When it comes to employee development, Custom Built Design and Remodeling goes well beyond job duties. Co-owner Chris Scott says each managing lead carpenter sets goals for work, social life, finances, family, education, and more. Each aspect gets its own “bucket.”
“We string buckets together and string them to the work bucket,” Scott says. “We weave together how they can accomplish goals through the work they do.”
Scott spends 60 to 90 minutes per week talking with every carpenter about their buckets. He asks them to define their goals for their buckets, address their people plan, list their materials and tools, and predict what would mess up their plan. Then, Scott and his employees use these questions to create a bulleted plan of attack for how to achieve those goals.
“We focus on those work goals and connect them to every other part of their lives,” he says. “As they develop and work, they are developing in other areas because they’re setting goals in those areas and seeing things progress in one area at a time because they’re developing all aspects of their lives.”
Custom Built crafted the program by pulling from different training books and programs the company used over the years. The most important thing, however, was that Scott and his team listened to their mentors, who have contributed to the business’s successes. “I can’t express enough gratitude for all their input,” he says.
He encourages other remodelers to also “find a mentor or teacher and pursue them. It'll cost money, but it's worth it.”
