Welcome!
Welcome to HardHatOnline Blog! Over the next few weeks, you may be spending a few hours with this blog, so the best way to get started is to tell you what lies ahead. Sort of like the first day on a new project —get your bearings, learn the lay of the land — then get to work.
Think Like a Foreman is a book for the 2 or 3 journeymen or apprentices in every crew who have the ability, attitude, and desire to someday become a foreman. It presents ideas, techniques, skills, and strategies that construction supervisors use — but it presents them from the unique viewpoint of a motivated crew member who wants to think like a foreman.
It’s a simple but powerful concept: any crew that has 2 or 3 crew members who also think like a foreman will work more efficiently, make fewer mistakes, and it will be consistently more productive.
And when new projects or responsibilities open up, these crew members who have already learned to think like a foreman — will be ready to step up.
What’s the #1 goal of this blog?
The #1 goal of this blog is for you to think like a foreman — and to understand and learn about actions, attitudes, ideas, skills, and techniques that will help you support your foreman and become a more effective crew member.
Here’s the who, what, and when of this blog.
- WHO? You. The results that count from working thru this blog are the results that show up in your ability to be a more effective crew member on your project.
- WHAT? Actions, attitudes, ideas, skills, and techniques — which you can look for your foreman to apply on the jobsite. You’ll understand how a foreman views a project, and you’ll learn many new ideas and concepts. But this is not a batch of blog posts about theory. It’s practical and relevant to the responsibilities and problems every foreman and crew deals with on a construction project.
- WHEN? Immediately — starting with your next day on the jobsite.
HardHatOnline blog is adapted from 75 topics presented in two books I wrote specifically for construction supervisors — especially foremen and crew members who have the skills, attitude, and motivation to become foremen and superintendents. This blog and both books cover the same set of topics:
- HHO Blog and Think Like a Foreman present these topics from a foreman’s point of view.
- Stepping Up To Supervisor covers these topics from a supervisor’s point of view. It’s often presented to new or soon-to-be construction supervisors.
- From time to time I’ll also include some blog posts adapted from A Positive Attitude: Your #1 Asset, a book I wrote to present ideas, skills, and techniques for anyone — on a jobsite or in a construction office — who delivers or can support safety, quality, and productivity on a construction project.
The Basic Idea: if several crew members think like a foreman by learning about, understanding, and supporting the actions, attitudes, ideas, skills, and techniques they see their foreman apply on the jobsite, it will make that crew much stronger and more effective as a team. And that focused strength will affect the crew’s results: on safety; on quality; on the budget; on the schedule.
Give it a shot. See if it works out that way for your crew.
Wil McKnight
Bloomington, IL & Temple City, CA
