Construction Trailblazers: Paving The Way to Excellence

5. Raymond Sonnier
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[00:00:00] Welcome to Construction Trailblazers, Paving the Way to Excellence, your go to podcast for innovation, success, and streamlined excellence in the building industry. I'm Samantha C. Prestidge, your host and expert in operations and processes. I've seen the transformative effects of adopting smart, efficient processes.

These changes not only boost company revenue, but also restore peace of mind for owners overwhelmed by the daily grind. On this show, we bring to light leaders who are innovating across the industry and creating outstanding results, inspiring you to forge your path to excellence. Today, we're diving into a conversation with Raymond Saunier, the Director of Damage Prevention with GAC Enterprises.

Raymond brings us over 30 years of industry and leadership expertise, and I'm excited to dive into the lead by example approach that he has crafted over the years and is currently implementing with a new, expanding, [00:01:00] multi state team. If you're all about leaving behind the daily firefighting and moving towards a future of freedom and predictable success, then you're in the right place.

Discover more about us and catch up on past episodes at ConstructionTrailBlazers. com. So let's get started and see what groundbreaking insights Raymond has for us today. Raymond, let's start with the foundations here. Can you just tell us what leading by example means to you?

So leading by example, Samantha, I have a way to lead. That's. utilizing my character my values, my behaviors as a guide. And I trust my team to follow in my footsteps. We lead by example by not having people do as I say, but do as I do. And that takes quite a bit of time. Trust on each other's part. [00:02:00] I have to set the example.

I then have to live the example and then I have to enforce the example. And that's where I am with my leading by example. My parents taught me this as a young child, all our parents taught us this at some point in our lives, in some form or fashion that If you want someone to follow you, you have to lead them. You don't say I need you to do as I say, it's do as I do. And one, one thing that has been told to me by the few bosses that I've had in my life as an adult that's important. I was, I was a bad kid

Yeah, right. Your parents are your boss for a while. Mm

have told me repeatedly [00:03:00] one manager in particular Terry Thibodeau, David Raymond with Atmos Energy.

They have told me, you, Raymond, lead by example. You walk the walk and you talk the talk. And that's something that we're familiar with. I'm thankful that I've been given that. I've been put in that slot. I've been, I have won it. to preach the message and have people follow the message because they believe in the message. And that's where I'm at with that. So set the standard, live the standard, enforce the standard. And the standard is not difficult for anyone. Let me begin with a story, please,

Of course.

which is probably going to shock anyone in America that knows me. To understand the podcast, To understand what we're going to talk about today, you need to [00:04:00] understand the bad child.

Yeah, the

I come, the journey, yes. Why I am the way I am, Samantha, I'm that way because I was once a pirate.

Tell me more.

while that's going to seem funny to, to this audience, You guys need to understand where I come from, why I carry myself the way I carry myself. Humility was brought to my doorstep, and I carry myself because of humility, and we'll discuss that in a lot more in this conversation.

Yeah, I think, you know, going back to the beginning, there's a lot about your character that feeds into how you lead your team, right? We hear humility, but we also hear a lot about trust. And then I heard you say enforced, which really we're looking at accountability when we look at that. So let's start with one of the first things, which was trust.

That's so crucial in any leadership [00:05:00] structure. What are some of the strategies you've used to build trust with your teams, and maybe also on top of that, what advice would you give to someone who is struggling with a team that has low trust?

As goes the leader, so goes the team. In my role, it means prioritizing safety, showing dedication to preventing damages.

and consistently practicing the same principles. As goes the leader, so goes the team. The way I carry myself is the way the team is going to carry themselves.

Absolutely.

A practical way to lead by example. Samantha is to actively participate in audits and inspections, engage in field work, demonstrate best practices.

Best practices is something that we in the [00:06:00] construction understand as a standard, a guideline from Common Ground Alliance. Training and mentorship, which is something else that we'll talk about. Encouraging open communication, recognizing and rewarding safety excellence. And I have stories behind each of these examples.

