Construction Trailblazers: Paving The Way to Excellence

Podcast Interview with Scott Robertson
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Samantha C Prestidge: [00:00:00] Welcome to construction trailblazers paving the way to excellence, the podcast where we cut through the noise to uncover what truly drives success in the building industry.

I'm Samantha C. Prestige, your guide in simplifying operations and helping you make managing your team simpler. You can explore our past episodes at construction trailblazers. com and start your journey to excellence. Today I'm talking with Scott Robertson, an executive manager at Bryan Construction. He grew up around the industry watching his dad run a residential construction business, but he took his own path, studied at CSU and eventually joined Bryan Construction.

So over the past 14 years, he's worked his way up from the field into leadership. Navigating the company's transition into an ESOP along the way. So we're going to dive into what that shift was really like going from project management to big picture leadership, learning to communicate with clients and making tough decisions [00:01:00] while trying to keep a people first mindset.

So hi, Scott. Thank you so much for being with us today.

Hey, Samantha. Yeah, no problem.

So that transition from the field to then an executive kind of manager role is a big shift. What was the hardest part of that change for you? And maybe what caught you off guard the most?

Scott Robertson: So I think I should start by maybe clarifying, , it wasn't like straight from the field into into leadership.

Certainly the field was a big part of my path. , you kind of hit on in my intro there with, working alongside my father and his company. So, , spend some time in the field there and then, and went to school and, and kind of came to the commercial side was.

Brian construction and worked as a project engineer, kind of maybe more as a field engineer because I spent most of my time, in a job trailer and then into that superintendent route, did that for a couple of years before, coming into the office as an assistant project manager.

Project manager senior project manager, and then moved into, this executive role. So, kind of a lot of little micro transitions, but, , I [00:02:00] think sort of big picture going from the field, into more of a leadership or executive type role. I think one of the the biggest things, , like as a superintendent, or when you're in the, in the field, you're, you're taking a set of drawings and you're turning that into a building.

And, , now I'm spending a lot of my time as, as an executive taking a client's vision for a project and turning that into a set of drawings. So, it's a lot more work on, on the front end and chasing and procuring that work , helping to, , get construction budgets to, , match the client's funding and, and getting those projects to go.

So a lot of that. Gratification that you'd get from the field and seeing the finished product, now is kind of, for me, is seeing the starting line for our field teams.

Samantha C Prestidge: Yeah. I mean, that's such a big thing that you have to kind of shift what rewards look like, what fulfillment in your role and what success looks like, cause now you're not.

Seeing it get built along the way. You might still visit the site and, check it every night again. But for the [00:03:00] most part, you're , like you said, going from vision to drawings, do you miss some of that field experience sometimes?

Scott Robertson: Oh, absolutely. Each project site, , it's like kind of has its own cast of characters.

The interaction day to day with, with all our trade partners , you get to know some of them really well along the way. Some of them you really like some of them, maybe not so much, but heads with, but the nice thing was always, once you got that one done, there was always a new project.

I should say there always is a new project to look forward to. Yeah.

Samantha C Prestidge: Yeah. So with that transition, , you mentioned there's kind of some micro steps along the way, right? It's just a PM to the PM to now wait where you are now. And so you're going from this hands on, like we said, seeing the tangible thing in the field to now leading a team and you are responsible for bigger and bigger decisions.

So not just about Yeah. The project executing and being done really well, but then also about the people involved in that project. So if you can be a little vulnerable with us here, what's been the toughest or maybe a tough leadership [00:04:00] decision you've had to make? And how did you handle that?

Scott Robertson: Well, I think I'll kind of start this by almost going into the second part of that first question on being what caught me off guard, right?

Because a lot of it is that people piece of it. I'd say the soft skills dealing with your employees and everything that they bring to you, so there's some sometimes uncomfortable conversations, you're trying to balance what's best for your employees, but also, , how does that fit into what's best for the company?

So some of those discussions and conversations to navigate are definitely something that, that caught me off guard. Part of that too, is just kind of dealing with Loss on projects, right? So , I think if you're doing really good, you're probably somewhere around a one in three type hit rate on going for projects.

