Teach Your Team to See Around Corners
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The pattern I keep seeing
In my work with contractors across the country, I’ve watched the same scene play out repeatedly: Smart, hardworking leaders who can run a complex project in their sleep struggle to do the same for their department or the business. They can forecast manpower for next month’s pour, but not the talent bench they’ll need next spring. They can track submittals, but not the backlog mix that will be required a year from now to hit their revenue goals.
Owners are often three steps ahead: they sense where the market is drifting, which relationships are eroding, and which internal habits are going to bite us in the future. But when they try to bring their team into those conversations, the room collapses back into fighting today’s fires. In short, most construction pros have been trained to execute, not to think strategically.
If this is going on in your organization, don’t panic. It’s a rampant industry problem—and it’s coachable.
The shift from “project look-ahead” to “business look-ahead”
On projects, we live in weeks. In business, we have to live in horizons:
0–30 days: Execution. Today’s commitments.
31–90 days: Simple strategic initiatives. Overcoming challenges in the department, delivering work.
91–180 days: Complex strategic initiatives. People moves, customer strategy, pipeline, and backlog.
6–12 months: Long-term strategic planning. Emerging Markets, partnerships, and capability building.
One of your jobs as an owner is to pull your leaders up this “horizon ladder,” one rung at a time. Start by training a clean 90-day lens and then extend it.
The playbook you can start tomorrow morning
1) Test the planning horizon (and name it)
Sit down with each department head or executive and ask a few simple prompts. Don’t coach—just listen and note the horizon they naturally think in.
“What are the three biggest risks that could impact your results in the next 90 days?”
“Which relationships (customers, vendors, etc.) need attention before the end of the quarter?”
“What capacity or skill gap will limit you and your team?”
“What decision do you need from me this month to prevent a problem three months from now?”
You’ll hear answers anchored at different distances: some people think in weeks, a few in months. Label it: “Right now, you’re operating at a 30–60 day horizon. We need to build you to 90–180.” When people can name their horizon, they can grow it.
2) Build a crisp 90-day plan for every leader
Give each leader one pager to develop. Ask for:
Three priorities for the next 90 days (not tasks—outcomes).
Owner for each (one name, not a committee).
Success metrics (what “done” looks like).
Leading indicators (the weekly signal that tells us we’re on track).
Then set a 30-minute weekly review: “green/yellow/red” on each priority and the one decision or resource they need to unblock progress. The goal is rhythm and clarity.
3) Hold a real quarterly strategic meeting (practice the 90-day lens together)
Assemble your leadership team and follow this agenda:
Wins (15 min): What have been the raving successes in the past 90 days?
Business Health Check (30 min): 3–5 facts about the business since last quarter (backlog trend, margin slippage, win rate, cash conversion, safety).
Issue Processing (60 min): What could hurt us in the next 90–180 days? People, customers, capacity, systems. Pick the top three to five.
Quarterly priorities (30 min): Choose the three that will move the business most in the next 90 days. Assign a single Champion (directly responsible individual) for each.
Leave with a one-page company 90-day plan.
4) Bring your rising leaders into longer-range conversations
Owners often have a private “12-month view” running in their head—people moves, key hires, successor development, etc.. Start inviting two or three rising leaders into portions of those conversations twice per year. Give them a pre-read (one page) with the questions you’re wrestling with:
Where do we want 2026 revenue by customer type?
What capability (self-perform, prefabrication, design-assist) do we need to build in the next 12 months?
Which A-players will burn out if we don’t rebalance workload this year?
Expose them to how you think so they can start developing their strategic thinking muscles early.
Common pitfalls (and what to do instead)
While you’re training your team on their strategic thinking ability, make sure you avoid the following pitfalls:
Turning strategy into a long to-do list. Strategy is about choices and sequencing. If everything is important, nothing is. Force rank.
Over-engineering the process. Fancy templates become excuses. Your first reps should feel almost too simple.
Owner monologue. If you do all the talking, your team won’t build the muscle. Ask the questions and let them do the work—then coach.
Lack of accountability. Don’t let people off the hook too easily when they don’t get their initiatives done. Give some grace as they develop the skill, but make sure they know they need to do better next quarter.
Why this matters now
Project excellence won’t save a company that can’t read the road. Markets shift. Backlogs thin. A-players get poached. Technology shows up whether you plan for it or not. If your managers can only think in weeks, you’ll live in reaction. If they can think in horizons, you’ll shape the next 12 months+.
The owner’s instinct to “see around corners” is priceless—but it’s not scalable. The moment you teach that skill to your leaders, your growth ceiling moves.
Commit to growth
If you’re struggling to get your executive team thinking into the future, this is what we train on all the time. