"Improving Work Productivity"

Having a mother who was a mechanical engineer in the ’70s-’80s when that was completely unheard of, has strongly influenced Stephanie Simmons, Managing Partner of Profitability Works’. “She taught me how to have thick skin, how people treat you is more about how they are feeling about themselves than any judgment on myself. That has helped me move forward in some challenging situations over my career in construction,” says Stephanie. “Today I model myself in how I can lift others to help them to their goals with my actions.”

Construction is still a heavily male-dominated industry. Women usually enter the industry through office-based positions, such as project management, sales, finance, and marketing. “As more construction companies see the value in having a diverse workforce and leadership teams, we are seeing women in pivotal times of their careers – first-time front-line management,” says Stephanie. “Effective leadership isn’t one’s ability to do their employees’ job, but to have effective communication, build trust and rapport, and influence their employees’ to use behaviors that lead to the success of the team/business unit.”

Many women Stephanie encounters seem to discount these so-called “soft skills” when they are more important to their performance than having experience doing fieldwork. “When I encounter these women in these roles in our leadership workshops or coaching, I spend time with them reinforcing that the company needs their perspective that will be different than their counterparts because they have different backgrounds and experiences,” explains Stephanie. “Being different isn’t a disadvantage it is an advantage. Each person needs to focus on how their unique strengths can improve the organization. When that happens, women are more confident, they speak up more, and contribute.”

The company partners with the construction industry across North America to improve labor productivity, create business and sales strategies, improve front-line leader effectiveness, and create a culture of project management excellence. According to Stephanie, 11.2 million people work in the construction industry in the U.S. That's many jobs and families on the line when those construction companies fail. “Often they are mid-sized companies $25 million $250 million in annual revenue, and when they are financially struggling they tend to do one of two things, they cut costs (people typically) or they try to sell more. Both of those things may move the bottom line by 1-2% in the short term, but these companies are proceeding with less support per project/customer/etc,” explains Stephanie. “Long term that doesn’t spell success, it spells burn-out, safety instances, cutting corners, missed deadlines, etc. If they don’t address the root cause that is preventing their people from becoming more productive consistently, they will continue to struggle.” Stephanie wants those 11.2 million construction employees to have steady employment and higher wages.

Everything DiSC® is an assessment the company uses with clients to create self-awareness and learn how to adjust their communication style to get a better outcome out of the interaction. In a workplace or group setting, it provides some common language that helps different styles to communicate better without judgment. There are several specific assessments, and they recommend which ones to implement based on the audience they are working with or the problem being solved:

- Workplace Catalyst: General for all levels of an organization

- DiSC Sales: Customer service/sales

- DiSC Management: People managers

- Work of Leaders: Executive/Senior Leadership

- Productive Conflict: Get productive outcomes from conflict in the workplace

- DiSC 363: Unique approach to 360 reviews for maximum individual development

Profitability Works specializes in mid-sized construction companies that recently reorganized, acquired a business, or recently merged. They are launching an online learning platform that provides an interactive experience for the learner, with their sessions customized based on the client's needed outcomes. “It allows learners to keep notes/information on an online platform where they can refer back to their work and content,” says Stephanie. “We will be utilizing this tool to provide reporting on completion, measuring knowledge gain, and tracking ongoing interaction with the learner during the engagement.” IEWL