And we bounce in that, , probably one in three to one in five projects that. You propose on interview for you get, don't get and, dealing with that loss was definitely something that I wasn't totally prepared for when you think about, , 60 to 80 percent of the time, you're not going to win these jobs and you get really excited about [00:05:00] them.

But the, the part, as far as like. Toughest leadership decision for me, that that maybe feeds into is like employee layoff. I think that was probably one of my biggest fears coming into this is, what if, what if I can't keep that pipeline full and it's tough, right?

Because, , 2024 was a banner year company we're so diverse in, what Colorado Springs does, what Fort Collins does even if, commercial's doing really well, in Denver, but maybe our, our facilities isn't and, , all of a sudden you just don't have enough work to, to keep that entire staff busy.

So that's. Those are very tough, tough decisions to make because now you're messing with someone's livelihood. You're, feeling like you let them down. And yeah, so hardest decision so far has been having to look at, what's best for employees, what's best for the company and, and, , navigating that tough line.

Samantha C Prestidge: Yeah, it's definitely a different weight on your shoulders, especially when you're, a decent human being and you care about other people. And so for our listeners that are outside of Colorado, Fort Collins [00:06:00] is pretty close to Wyoming. So about an hour and a half, sometimes two hour drive from Denver.

And then Colorado Springs is also about. hour, hour and a half south of Denver. So quite the landscape that you guys are covering there. And going back to what you said of having to deal with project loss, yeah, totally different type of resilience, right? In the field, not only do you have a different sense of fulfillment watching these projects become what they're supposed to be, but there's just a different level of resilience, or you have to leverage that skill in a different way in the field versus.

Going into bidding on projects. Now you've got to be okay and be resilient with losing out on something. Field you've got the project, right? You're going to start building it. Let's go. But now it's like, Oh, I really want this project. Is it going to happen? Oh no, we didn't get it. Okay.

Scott Robertson: Onto the next, how long did it take you to kind of settle into accepting those feelings?

, this is, yeah, I've been in this role now since May of last year. And it is tough especially when, , you've got the right team and you feel like you, you have the best team for [00:07:00] that project and it still doesn't go your way.

Scott Robertson: But what you just said there, the kind of the resilience and perseverance has been something you kind of have to quickly turn to, you gotta, okay, , that one didn't go our way. Don't dwell on it. Let's, let's look to the next one and let's give it our all in landing that next job and then try and take those lessons.

What went wrong? Why didn't we get that one? Let's take those lessons and apply them to the next one and see if we can do better. And not only on the losses, I think it's just as important to look at the wins too and see what did we do right as a team? , , why did we land that one?

And, continue to apply those, those lessons to our pursuits as well.

Samantha C Prestidge: See I love that structure and that strategy there. Cause I think that's something that. really, the analogy I'm thinking of is in sports, whether you win or you lose, you watch the tape. What can you learn?

How can you improve for the next time? And that's in any kind of sport, any kind of team. And I don't think we do that enough in business. A lot of times when something is kind of a shitty feeling, we just want to run away from it. We're like, all right, let's go on to the next thing. But let's keep moving forward, but let's also reflect that [00:08:00] when we move forward, we don't trip up again.

So amazing kind of. Balance that you described there. I also want to hop back to something you said about just a tough transition was having those tough conversations with people. So maybe not only about layoffs, but performance and other things and navigating that. Did you have a mentor within Bryan Construction that helped you navigate those conversations?

Or was this trial and error with people on your team?

Scott Robertson: , I think that's a little bit of both, right? Because I've, I've had mentors, within the company, kind of all the way through my, my career progression. , it's funny, one of the VPs I'm working for right now, I was a.

Project engineer when he was a project manager. So I can still rely on him for some of that input. And even, one of our other VPs that I'm working with now, , he was a project manager when I was a superintendent and so, , being able to rely on him, particularly for some of those, , kind of field to leadership type shifts and conversations definitely helps, but there is a lot of just learning along the way.