And, and just yesterday, recognizing, recognizing and awarding safety excellence. I had a team that that has been in the South Carolina market that has went incident free.

Wow.

zero incidents to utilities, to folks, bushes and flower beds, which is an important thing. Driveways light poles, power, gas, water, you name it.

Zero incidents. That [00:07:00] is an achievement. It's quite difficult in the construction side of the business. And we believe that rewarding with an award of some type, safety excellence. will drive these guys to be even better, to improve. And we went out and bought them some and award it to them. And this is a way to continue to drive excellence. And excellence is our mission. Excellence is our vision

Yeah,

be the safest provider

of utilities

I love that you guys have been able to find that balance between enforcing something and also recognition because I know for for some job sites when there is a reward behind zero incidents or zero OSHA reports or something then the tendency is for a team to just not report it right so they can have that zero but when we're able to match that recognition also with that enforceability of a policy or the [00:08:00] accountability that's where we really see that excellence start to shine.

And I think also on top of that, there's the consistency behind it, right? We're not just recognizing one team for this and another team for totally something different or not recognizing some teams that are doing the same as another team, right? There's consistency behind who's getting awarded and who we're highlighting as far as excellence goes.

That's correct. That's correct.

yeah. So I think also something I hear a lot of what you're saying is saying is like, we'll walk the talk, talk the talk, the consistency there. Have you been in a position where maybe a fellow peer, so not someone that reports to, but another manager, another leader in the company is not showing that lead by example and that consistency.

So they're not consistent. walking the talk. They're not talking the talk. They're kind of just like telling their teams what to do and not being that active participant or engaging with their team. Have you seen that and how did you navigate that and kind of encourage them to change their ways?

So I [00:09:00] have a couple members of different teams in different companies that we talk to each other on a regular basis about different subjects and, and dealing with this particular subject. How do I motivate my employees? How do I. reach across the aisle to subordinates, to direct reports. I give them the best advice I can and that is time. To use time to your advantage. Time is what you have and using emotional intelligence with that time will, will help you make wise decisions. Does that, does that make sense to you, Samantha?

I think, but let's, let's give our audience maybe a little bit more [00:10:00] clarification here because we also know it takes time to build trust. And sometimes we don't feel like we have that time. It's really hard to tap into that patience. So how are we really leveraging time to our advantage in this instance?

Yeah. Mm

Being reliable and consistent show and respect, which is quite difficult for some people. it's not difficult. It's not hard, but it is for some people. You lead by example, you support and empower your employees. Remember I talked about trusting. your employees,

Mm

trusting your team it is, it's a form of leadership to trust your team.

I'm not saying let them go wide open, do whatever they want. I'm saying put a little faith into them.

Mm hmm.

them to make decisions on their own. They can function as a team. Everything doesn't have to be [00:11:00] a centralized command style of system. It can be decentralized, meaning that the lowest leader in the field, the lowest foreman leader, whatever name you have for him her, can make decisions on their own. They can make good decisions on their own because they know their business. You, you just have to trust them, but you still have to lead them. Again, it's them understanding the commander's intent. The commander is me. In this particular podcast while we're talking, my intent is simple. Accomplish the mission. Tell me what you need. So I can help you accomplish the mission and allow me to continue to lead you, to develop you, to develop your skills, to make you better, to make you a world [00:12:00] class leader, to make you like I am. And they have to, they have to, go ahead Samantha, they, they have to trust me as I trust them.

yeah, that that two way street definitely has to be there there and that what you're describing is really that balance between really, really long leashes where there's no support for a team member and they might be making decisions that have no idea if it's the right decision or not. And that micromanager commander style, right?

And if you don't have that leadership in place, if you don't have. The processes and those policies for accountability, right? Then you, it's really difficult to find that balance, but I also, I want to take a step back to, you said the, the respect and respect can be difficult to find, especially when you're frustrated and you don't understand why they made this bad decision or why they aren't making a decision in the first place.

