Hard Conversations in Work Boots

Five conversations every foreman ends up having, and how to have each one on a site: short, private, and before it festers.

Part of the Crew Leader Path. In this sample academy, only the first course, The Crew Is Yours, is open.

Lessons

• The One Who Won't Take Orders. A former equal who ignores your calls. Where the line is, and how to draw it once.

• The Veteran Cutting Corners. Twenty years in and skipping steps. Raising it without making it about his age or his pride.

• The Morning Someone Shows Up Unfit to Work. What you say at the gate, who you call, and what the crew needs to see you do.

• The One Whose Work Slipped. Good hands, bad month. Asking what's going on without turning into his counselor.

• The Crew Splitting in Two. Two camps on one site. Laying out the work so they stop drawing lines.