, you go from a project engineer [00:09:00] to, , eventually, , if you're going to stay in the field, a superintendent or a project manager and, , hopefully you've got that person there that you're learning under and see how they handle those situations and, and kind of see, , I'd say take for yourself what you think works and what doesn't, ,

Scott Robertson: I've come up under, , some pretty old school people when I was a project engineer, , and they were a superintendent. And I mean, I've, , had them scream at me for doing something wrong and that's just not how I operate, ? So I, I like to give a little more constructive type criticism and , more I guess.

Get collaborative feedback and sort of, , address those issues in a, a nicer way.

Samantha C Prestidge: Yeah. Hey, we don't have to be like a total asshole to get the job done. Sometimes the situation calls for a little passion, a little bit more energy to maybe get the message through or accomplish something.

But for the most part, we can just be decent human beings, how we work with each other. Now, this is also kind of making me think of going back to your intro, you grew up watching your dad work and then worked in [00:10:00] his company for a little bit. You're a dad yourself now as well.

Is there anything that maybe you learned from watching your dad work and working at his company that you're bringing into your leadership and management style now?

Scott Robertson: Yeah, I would say, , we have pretty probably like minded tempers.

, my dad was always pretty calm particularly dealing with employees and, , different trades on site. I feel like I've , probably have that same temperament, but, , also can get very excited when when the situation calls for it. But it's one of those where I've always felt like.

, you see this calm person your whole life and when they do , need to get excited, need to get stern, need to, , yell bring in that old school mentality, , something's definitely wrong. And I think when people see that and they see you, , somebody that never loses their cool, lose their cool.

It has more of a profound impact than just somebody who's always flying off the handle. So. I think, , him and I are probably pretty similar in that mindset, at least.

Samantha C Prestidge: Yeah. Oh man. My husband is very similar to that. A very even keeled person. So whenever I have [00:11:00] struggles or challenges in my business, I go to him and I'm like, Oh, like, I'm all exasperated.

Here's my big challenge. And then he's just very calm. Like, okay, well, , what about this? And did you try this? And I think that's such an amazing skill for a team. And I'm sure that your team also really appreciates just the calm level headedness. That you bring. I want to dive a little bit more into your transition from field to now more office and executive work. So we've talked about the resilience and also having to understand different levels of motivation and fulfillment in your work. And I want to also understand what's the comfort zone there.

So it's easy to kind of default to what you're comfortable with, especially when you're in a new role. There's so many unknowns. You want to feel confident. And usually that confidence goes from things you're familiar with. So did you ever in the past. You said since May. So in the past year or so, did you ever catch yourself slipping back into that field mindset when really you should have been stepping into more of that leadership mindset?

Scott Robertson: Absolutely. I think it's definitely [00:12:00] very easy to, start taking on. Old tasks and the things that you're familiar with, , stuff comes in the door. , you just grab it and start running with it. , 1 just like good example that comes to mind with this is towards the end of last year.

We started getting a bunch of, . RFPs from Lockheed Martin and for whatever reason, they initially kind of were getting routed to me. I guess I was just on the contact list, but I was just grabbing them and running it with them. And these are clearly jobs that would, , fall within our facility services.

And I have a facility services manager. But , I'm like, Hey, this came to me. I'll just start doing it. And , it was about. Maybe two or three of these and when I'm like, this is taking a lot of my time and I go and talk with Stephanie and I'm like, Hey, I think it'd probably be good that I transitioned you into this.

And she goes, yeah, I was wondering why you haven't already. And and honestly though, I think that, , , probably did cause a little bit of strife because then , you're not empowering your team and letting them , do what they're hired to do. And whether you think you're

, just trying to help. It was like, , in my mind I'm not like, oh, I don't [00:13:00] trust you to not do a good job or anything like that. It was just doing what I know how to do. And that was, that was kind of the wrong thing. , I should have initially gotten my facility services manager up to speed on these and said, , this is under your purview run with them.

So that was probably one that. Okay. Easy example that kind of comes to mind there, but it's, it's tough, , you, you, you kind of like, oh yeah, I see where there's a struggle or I see where, , I, I could jump in and do this, but you got to remind yourself, no, , you need to, to empower and train your employees to, to do those tasks because it's, , not mine to do anymore.