Right? And I, I think a major part of being able to find respect with our teams is also tapping into that humility within ourselves. And you mentioned earlier that, You found humility after [00:13:00] your pirate lifestyle as a, as a kid. So if we could take a step back to that and kind of explain that journey. How did humility come knocking on your doorstep?

And, and yeah, just how did we come from the pirate hat to the, to the cowboy hat, that whole journey in leadership for you. Mm-Hmm.

I came to a low point in my life, like several adults have.

Absolutely.

adult experiences in all types of fields. You, you start out in the slums. You start out in the projects. You start out from nothing poor to rich man story. I started off. at a low point in my life where I was humbled by the circumstances that were going on in that particular time in my life. Another story for another day. However, at that time I realized self leadership, self [00:14:00] reflection, and we'll talk about that in a little bit of detail here in a little bit. I began to self assess. I have to lead myself, Samantha, before I can learn to lead anyone else. I learned that self leadership in that moment.

In a moment that was over a span of time that began to teach me how to lead people. In a low point in my life, I was able to learn everything I needed to learn. And over a larger span of my life, I've been able to practice those principles that I learned

Yeah. It is. It's. Yeah,

is what I was at a low point in my life, because you can't be, you can't be anything else.

But

there's not a whole lot of room or time to be anything else but humble, [00:15:00] right? It's also such a gift to be able to look at those really difficult moments with appreciation and understand the lessons that can come out of those difficult and tough times. So thank you for sharing that and just kind of Being vulnerable there.

What are some of those practices of self awareness and self reflection that you've been able to hold on to, and that have influenced that, that leadership and lead by example style for you?

Being a hard worker, being trusting and being humble as a hard worker. I had to understand thorough evaluations. I had to understand attention detail. I had to understand commitment to excellence, juggling these things and trusting I had to build rapport with people that, that takes time. And that goes back to that respect thing that we was just talking about.

Respect. We're going to be discussing this quite often. And I hate to beat around that subject, but before I [00:16:00] get too far away from respect, respect is what I learned.

Mm

with people, respecting, seeing things from another view. I was able to see it all. I was able to see it all at that vulnerable moment in my life.

It helps me see things now. It helps me Build rapport, build relationships with people. Relationships is everything. Relationships is the key to everything. It's communication in relationships, but it, it truly is understanding our life and, and, and how to move forward in our industry. That's another subject for another day as well, but humble, being open minded self reflection.

I talked about a little bit detail and encouraging development. I can't expect someone to be like me if I don't develop them.

hmm. Mm hmm.

That was a practice that I [00:17:00] started at Atmos Energy. I learned this through LinkedIn learning,

Okay.

to, to continue to develop people. I took that serious. I'm like, I've never been like that.

I

Mm hmm. ha ha ha ha

ha

people advice when they didn't ask for it. is something I continually do.

Yeah.

I, I want to encourage people to develop other leaders.

Mm hmm. Mm hmm.

They can't just hear you and do. They, they need to understand how to do. And that is something, that is something that I picked up at Atmosphere Energy. And brought on to here at GAC Enterprises is I want to continue to develop. I told the guys the first day I was here, I may not be here forever.

I would like to retire here and this would be my end at GAC [00:18:00] Enterprises. But I'm going to teach several of you to be able to do my job. I'm confident. That I would not lose my job because of ineffectiveness.

Mm hmm.

I want to lead you to do my job and I want you to lead someone else to do your job and so on and so forth.

I want to raise leaders up. Samantha will be gone one day. And this knowledge may be passed on, may be watched months, years from now, but eventually you and I will move on. We'll, we may pass on one day. And what we leave behind is the legacy of brand. We have to leave something behind besides something on our headstones.

And that's what you do. You, you communicate, you build relationships, you build [00:19:00] rapport, You have people trust you, you have people understand you, you pass on something to the next generation so they can bring the next generation in and

And I think that's like that, that passing of the baton is also something that so many of us should be embracing, whether we're close to retirement or not, especially because even if you've got, even if you've got a tombstone, it's not going to be your KPIs. It's not going to be all these other numbers, which are awesome today that you have these achievements and something to be recognized for, but your tombstone should, you know, say the other great, awesome qualities about you, right?

