are, reeling them in with that, right? So when you think about that, I wanna challenge you to really be open to talking other people's language. What do I mean by that? Well, in the first segment of the takeoff, we talked about you knowing what color you are, right?
[00:07:21] Alex: But now I just shared with you what these other colors bring to the table when they're their best, as well as when they're at their worst. Your job, my [00:07:30] friend, as a leader is to do everything possible to win, to bring them out at their best. So what does that look like? Well, let's talk about each of these and let's talk about how do you influence.
[00:07:42] Alex: Because it's important to understand what are some of the strategies you need once you identify that person on your team, Hey, I understand that, uh, Linda, Susan, Bob, bill, Hector, they are blue. What the, what the hell do I need to do to motivate 'em? Well, here are influencing strategies for you. [00:08:00] Is this is the game plan, right?
[00:08:00] Alex: This is what to call the game plan so that you know this is in your back pocket. You know how to motivate them, encourage them. Here's what you do from a blue person, number one. Establish a democratic relationship with them. Understand they're about people and team, I don't care if you don't want to do it.
[00:08:17] Alex: Understand you're trying to win. You want to get the best out of them. So you want to establish a democratic relationship with them, number one. Number two, you wanna include them in making ideas. Understand team blue loves [00:08:30] teamwork and harmony, and they wanna be a part of the process. So anytime you get a chance to reel 'em in to say, Hey, listen.
[00:08:37] Alex: Here's what we're doing. Here's some of the activities that we're going to do. Here's what we're thinking about. We will love to have you a part of it. Wouldn't you be willing to come in and help the team get better? I guarantee you they'll run through brick balls for you because of that. Because they love team, right?
[00:08:52] Alex: What? What's next? Well, they need approval. So this group right here, as they're working, they really wanna make sure that you have their best [00:09:00] interest at heart. So letting them know they're doing a great job, you being there to support them, helps reel them in. And that gives you, uh, that influencing strategy as you talk about them.
[00:09:10] Alex: And then last but not least, which is very, very, very important for this group right here, focus on feelings, not just facts. I'm gonna say that again. Focus on feelings. Not just facts for this group, it's important for them to know that you care about how they feel right now. You may not agree with it, and that's cool [00:09:30] shit.
[00:09:30] Alex: You don't have to agree with it, but you can at least acknowledge, say, listen, I understand how you feel. I understand why you may feel like that. I don't agree with you, but I at least want to hear your feelings, right? And if there's anything I can do, I'm gonna help there with that. Sometimes just that alone helps reel that blue end.
[00:09:47] Alex: So, Let's talk about green influencing strategies. How do you influence a green person? Because understand, very analytical, they live in their head. Oftentimes, this is the smartest, these are the smartest people in the room, right? [00:10:00] So they're 10, 20, 30 steps ahead of everybody usually so, so influence them can be very difficult.
[00:10:05] Alex: Number one, as a leader, demonstrate competence. Please understand this, my friends, if you don't know what you're talking about, just say it. Don't bullshit. Agree. Because if you make a mistake, they will discredit everything you say after that point, right? So if you don't know, be honest, say you don't know, and you'll go back and research it because they value competence.
[00:10:27] Alex: And in order to influence them, you have to be very, [00:10:30] very confident. I mean, competent, right? The next thing is, uh, be able to identify quantifiable results. They wanna know, well, well, how do we know we're going in the right direction? You can't just say, well, it feels right. No, no, no. That doesn't work. That works for Blue.
[00:10:44] Alex: Does not work for green. Green doesn't give a shit how you feel, right? They want to know, well, whoa, wait a minute. Uh, what numbers, what are we measuring, how we know we need to adjust? And by having those quantifiable results, it helps get them on board with you, right? The next [00:11:00] thing is, uh, focus on future possibilities.
[00:11:03] Alex: So remember I talked about inviting the blue people in the blue team in to help think and, and creatively solve problems. Invite this team in as well to probe future possibilities. They love thinking about the future, thinking about what if? How can we solve this problem? What can we do? They love thinking, thinking, thinking, right?