Samantha C Prestidge: Yeah, I mean, well first lemme go back to you said it was the wrong thing and just I would encourage that we rephrase that of it just wasn't the best choice, right? Maybe not. Yes. It wasn't the best choice. Not the wrong, not the best choice. It wasn't the best

Scott Robertson: choice.

Samantha C Prestidge: Yeah. When better, you do better, right?

Yep. But I mean that's such a good example of how easy it is to kind of slip into micromanagement. And a lot of times managers and leaders don't realize that that's what they're doing. You're just doing what is familiar to you and it's not even that [00:14:00] you took it off her desk and you're like, I'm gonna do this.

Now it's just, it came to you. So it felt natural to do and to have to kind of step back and really have that big picture view of your team and understand, okay, , who can do what? And really what should I be responsible for takes a lot of reflection you said it caused a little bit of strife between you and your employee.

Was that something that was quick to recover from just with a few conversations or did that take some time?

Scott Robertson: No I think it was fairly quick. , we sat down and just talked and made sure that, , it wasn't me trying to overstep. It's funny because at the time I didn't even think , Oh, I could be affecting this person's perception of, , me being a micromanager or me not trusting them or, , all of the above.

So I, I definitely was kind of a check myself moment and go, okay. This person is a, Total rockstar at what they do. And I couldn't have even stepped into this role without them here and their knowledge of, , the Denver sub base and our clients and , all that stuff.

And so there was nothing major of that, but it was also kind of. Feeling each other out on management [00:15:00] styles and , how we're going to work together. And no, I think, I think it's been, been great. So

Samantha C Prestidge: awesome.

Scott Robertson: No, it was quick, quick to resolve and get through.

Samantha C Prestidge: Well, it's awesome that you guys were able to move forward. So, so well, and so quickly and now collaborate so, okay. Let's also look at kind of some of the lessons learned and , how you've taken your experiences to do things differently. Something that we hear from.

different managers and leaders in construction is that they wish they had been given more insight into like the business side of things earlier on in their careers. A lot of times we, not on purpose, but we create those silos of information, the field just has to know this, the office just has to know this.

And then executives know more details and know more of those big picture things. And we don't mean to create these silos, but we do. So having come from the field, have you made any changes in how you communicate with your team versus maybe What was only communicated to you back then?

Scott Robertson: Yes. I think that's both been for me personally and, and company wide, particularly since we've become an [00:16:00] ESOP , you'd mentioned that in my intro and so that was back in 2022, we became an ESOP and

, in order to foster that employee ownership mindset, I, I think, , every employee needs to know the financial goals , for the year, , they need to know, , what that looks like in terms of revenue for us for the year. They need to know , what that looks like then, , as far as a gross profit against that revenue.

So those are definitely things and markers that, , I like to share almost on a monthly basis. So, , I, I, Got separate meetings set up reoccurring monthly for our office staff and our field staff. And I like to bring up our budget, which shows our goals, our budget, our revenue, kind of all that stuff and, and review that.

I try to do that monthly. Sometimes we, , get onto other topics, but Make sure that at least regular intervals with my teams, that they're seeing that information, they know how we're doing, , last year was one where we hit our profit goal by, I think it was like August.

So took everybody out to Topgolf just to celebrate, , cause we, we came in early for the year and that was awesome. [00:17:00] And, , moving into this year, just starting out, I want everybody to know where the baseline is, where we're starting , , the goals that we're working to.

And like I said, that really helps foster that, that employee ownership mindset. And, , it was something, , when I started we weren't an ESOP and, I don't think it was on purpose, but , that level of information

wasn't

readily available as readily available as it is now. And then I'd kind of mentioned, , company wide we, , went through that shift.

So we do have, , an annual, we call it went from our all hands meeting. Now we call it our annual shareholders meeting which, , then those goals are communicated company wide. And each executive manager, , we've got a exec And one in Colorado Springs and, , they, they do the same thing.

They have these monthly meetings with their teams. They're communicating those goals. They're letting everybody know where they stand. And then, for the whole company, we do our annual shareholders meeting we've got, our holiday party, and there's usually kind of a company wide update there.