Humble leader whether a great dad or mother or. And we have to lean into passing the baton or else we can't really embrace that awesome part of leadership. And I think something else that happens there, a lot of people don't realize because they want to hoard that information for themselves. They kind of like the power, sometimes that comes with being the one that knows it all and everyone looks up to.

But when we are able to pass the baton, now [00:20:00] we've got someone else. Who we can lean on for strategy and we can brainstorm with and who's then going to help us develop other people, alleviate some of the burden from us to develop everyone on our team or everyone in the company. And I, I think also what I, I love about that, that whole story is, You're tapping into LinkedIn Learning, which for our audience, if you, you know, don't have a subscription to LinkedIn, highly recommend having one so you can tap into LinkedIn Learning.

There's so many wonderful courses on there, right? But you're saying, okay, I'm going to learn. Oh, and now I know how to help other people learn, right? So we've got that consistency of walking that talk, talking that talk. I'd love to also ask. Through that self reflection and self awareness activities that you have, have you ever caught yourself where, ah, I'm not really walking my talk right now, right?

Like I'm, I'm not practicing what I'm preaching. Did you ever discover that through self reflection and how did you kind of correct yourself or navigate that?

hate to say this like this, but I'm gonna [00:21:00] answer the question just the way I'm thinking it.

Absolutely.

Jesus and a little red wine, a little water turned into red wine specifically.

Yep. Wine will help open the, your mind to all the things, right?

I'm telling you, I, I, I have to constantly stay in prayer.

Mm

I have to constantly meditate. I have, I have to constantly reflect. Human nature takes over, Samantha, us all in no matter what we do. What side of the business we're on, no matter where you're at in the leadership ranks, no matter where you are in the food chain, human nature will take over. Self discipline is where you have to start. Remember, I stated earlier, [00:22:00] Samantha, for your audience, you discipline your body, you discipline yourself first, then you can lead other people. Self leadership first. Then leadership, then you lead. I have to discipline myself first, and I have to use a few things to sometimes pull myself back.

I get angry. I still have moments that I want to pull my hair out of my head. I, why did you do that? Why did you make that decision? I have to practice what I preach. I have to lead by example. I have to take some deep breaths. Something else I learned on LinkedIn. They didn't teach me that in high school or college.

Yeah.

Deep breaths. Deep breaths. and I have to focus and I have to be nice. In the end, [00:23:00] Samantha what led you to me in the end is you figured out that I was at least nice to people and I would be nice to your audience and I would be nice to you. I'm like that with everyone. When I state the things that I state on LinkedIn, I mean those things.

I mean those things from my heart. I will help anyone in any situation in their life. I want the best for them. I want them to live their life the way I live mine. I live my life as if I'm in vacation mode. every day. I would tell my friends I told you about earlier when we were talking, they're, they're leaders on the same level as I am.

And we talk about things regularly to try to help each other. We're, we're, we're passing the information amongst each other, and we're learning from each other. [00:24:00] I'm not just helping them, they're helping me. I still teach your scholars. I'm still learning. I'm still learning. I'm still learning some things.

I'm going to learn something by the time the show's over from you that I'm like, golly, I never thought of that. It's just the way it is. And I can learn from anyone. I take any information. I figure out what can I learn from this information. I live in vacation mode.

Tell me more

seems like I'm going all over them.

Well, I, I think, oh. 'cause what I'm understanding is you, you have a character that you, you have that self-discipline. We heard you say earlier that part of, you know, your character and core values is that hard work. So I can imagine how maybe that discipline still carries you into vacation mode when you are really out of the office.

Right. But tell me more about what it looks like to be in vacation mode in the office and day in and day out. [00:25:00] Mm-Hmm.