[00:11:21] Alex: And then last but not least, discuss things at an intellectual level, right? Some colors want the basics. This color likes thinking [00:11:30] on big, challenging problems at a high level. If you begin to do that, I guarantee you, you'll bring this color in. Now, I'm gonna be honest with you because we're not bullshitting you here.
[00:11:40] Alex: This is probably the most difficult personality to deal with because they're smart at times. They can be arrogant at times. They're standoffish, they don't like teams. It can be a shit show. I'll be honest with you, most of the leaders that I work with, when they call me to talk about consulting to [00:12:00] help them out, it's usually because.
[00:12:02] Alex: They're having a shit show with a green personality type, and they don't know what to do. Right? So if you have to master any personality at all, it's this one right here because this is very, very, very tricky. This is a smart group. They don't go for the bullshit. Uh, they tend to stand off by themselves, like I said.
[00:12:20] Alex: And so it can be very, very difficult, right? So you wanna master this one right here. How do you influence a goal leader? Well, remember they're process driven. They're thinking about how do I get from point A to point B? [00:12:30] How do I get from here to there? So, so for them you have to communicate timelines and a reporting structure.
[00:12:37] Alex: They want to know, hey, well what's the system? What's the structure? How do we know? When are we gonna report back? Right? This group right here. If not careful, can be micromanager. So they want the information, keep them in the loop at all times. Right? What else? Well, it's important to give them specific instructions and guidelines.
[00:12:57] Alex: This group right here, my friends, they love following the rules. [00:13:00] This is the only group that follows the rules. Every other color will break the rules, right? So how do you influence this color? Well, follow the damn rules. Set some rules first, and then follow them. Blue people will break the rules that people are involved and people are getting hurt.
[00:13:14] Alex: Greens will break the rules. If it's a dumb ass rule. That's a dumb ass rule, not following that. And then in this next. Color. We talk about oranges. Shit, they just don't like rules, period. Right? So they're gonna push the envelope anyway. So this color right here loves the rules, look, looks for standards, [00:13:30] right?
[00:13:30] Alex: So how, how else do you do this? Well provide them opportunities to grow and to correct their mistakes If they do that, if you are willing to do those things there, you can reel a goal personality type in to follow you if you follow those guidelines. The last but not least, my oranges. So, so how do you influence them?
[00:13:49] Alex: How they reel them in? Well, first and foremost, understand this, they hate to be micromanaged. So one way to do that is to give them freedom, right? And so you do that by what? [00:14:00] Getting to the point. Don't send 'em long emails, don't send long notes. Get to the point, you know, I, I tend to bullet point my emails when I send it to an orange personality type, uh, with limited words, right?
[00:14:11] Alex: With that right there. The next thing is give clear minimal instructions. What do you need them to do in the next few hours? Don't give them everything for the week, the month. No, cuz they're thinking everything. They're all over the place with that right there. Right. Make difficult chat, tap, make difficult tasks.
[00:14:28] Alex: Challenging works for them [00:14:30] because they tend to, uh, like to win. So if you can make something difficult and hard, understand this, that group wants to win. They're going to be all out trying to do it right. And then last but not least, outline multiple options for them. Don't just tell 'em, Hey, it has to be done this way.
[00:14:46] Alex: You gotta do it this way or else. No, no, no. That is a shit you are waiting to happen. If you can begin to outline options, tell 'em when it's needed, when you need to buy, and then let them have that, my friends, you will pull them in. [00:15:00] So as a leader, it's your job to understand each personality style, and color has great potential as well as bad options and potential.
[00:15:10] Alex: Your job is to be the head coach. Pull it out of them so that they win. Ultimately, they show you so that your team succeeds. So I wanna challenge you. What are you willing to do to win? Are you willing to set your ego aside, your color, and your personality style aside? Be flexible and willing to dial up and dial down [00:15:30] what color you need during that interaction so that you can influence your person to win and win really, really well.
[00:15:36] Alex: It's all about following the game plan, my friends, if you follow the game plan. You can master this thing of colors and personality style and have a phenomenal team. We're gonna go more in the next segment to show you how to bring all of this together to have the right mindset of thinking in the foundation.
[00:15:53] Alex: So I'll see you in the next segment, my friends.[00:16:00]