, we just did our first annual company cornhole tournament. , a lot more events where we're getting the entire company together and, and. Going through the goals, celebrating our wins , really [00:18:00] trying to get all the offices, , together and kind of have this one Brian construction team.

So it's been a great culture in that sense. I know that kind of , sort of weaved away from the financial and goal side of it to , the culture side of it. But I think , they're kind of hand in hand and it's been a really good thing for the employees and for the company.

And that was just kind of opening up and I think sharing that kind of information. And I think that's really given everybody. I keep saying the ownership mindset, but that I think it makes everybody feel like they are more a part of it when they know that information.

Samantha C Prestidge: Yeah, absolutely. There's a different level of accountability that happens there. And so let's clarify for some listeners. You don't have to be an ESOP to share this. Maybe you aren't sharing as much information as you would if you were an ESOP, but you can still share it. a certain degree of information with your team to increase some of that ownership and also Cornhole tournaments top golf all that stuff I will put money on I bet that this would not mean as much to the brian construction employees if they also didn't [00:19:00] have Those monthly check ins.

So you can't just say like once or a few times a year, we're going to go, , have a party for everybody. If throughout the year and throughout the months and weeks, they don't feel like they're part of the team to begin with. I don't know if you guys did company events before you were in ESOP and could you compare those experiences?

Scott Robertson: We did. , like I mentioned, , even before we became an ESOP, we kind of had the all hands meeting. But that wasn't, , that was maybe a couple of years before we had an ESOP. We started doing those. And we've always done the holiday party. But, , we certainly do a lot more employee engagement events now.

And, , I think that's definitely, , part of that Mindset, like you said, you certainly don't have to be an ESOP to do this. Cause just seeing, the, the benefit and boost in morale with everybody and camaraderie that comes out of all this , I would encourage you to do it, , even if you're not in ESOP, cause I think you would still reap some of those same benefits.

People just want to know, and, , that's certainly something I always wanted during my career [00:20:00] was, , I wanted to know more. I wanted to know why, and , not that I ever felt slighted if I didn't, but it was, I definitely I feel a lot more a part of it now than I ever have.

I think that sentiment, , even though I'm an exec, I think that same sentiment would be true if you talk to, , a carpenter or their project engineer, , anybody out in the field or, , they're a lot more involved now than ever before.

Samantha C Prestidge: I definitely can relate to the concept of just wanting to know why, like, it's a little bit different from like a hunger for learning.

You're just like, I want all the information. So back in my youth, back in the days, I was accepted to Embry Riddle in Florida for Homeland Security. Ended up going a very different route in life, obviously, but one of the things that has helped me kind of cope with the idea that wasn't my path was realizing I'm very greedy with information.

So the whole, like, , when you're in like the FBI and like the government and everything, everything's very need to know. And I would have a big problem with that. I'm like, I need to know. This is why I need to know. So [00:21:00] even with my clients and things, I'm like, okay, let's do it. Dig into the why, like, let me have all the information here so we can find the best solution.

So I definitely understand that. You mentioned a few times about that shift, a mindset shift on things. And I want to simplify kind of the lessons you've learned and pieces of advice. So for someone who's been working in the field for years and now they're moving into more of an office or more of a customer facing role, what's one skill or mindset shift that they should really start working on now?

Scott Robertson: I think I've kind of got a couple thoughts around this , and one, I want to go back to, , that ownership mindset. , whether , whether you do have a true stake or not , start thinking like an owner, start thinking what's going to be best for the company in this outcome. What's best for the employees as well. And that also kind of. Rolls into soft skills.

So there's a lot, , particularly coming from the field, , there's a lack in soft skills type training. , there's a lot of sometimes difficult [00:22:00] conversations you need to navigate either with your own team, with trade partners, with owners, clients , learning to get comfortable with some of those uncomfortable situations.

It definitely, , can I at least help you, , feel more comfortable in that role? And this question reminds me of something, a framer or, , one of the guys I was working with back when I was working with my dad, we were framing houses and , I was asking a lot of questions, , how should I do this?