Zip a dee doo dah, zip a dee ay. My, oh my, what a wonderful day. I have to remind myself that quite often. That's how I carry myself. It is a wonderful day. I need to understand how to be grateful. When you understand being grateful, you can overlook some of the other things that aggravate you.

Mm-Hmm.

That's what it means for me, Samantha, to be in vacation mode.

I'm constantly reminding myself, be nice to people, be humble, empathize with people. It can be difficult. Respect people. And that's how I stay In the character that, that I stay in, I still get mad as you stated earlier, what happens? What do you do? You know, [00:26:00] I take a deep breath. I focus, I try to ask the why questions to get down to the root cause of.

What's happening, the behavior that's happening in front of me that's aggravating me or that's pushing my buttons. I want to be able to see someone else's side. If I ask the right questions, if I truly listen, another subject for another day, I can truly understand.

I think all of that is such a, such a wonderful message, especially just being rooted in gratitude, right? We might have fires to put out every day. There might be KPIs that are tanking. There could be all this chaos around us, but we've got to come back to, okay, what am I grateful for? It is that wonderful day.

I think another really important part of this is you've shown yourself empathy, right? And I know for some of our listeners that the [00:27:00] mindset You know, things are, they want more action based strategies, but recognizing that mindset and that self discipline work, that self leadership work, is so important because it is really difficult as we've mentioned, to, if you don't show your self empathy, if you haven't worked on understanding why you do certain things, getting to the root cause of things, So you do, then how are you going to express that with your team?

How are you going to solve problems with your team or develop them if you don't know how to empathize with them? If you don't know how to say, why did you make this decision in a way that is compassionate and solutions oriented and not just pointing the finger at them? And that I think is, goes back to all of the points we've talked about of lead by example, build that trust because there's empathy there.

Show that respect because there's empathy there. So I really appreciate it and admire. How much of this is not just about helping others, but also, you know, continuing to work on yourself.

Yes, so let me come back to the story.

Okay.

The story [00:28:00] is what our audience loves. They want to hear the story. They want to hear the middle. They want to hear the end. They want to hear the beginning. We've talked about the beginning and it's, has led me up to this presentation. This has led me up to this podcast this show for our audience, the middle of the story is like everyone else's middle, you go in life and you Day by day, you're doing the best you can with what you have,

Mm hmm.

but my advice, unsolicited advice, is for you guys to continue your story is by continuing to build relationships, continuing to show empathy where it's needed, continue to show respect, continue to live out your stories, Continue to journal if that's what [00:29:00] helps you.

Continue to go to church if that's what helps you. Continue to self evolve if that's what helps you. We're having to deal with a lot of different things in the world right now, Samantha. My story continues. Did I remain a pirate? I couldn't remain that way. I'd ended up dead

Yeah.

or in prison, that led me To the point we are today.

That led me to complete my story. The end of my story is not a fairy tale, happy ending. It may be to you guys, you may think, or you're, you're top of the food chain, you're top of leadership. I have worked my way here by a strong worth ethic, by hard work by leading by example. And [00:30:00] you can do just the same. You can live out your story. Your story is important for someone. I can't reach all your audience here, Samantha. I can reach some of your audience because they're going to understand my story. But everyone is not going to understand my story, but that's why we're all different. That's why we're all made in unique image of the good Lord.

You have your story and you can reach certain people. I have my story and I can reach certain people. I can, I can bet that anyone that lived my lifestyle is listening intently right now. My story doesn't end here. I'm going to continue to stay in teacher scholar mode, meaning that I'm going to continue to lead by example.

I will still [00:31:00] want for you to accomplish the mission. I'm still going to ask you, what can I give you to help you accomplish the mission?

hmm. Mm

And I'm going to continue to develop you as a leader. That's what I feel I want to leave on my list. Pirate Gravestone.

I think that is, is such a wonderful message and it's also a great moment to, to pause and give everyone the chance to pick what, what works for them, right? I know when I listen to some podcasts sometimes or even like when I'm at a conference and I'm hearing someone speak, there are moments where I'm like, That doesn't, that's not resonating with me.

