Offsite’s Neglected Management Challenge
Pictured Above: Horizontal group of tooth wheels with Change Management, Plan, Vision and Idea concept related words imprinted on metal surface
Date Posted: June 25, 2024
Posted In: Discussion, Workforce,
From Offsite Builder: While it looms large, there’s a pressing concern for the offsite construction industry that rarely captures the attention it deserves. I’m talking about a management crisis.
Beyond the widely recognized scarcity of skilled labor that hampers manufacturers’ production capabilities, there exists a more discreet, equally critical shortfall: the lack of experienced middle and upper-management talent. While this issue tends to be overshadowed by the immediate needs of the production floor, it poses a major threat to the industry’s health and future growth.
The common prescription for the skilled labor gap has centered around recruiting, training and nurturing the production workforce. A large number of industry consultants, academic experts and labor market analysts are working to solve this problem. However, these experts seldom turn their attention to the realm of managerial expertise, particularly the scarcity of seasoned leaders capable of steering these offsite construction enterprises toward sustained success. But this issue is in desperate need of attention. A growing number of companies are operating with a skeletal crew of skilled managers.
This lack of leadership has a lot to do with why some companies stagnate or fall behind. My observations, drawn from decades of watching the industry evolve, have shown me that the most successful offsite factories are those that invest time and resources into the cultivation of robust management teams.