Foremen fundamentals

Do you have a long-tenured, talented foreman who is your go-to choice for a difficult job? Does that foreman have a hard time keeping folks on his crew? Do your crew members respect his knowledge and skills but hate working with him? Have you reached the point of accepting the bad with the good even though no one wants to work for him?

This scenario, though extreme, happens in the roofing industry. Unfortunately, the industry employs a great number of highly skilled, experienced and technically savvy crew leaders who do not have equal skill, experience and savvy when it comes to leading crews and working with people.

Foremen often lack leadership skills and, therefore, lean into various other techniques to coerce crews to do what they want them to do. These can include aggressive behavior, micromanaging and overdependence on rules.

Aggressive behavior

A stereotypical foreman is a hard-charging, take-no-prisoners individual. Although not all foremen have these characteristics, stereotypes persist because they are close to the truth.

Foremen are expected to manage results, and they often believe the results they are expected to produce demand a heavy hand to keep crews in line. They bark orders and expect crew members to deliver. They drive production and quality by belittling those who do not perform as expected. When on job sites, they are explicitly task-focused and intolerant of behavior that doesn’t move a job forward.

Installers respond because they are prodded. In turn, foremen see the action they want resulting from aggression, so they lean into that behavior regularly.

Micromanaging

Micromanaging is a result of the adage “If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself.”

A foreman’s job is not to install a roof system but to manage those who do. This can be challenging for foremen who excelled at installation and know they do not excel at managing others. And it is hard for foremen to witness others installing roofing materials in less efficient or ideal ways than they would.

So most foremen can’t help themselves. They step in. They instruct, stare, insult, demonstrate or, when really frustrated, finish tasks themselves. Because they are unable to manage the big picture, they manage each step instead.

This will result in installers working hard to avoid scrutiny or resigning themselves to a foreman’s criticism knowing he or she will redo some of their work no matter what they do.

Overdependence on rules

In the off chance foremen are not full of their own certainty, they still need work to proceed and be done well and safely. As a result, they overdepend on rules and appear rigid without explanation. This could mean insisting crew members wear personal protective equipment because the rules require it but not out of concern for people’s lives and health. Overdependence on rules also can look like requiring an installer to follow a detail with precision even when it might not be effective in a specific situation.

Installers will notice foremen who are unable to adapt to various situations or do not lean on values to guide their actions. And as soon as a foreman’s back is turned, a crew is likely to make its own decisions, which can result in chaos. Crew members who have been constrained crave freedom and have not been trained to appreciate the “whys” of what they are doing.

Behaviors designed to avoid a foreman’s scrutiny or wrath are not based on long-lasting growth. Installers in these situations learn how their foremen react—not better skills and work habits.

Types of leaders

Foremen are positional leaders meaning crew members are obliged to comply with a foreman’s instructions because he or she is the boss.

But blind compliance is rarely motivating and does not usually lead to higher quality work, increased loyalty or production improvements.

The best foremen will be more than positional leaders. They also will be authentic leaders.

Authentic leaders see themselves as something more than people with titles. Authentic leaders seek to embody leadership characteristics, such as respect and trust. They lead by example, and they value accountability and positivity.

Traits of leaders

Authentic leaders are respected by their teams. There are two types of respect: basic and earned. Good leaders maintain a basic respect for everyone and especially those for whom they are responsible. Regardless of a person’s behavior, this type of respect will never be in question from an authentic leader.

Earned respect develops over time. A foreman may never develop earned respect for a crew member who is unreliable and unskilled but should never lose basic respect for that person.

Trust, another important part of leadership, is earned and the basis of delegation. Levels of delegation are based on freedom to act and are granted based on trust as follows:

Level 1: Before there is trust, a foreman will assign tasks and verify results before a crew member can move on. The foreman will thoroughly guide or assess the work and provide specific corrective measures, expecting exact changes to be made.

Level 2: After a little trust is earned, a foreman may assign a task and ask to see results when the task is completed after which he or she will provide feedback and direct correction.

Level 3: At this level, a foreman assigns increasingly complex responsibilities after which results are discussed and subsequent corrections may or may not need to be proved.

Level 4: By this time, a foreman will assign broad responsibility, spot check accomplishments and generally assume good quality.

An authentic leader begins a relationship with a baseline of trust, assuming positive intent on the part of a crew member but respects the other person enough to not burden him or her with outsized freedom. This is not mistrust; it is an acknowledgement that it would be unfair to the employee, the foreman and everyone else to give this person too much responsibility.

Mistrust is a result of not knowing what can be expected from another person. A leader is wise to mistrust a person who says he or she will do something and then does not follow through.

Good leaders also should hold people accountable for their work. When a leader’s corrections are delivered with the intent of improving job quality and helping an installer develop skills rather than to shame or blame, genuine learning is more likely to occur. This also helps installers feel a sense of confidence and competence. Mistakes happen, and teams learn from them together. When interacting with the company or a client, a foreman is ultimately responsible for mistakes and should not point to crew members as scapegoats.

A good leader also provides accountability and positivity for work well done. Letting people know when they execute high-quality work is a level of attention employees crave from their leaders.

We can do better

The roofing industry employs many foremen who push, blame and micromanage crews to fulfill the tasks required to install roof systems.

The industry also employs some excellent foremen who care about employees and the purpose of their work. These leaders approach their work with respect, trust and a desire to lead by example, and model accountability and positivity. These are the foremen installers want to work with and who will engender a sense of loyalty.

AMY STASKA is vice president of NRCA University.