Or I don't really know, like, maybe that strategy works for your team, but it's not going to work for my team. And it's hard to really figure out what am I going to apply in this situation? And taking that pause to remember, well, this is my story, and I'm going to figure out what works for me. And there's elements of this that might work and elements that might not [00:32:00] is, I think, really important.

That way, we don't We don't ignore all of it, and we can, again, take what, what works for us so I, I really appreciate that, that pause there, and also just admire it, right? You said you're, you're close to retirement, you're hoping to be able to retire in a few years, leave that legacy behind, and you're still in that I'm going to learn mode, right?

And that's, I think, That word is where that humility kicks in for a lot of us. We're like, well, you know, I know what I'm talking about. I've been doing this for, you know, however many years, like, what can I learn? I've seen every problem in the book. It's like, well, you haven't seen every solution in the book.

You haven't seen every strategy. Right. And that is a really important thing. I'd love to, to circle back a little bit. We've talked a lot about that self reflection, a lot about that mindset work that, carries into this lead by example approach. I always love to give people some of the practical action or practical strategies here.

And I remember when we first connected, you touched on how GAC is in this phase of rapid expansion, right? They're transitioning [00:33:00] from what we might think of usually as like a mom and pop shop to now this national growing enterprise. So they've, they're hiring very quickly. So if we were to kind of take everything that you have described as your leadership style.

Talk to me about how you've been able to implement that with a team that is so spread out over so many states that's growing so quickly. What are the challenges that you've experienced and how have you really navigated that?

So, I created a list for you and I'll discuss briefly any subject that you want to talk about in detail. Again, I told you that time is on your side. You need to understand time using time management as a word that we're all familiar with. ID root causes of behavior improving communication leading by example.

Encourage collaboration and open dialogue. Oh my God, I could go all over the place

Yeah, well, let's see, because I think also on this point, it's sometimes really difficult to [00:34:00] Use all of those strategies when a team is growing so quickly, right? Sometimes it's easy to say, okay, this is the team I've got. I'm going to kind of work this, this out with this team, or this is the path we're going to follow.

You can kind of see that light at the end of the tunnel sometimes when you have that established team, right? But when we are growing and expanding, we're not all in the same office, kind of going back to this COVID virtual, and then now post is this hybrid work environment. How do you maintain open communication?

Or how do you show lead by example when you're in different states, right? And again, as that team is growing so quickly. mm-Hmm.

So, we use the same format that we're using now. We use Google Meet to have team meetings because having an in person meeting can be quite difficult when

Yes.

eight or nine, ten states. So we use the platforms, we use technology to our advantage. [00:35:00] And while I was going to touch, touch on technology eventually because it's It's quite difficult to work.

I mean, technology use that to, to your advantage, but it's, it's quite difficult to meet in person and in them days pre COVID, them days appear to be long gone. Now we'll have in person meetings when everyone is in a local area, but even in one state, even in one state, when you spread out across the state, you can't have.

Yeah. The meetings, the in person meetings, and when communication begins to fall by the wayside, you have a lot of problems. So let me talk about that for just a second. Communication is important. Communication is everything. You cannot over communicate, even though people say you can. You just have to have better meetings. You have to have structured meetings. You cannot over [00:36:00] communicate. I believe Toyota learned that the, the hard way. Toyota has a good model called Lean Thinking. I like it. I like their model. It communicates from the bottom, all the way to the top, and then from the top, coming back to the bottom. And when I say bottom, I mean your, your field personnel communicate up, and then your leadership, your executive levels, Communicating back down.

And, and when you can't have these in person meetings, when you could have in person meetings, if you remember Samantha, in person meetings, if, if it was a one, let's just talk about instinct. You would have a communication meeting once a month and everyone would drive to one location and you'd have one meeting.

