Laying a Foundation on Values

We started this look at how values serve as the foundation for every organization and how things can go wrong when that foundation isn’t in place. From there, we worked through the importance of clearly defining our organizational values, and how doing so can truly rally our team members, earn buy-in from our clients and immediate community, and build the reputation we’re known for even more widely. Now it’s time to get to work! Let’s start laying a foundation for the organizations we lead that’s based on our core values.

I’ve recently seen some images on social media of existing and proposed skyscrapers, with the tallest currently being over 2,700’ in Dubai and one a full 500’ taller set for a 2028 completion in Saudi Arabia. Over the years, I’ve heard folks comment on how much goes into creating a foundation that can support (and sustain) a structure of that magnitude. In many cases, laying these foundations can take up to a year. According to the website for Sameer Building Construction, the foundation for the Twin Towers of Malaysia is around 400’ deep, supporting the nearly 1,500’ tall structure. The work involved, and the necessary overall depth, depends on the soil conditions and the type of materials used. Excavation for these foundations takes a tremendous amount of time. And even after the digging and all the work to prepare for pouring the foundation, the concrete curing process (especially when it’s that much involved) is extremely slow. According to Study.com, the concrete poured in the 1930’s for the Hoover Dam is still curing today…

Now, imagine you’re an investor backing a project like this. A year after the ceremonial ground-breaking, you still don’t see anything resembling a structure above the privacy fence surrounding the construction area. I can’t speak for you, but I know the limited patience I have would be worn thin if I didn’t have a complete understanding of the process and project timeline. As amazingly beautiful as a building of that magnitude can be, the far less attractive part that is the foundation will ultimately determine whether it stands the test of time.

While most of us will never be intricately involved in building a skyscraper, I’d bet we’ve all had at least some visibility of building a modest home. The scale is significantly smaller, but the process isn’t wildly different; the foundation still supports the end product. Our core personal and organizational values fill that same role as we lead our teams. Like the foundation for a skyscraper or a home, much of the work we do to ensure our values are indeed serving as the foundation for our organization will go unnoticed early on - and sustaining that with limited results (or no visible results at all) can be difficult.

Although I’ve never been involved in a construction project the size of the skyscrapers I’ve referenced here, my first hands-on experience in the complete building process of a home was more than thirty years ago and that taught me some valuable lessons about the importance of a foundation.

Laying a Foundation is Hard Work!

My first full time gig in construction started about a month after I turned fifteen. Earlier that spring, my dad asked if I planned to get a car when I was old enough to drive. “Of course I do!” was my immediate response, and he went on to let me know that I’d probably want to consider making some money so I could pay for it… He connected me with a guy he knew who owned a residential contracting business nearby and the rest, as they say, is history! His crew was building close to where I lived so I was able to ride my bicycle to and from work the entire summer. Before getting back to how important a strong foundation is for even a modest home, I want you to picture a fifteen year old kid, weighing no more than 130 pounds, carrying a lunchbox and water jug on opposite sides of the handlebars with at least 25 pounds of tools in the nail apron around his waist, riding just a half mile home after trying to keep up with grown men all day in 100 degree heat. Let’s call that a life-shaping experience!

Leading up to that summer, I had helped my dad and his friends with small home improvement projects; vinyl siding, shingle roofs, and some replacement windows. In transparency, about all they allowed me to do was keep the worksite cleaned up, some basic measuring, and occasional cutting. Every now and then, I climbed onto a roof with them so I could at least feel like I had made a real contribution. All said, even that limited exposure helped me develop the basic skills necessary to perform adequately in this new full time (summer) job - but I was most definitely not prepared for the physical demands.

While I had some decent carpentry skills, I wasn’t close to being capable of the precision necessary for really any of the finish work. That landed me with the guys starting the projects and doing the framing, and just like those skyscrapers, the start to even a basic home is the foundation. I was quickly trained to operate a shovel while digging footers; no, not a piece of excavating equipment - a shovel like you dig holes with! I was the guy in the footers, cleaning out the loose dirt left behind by the backhoe. I also became very familiar with a sledge hammer, driving the grade stakes for pouring the concrete to the appropriate depth. I had the privilege of working at the dumb end of the transit - meaning I held the stick, attempting to adjust the height of those stakes without driving them too deep and having to start over.