How should I do that? , I think he finally just got tired of answering my questions, but he told me, he goes, I asked him something, he goes, well, why don't you just do this, pretend like no one else is here and just build. And I was like, okay, but that gave me the confidence to, oh, what, I can frame this, , wall like this, or I can, kind of gave me that confidence, like, oh yeah, I know what I'm doing.

I just, , keep second guessing or asking for that direction.

So I do like the, , pretend like no one else is here and just build.

As dumb as that statement sounds, it was very [00:23:00] profound for me because it did give me that confidence to , go ahead and, , do these things out on my own and feel like I was owning it and I can do it. And that the guys that I'm working around have the confidence in me to say, , pretend like we're not here.

If you can't ask that question, how would you do it yourself? And I've had to actually remind myself of that several times throughout my career where , just in any decision making process. , I love to collaborate and get input from, , not only my peers. Some of the people above me but then I also like to ask myself that question and say, if none of these people were here, , what would my answer be?

And I think maybe that introspective thought process, at least to know where you stand and then compare that against the answers you get from everyone else and see how that feeds in so that you can kind of take a step back and know where.

where you stand and how you feel about something. And then, , how does that fit in with how your team or your peers or the people that you're seeking that advice from, , how that fits in with, with their information.

Samantha C Prestidge: Well, I mean, [00:24:00] I don't know if he was annoyed with your questions or not.

I know that that happened to me. I was like in fifth grade or something, and I just was not getting one of these assignments. And I kept, I would walk up to the teacher, ask a question, go sit down and like two minutes later do the same thing, like maybe three or four times. And she just looked at me and she was like, Samantha, you just need to figure this out.

Right. I'm like 10 years old. And so that pushed me back a little bit of like, is it safe to ask questions? But also it was an important moment of you can figure this out. you don't have to have someone tell you. All the answers of what to do next. And so there is that balance in any culture and any team of making sure your employees know that they can ask questions if they need help, but also encouraging them and empowering them to just go do it and be confident that they can figure it out.

That's something we do a lot of interviewing and recruiting either for our own team or helping clients fill positions. And a lot of times that's a question that we will put in is , , how do you figure something out if you didn't have, , These people to help you with this. How would you approach this task?

Because way too many people like, oh, well, I'll ask a question. I'm like, that's good. [00:25:00] But , I need to know that you can go like Google that shit or like you at least something and then like ask for review and feedback on something instead of just getting stuck and not being able to move forward,

Scott Robertson: yes. Yeah. , I had a I think it was a math teacher back in community college is kind of where I started before I went to CSU, but he had a good, good saying, and it was, , memorization is a good thing. But understanding is a better thing and, , somebody can memorize tasks and, , do that, but, , understanding what they're doing or understanding where that information can come from , versus just memorization.

And I thought that was kind of a good little tidbit.

Samantha C Prestidge: Yeah. Teach a man to fish, right?

Scott Robertson: Yes. Yep. But yeah, can you, can you go out and, and yeah, Google something and then, and then bring that answer back.

Samantha C Prestidge: Such an important skill, a personal life and, and professionally, and if you want to grow, you you've got to have the hunger for learning, the hunger for the next step and to continue to grow your confidence. So Scott, it has been such a pleasure having [00:26:00] you with us today and hearing your journey, and we really appreciate you being open with the ups and downs and we're looking forward to seeing what else Bryan Construction is going to go do and be successful at.

So thank you so much for joining us today.

Scott Robertson: Yeah, thank you for having me on.

If you want to learn more about Scott or Brian Construction, check out his LinkedIn or the company website. Both are linked in the show notes. And if you're looking to help your managers step up, think bigger, and balance people and process effectively, we've got you covered with our Doer to Leader Workshops and the High Performing Manager Coaching.

You'll find those links in the show notes as well lastly, if you have your own story of resilience, a big leadership shift, or an awesome story of how you're trailblazing excellence with your company and team, I'd love to hear it. Shoot me an email at hello at construction trailblazers. com or reach out to me directly on LinkedIn. All right, guys, thanks for joining and we'll see you next [00:27:00] time.