Then the next meeting wasn't until next month and it would be in a different location, but everybody would drive to it. That's a lot of [00:37:00] time between communication being exchanged. Communication needs to be daily. That's my answer to your question. It needs to be daily and it needs to be asking questions. What are we doing? Right? What are we doing wrong? What can we be doing differently? Those three questions need to be asked daily. It needs to be passed from the bottom up and then solutions. Within reason needs to be passed from up going back down in, in the food chain. If you want to talk about a leadership model, communication, communication, communication,

Yes. I, I want to, I want to take a moment to pause there and just kind of reflect and expand on that. I think when first off would be are giving our employees the chance to give us feedback. Like, what are we, what do you see that's going well? And what do you see that's not going well? There's [00:38:00] that's also empowering them right going back to that.

How do we get them into the decision making? How do we develop them as a leader? Well, we've got to give them the opportunities to speak up and show us their opinions and show us their knowledge, right? But also when we give them that opportunity then when we're then explaining the solutions from up down like like you mentioned, well now they understand the why behind this solution because they were part of the discussion to figure it out in the first place.

And that I think is a major thing. And a lot of us need to. I'm going to do a little bit better about understanding and implementing is oh, okay, when my employees know the why they're going to adopt this solution way faster. And when there's that communication every day also then we are being able to spot those, those challenges spot those issues and again giving them more opportunities to be empowered.

I know for myself we use Slack, and I am on Slack every day with my team, I'm trying to, I block out quite a bit of time to make sure I'm responding to all their questions. And every now and again, I'll just say. Hey, I've been really busy. [00:39:00] If I missed a question or something from you, send me the message again.

Like, let me make sure I'm closing this loop and that you know I'm here for you and I can communicate with you because we do all get busy. It's hard to communicate every day. We try our best. Like you said, we, we were not always perfect. We're going to fail sometimes, but hopefully we're failing forward and I'm, I'm helping my team navigate with me, right? So I, I love that. And, and, and, and going back to technology, right? We've gotta leverage that in order to, to make things easier for us. Was there anything else on technology that you wanted to, to share or expand on?

technology. Oh, wow. I remember going back to the story. I remember when I had paper

Mm-Hmm?

So in the construction field, as you know, Samantha, Everything is AutoCAD. Everything is GIS. Everything is on maps, on a laptop, on a computer. We was looking at paper maps [00:40:00] back in the day.

Yep.

was on paper.

In some cases, we was looking at fish tape. God, what was the name of it? Micro fish.

Okay.

We would, and we would look through a glass. in the light and look through microfiche and that's how we was reading our prints on microfiche is that's that's old school

Yeah.

school

Mm-Hmm?

the technology trying to keep up with it it is passing some of us up Me, I love technology.

I love my laptop. I love my smartphone. I love the technology, but it, it's, it's passing us up and you have to keep up. You have to keep up with this and use this to your advantage. Well, anyway, the story is, is that no one wanted to leave paper.

Okay.

everybody who wanted to stay with paper going to a laptop.

That was a bad thing. [00:41:00] Progressiveness was a bad thing. It's all good. You just need to see the good side of it, not see the negative side of everything. Yes, it was difficult for me. I enjoyed using my paper in the field and, and driving a little small pickup truck. I drive a larger pickup truck now and I'm quite happy with that.

I'm sure you are. Mm-Hmm

My point is, is that while paper was easy working with a laptop became just as easy and it was more efficient. Efficient is best. Efficiency, production, being productive. is best and technology is a good thing. If you see the good side of it, if you see it in a positive stance, if you have the right mindset, who's talking about that earlier?

Having the right [00:42:00] mindset. This mindset came from a difficult place. Remember, going back to my story my mindset has changed over the years. That, that, that has been difficult, and sometimes I slide back into my old mindset, going back to my roots.

when we're angry, right? But I, I love that. Yeah, we've got it. We've got to also be in that mindset to solve problems and the mindset to say efficiency is best. That goes back to that lean thinking. That's something I, I work with my clients on is how do we think lean?

I think something that makes it easier when understanding the positives of technology is saying, okay, what is the purpose of this system? What is this going to help me with? Again, that all goes back to what's the leadership processes and policies we've got in place, right? That's going to help us figure out our technology.