In a best-case-scenario, we were able to get the inspection done and the concrete poured before a heavy thunderstorm passed through. That wasn’t always the case though. On the days we got to the jobsite after a hard rain, any footers that had been dug but not poured were usually filled with water. That water had to be removed before inspection or concrete, so guess who was typically given that task… As you may imagine, a lot of rain on red clay (especially down in those footers) made for a slimy mess. Even in dry conditions, footers are hard work. Add an inch or so of rain to the mix, throw in that red mud for good measure, and you’ve got yourself a recipe for a downright miserable day!

As difficult as that could be, I think the worst part of it all was realizing very few people would ever know what went into the process. Similarly, identifying and beginning to model our core business values can seem like it’s going unnoticed early on - and maybe even for years. With the possible exception of setting trusses and installing the roof system, laying the foundation for a home is by far the most difficult and physically demanding part of the entire process. Being the first, and often only, person to exemplify the core values we’ve defined for our company can feel equally demanding! And just like dipping the water out of those footers, feeling like no one sees the work we’re putting into living out our values can be hard to overcome.

A Foundation Gets Little Attention Until There’s an Issue

I’d just about bet that unless you were involved in some aspect of the building process or can actually see your home’s foundation, you don’t know if it consists of 8” cinder blocks, 12” cinder blocks, poured concrete walls, or built directly on a concrete slab. And even if you can answer that, there’s far less chance you know how wide the footers were or how many places required a step-up to adjust for grade. To that end, I’d bet most folks know even less about everything that’s between their ceiling and the exterior of their roof - be that metal or shingles. Just like all that went into your foundation, the trusses, sheathing, insulation, vapor barrier, and tar paper are all critical to the sustainability of your home - and most people have no earthly idea what each of the things I’ve listed even are or why they’re important. 

Just to be sure you’re tracking with me, I’ll emphasize once more just how much work goes into each of these. Physically, I don’t know that I’ve ever done harder work than digging and pouring footers, mixing mud for block and brick layers, setting trusses, or putting on shingles or metal roofing. Near the end of my first summer in construction, I have a very clear recollection of trying to show the crew I worked with how tough I was by attempting to carry two bundles of asphalt shingles up an extension ladder to the peak of the roof-line. Remember, I weighed around 130 pounds at the time - and each bundle of shingles weighed around 70 pounds. Just in case you’re not very good at math, those shingles were heavier than me. Just for good measure, add in the 25 pounds or so of tools in the nail bag around my waist and I’m guessing I was beyond the weight capacity that ladder was rated for. Had the 40 year old safety and human resource manager version of me been around to see the 15 year old accident-waiting-to-happen me, who knows what would have happened!

You know when those things I’ve detailed here hit a home owner’s radar? When there’s an issue! Do you have any guesses as to what would likely cause any of those to ever be on the home owner’s radar? Having water somewhere we don’t want it - be that in our basement or crawlspace, or showing up as a wet spot on our ceiling - is probably the most common reason we’d learn the intimate detail that went into our foundation or roofing system. But regardless of the issue behind this new focus, it’s rarely at an ideal time or something we’re excited to deal with.

Now think about the business world; when do core values generally get the most attention? That’s rhetorical… Aside from when executives pound their chests for the media or investors, I can only list a handful of companies (many of which I’ve referenced throughout this process) that I’ve ever seen do more than list their values in a handbook or briefly mention those values in an occasional staff meeting. Far more frequently, a company’s core values make the headlines after something has gone very wrong (as we looked at early on). In so many cases, the folks with responsibility for leading their organizations and exemplifying the values that should serve as a strong foundation don’t take the time to build them into their daily routines - talking about them or modeling them - and task the HR or marketing departments with creating some flashy slogan with hopes that this will be all it takes for the values to cascade down through the ranks. If we take shortcuts or get too fancy in the hardest parts of building a home, be that in laying the foundation or installing the roof system, we can expect big issues at some point down the road. The same holds true for establishing the foundation for our organization around our core values; as difficult as it can be to avoid, taking shortcuts or getting fancy WILL lead to trouble. Sticking with the basics of establishing a foundation based on our core values won’t likely be all that exciting, but we’ll need to keep this very simple as we build those values into our routines - and that’s where we’ll pick up soon!