Stop chasing tech: Why people are the real innovators in construction
In construction and real estate, leaders often assume innovation means adopting new technology. But tech is just one output of innovation, not the cause.
Embracing innovative construction strategies or processes isn’t always about buying the latest shiny equipment. It starts with something far more fundamental: changing your mindset to become more open to questioning old processes, creating a culture of innovation — and only then identifying tech that can help bring new ideas to life.
Here are five steps to instill an innovation mindset and drive positive change at your construction firm:
1. Create a culture of innovation
In construction, innovation starts with people and problems. Transformative change can come from one person asking, “Is there a better way to do this?”
But do people on your team feel safe enough to ask that question? Your answer — and whether it’s accurate — will play a big role in determining whether you’re able to make your business more innovative.
That’s why it’s so important to create a culture that welcomes asking questions and trying new solutions. If your team thinks that they’ll get in trouble for pointing out a flaw in how you operate, no one will come forward.
Here, it can be helpful to establish specific ways to encourage innovation within your firm:
- If someone asks a good question, make it normal to praise that.
- If a team member comes up with a better solution to an old problem, celebrate that publicly or think of other ways to reward innovative people.
- Create innovation committees or groups to kick around new ideas.
- Ask people on your team: What B and C-level tasks are blocking you from spending more time on A-level work?
- Consider trying a “Shark Tank”-style competition where different team members pitch ideas for how you can improve processes to a panel of peers or leaders.
In a truly innovative culture, there won’t be any ways of doing business you can’t reevaluate. Everyone at your firm will understand that just because something is a legacy process doesn’t mean it can’t be done better.
2. Understand the value of innovative construction solutions
Construction is a business where leaders often hesitate to embrace change. And this makes sense — when you’re doing work where physical job safety is a major concern, you don’t want to chase after every passing fad.
However, the reality of any business is that if you don’t innovate, someone else will. If you’re not willing to stretch your thinking or explore different ways of doing things, then not only will you likely begin to lose market share, but you’ll also struggle to attract and retain talent.
For construction leaders, the key to squaring this circle is understanding that innovation doesn’t have to be reckless. You don’t need (or want) to move fast and break things.
Instead, approach innovation as a structured process. Take the time to first explore new ideas in limited settings, like a pilot program on a single job site.
This allows you to mitigate any risk. If an idea works, great — you can start using it on other projects as well. And if not, that’s okay too, because you haven’t committed your whole company to that direction.
When you take this approach, you’re better able to harness new solutions to create value. Top recruits will be more excited to work for you, potential clients or deal partners will see you as more innovative than peer construction groups, and you may uncover not just cost savings, but new growth areas for your business.
3. Follow an innovation strategy
Change just for the sake of change isn’t the way to go. And in the construction business, especially, innovating without following a clear strategy is like pouring concrete without a blueprint.
So, before you start looking for ways to innovate, establish some guidelines to help ensure your work is focused and effective. Define where you’d like to see improvement and how you might measure it.
In other words, if you want to succeed, you need to decide what success looks like.
Think about innovation from a SMART goals or KPIs perspective. Are there specific areas where you could experiment in order to produce a measurable result that strengthens your business?
Once you’ve identified areas for improvement, ask your team to start thinking about solutions or new ways of doing business that could deliver better outcomes. Innovation shouldn’t just be about one person sitting in an office brainstorming but rather a collaborative process in which everyone feels able to contribute their unique expertise or perspective.
The collaborative element is really important here. The more different people on your team are able to give input on new approaches to solving problems, the more likely those approaches will turn out to be actually useful.
If you create innovation committees or working groups, those groups should still seek additional feedback from colleagues or executives not directly participating in their efforts. Note that some of the most valuable insights will often come from people working in the field, not at headquarters.
4. Start small with pilot programs
Next, as noted above, use pilot programs to experiment with promising ideas. Don’t aim for massive change all at once. A tiny pilot program (or a dozen different pilot programs) can pay enormous dividends if it delivers.
Try promising ideas on a single job site, or even just one aspect of a particular job. Give new solutions room to breathe and then evaluate your metrics to see if a new approach has made a measurable impact.
If and when an experiment pays off, then you’re ready to scale up. This is where you can think through how to apply a pilot program more broadly to the rest of your business, including whether you’ll need to invest in new construction tech.
As you go along, keep asking questions: What resources do you need? Who’s working on a pilot project? How are you tracking results?
Doing this will help you begin to systematize your process of innovation.
5. Embrace innovation from the C-suite
Your firm’s top leaders play a huge role in determining whether a culture of innovation will take root or fail. And often, those leaders feel resistant to change.
Small wonder. Construction leaders feel the weight of ensuring the business’s success and the responsibility for employees doing dangerous work on job sites.
But leaders who reward only compliance aren’t going to build an innovative organization. And in the long run, this will usually do more damage to a business than a willingness to question old ideas.
Here’s how construction leaders can drive more positive change:
- Encourage asking questions.
- Make space for new ideas.
- Participate in innovation meetings or competitions.
- Set an example by questioning norms and showing curiosity.
- Listen to what people in the field have to say.
- Build new solutions with people, not for them.
How to use new construction technology more effectively
None of this is to say that embracing new tech can’t be incredibly valuable for your business. Tech can often help you do a job faster, safer or with fewer resources than before.
But the key is to let your innovation process guide you to technology that supports that process. Don’t just switch to a new platform or tool because it’s new.
Start with people, not tech. Embrace human ideas and human innovation, and then see where technology can help bring those ideas to life.
Doing this will help you not only avoid wasting money on tech that doesn’t actually serve your needs but also get more value out of tech you do invest in.
How Wipfli can help
Wipfli advises construction leaders on how to grow, contain costs and meet tomorrow’s challenges. Work with us to better understand how your business can innovate and what resources you need to best support positive change. Learn more here.
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