I will say, though, there are times I'm a paper and pen person. I've got a paper planner because I like to write things out sometimes. I also [00:43:00] remember I was working with a client. We're planning out kind of a new team for them. They were kind of

Hang on, my phone's going off. Now I'm messing with you.

But no, I can be a paper and pen person.

I remember I was working with a client. They were kind of, they were planning out all these new hires. And we're like, well, let's pause. We're in a reactive state of hiring. Let's really plan out what this team needs to look like and what the responsibilities and everything will look like. And they pulled up an Excel spreadsheet.

And I was like, nope. We're going to close our laptops. I've, I've, I, we've got some flip charts. We've got some sticky notes. We're going to plan this out, right? What are the roles that we need? And then sticky notes, but here are the employees that we can plug into these roles, and then here's where we need to hire.

So I think sometimes I love technology, right? I I am all about operations, efficiency, let's automate, but I will argue there is a time and place for paper and pen sometimes.

Agreed. Agreed. [00:44:00]

All right. Well, Raven, it has been so fun diving into all these different areas of leadership and how that really looks.

What does that look like to implement that in our day to day with our team? Is there anything else that you would want to share with our audience about, especially if we're looking ahead and we think about like the future of leadership in the utility and construction industry, is there anything you want to share on that?

Yeah, the future of leadership in damage prevention and safety is evolving, as we well know. Merging technology we just stated, is something that you're gonna have to deal with. Change in regulations, oh god, we didn't even touch on that, thank god. The change in regulations, that's hard to keep up with. Increased emphasis of workplace safety, Which is a good thing. I'm happy, but I don't want it to be overbearing. Environmental Sustainability. Another subject that we're talking about with the, the, [00:45:00] the climate change and all that going on right now. Another subject for another day. In the end it's Trust Based Leadership. In the end, it's trust based leadership. Teach your teams to make decisions for themselves. We do not need a centralized style of government in every business model. We need a decentralized style of government. Trust your team to make decisions. They will make decisions. When they make a bad decision, be empathetic.

Teach them, don't make that decision again. It's not going to be the end of the world for anybody. Microsoft Mechanics It's going to be one bad decision. But when, when they are trust to make good decisions, I'll bet you they'll make more good decisions than they make bad decisions. Because you are hiring based on character, [00:46:00] chemistry, and competence.

You already know their competence. If they have applied to your job, all you're looking for is character and chemistry. And if you hired them, or if someone else hired them, I trust the human resource team. I trust the hiring team that came before me. If you hired them based on character and chemistry, you have a good person to work with. They're not perfect. Just like I'm not perfect. You have someone to work with them, trust them to make good decisions, and they will be great. They will be a great leader, and you will bring someone in your place. Trust based leadership is the way to go, Samantha.

Love that. All right. Well, thank you so much for all those amazing insights and for connecting all those dots for us today. That's going to be a wrap for this episode of Construction Trailblazers. Thanks again to Raymond for making an appearance as our guest today. Raymond, can you tell everyone where they can find [00:47:00] more about you?

GAC, LLC, Enterprises. dot com, GAC Enterprises dot com. Our website, we are in eight states as of now throughout the United States from the West coast to the East coast you can find me on LinkedIn my coworkers, people attached to me, that's pretty much it. Samantha.

Perfect. Well, everyone that their GAC website and Raymond's LinkedIn will be in the show notes if you want to connect with him. And then finally, if you feel like you're fighting fires in your business, or if you want to see how your approach might compare to what we've learned from Raymond today, then I highly recommend taking our easy quiz to find out what level of business hero you are.

And most importantly, what action you can take to reduce fires in your team. Raymond previously took our quiz and he scored a Thunder Trooper, which is one of my favorite Favorite

Woohoo.

Yep. You can find out what hero [00:48:00] you are and take that quiz at ConstructionTrailBlazers. com. Thank you all for listening.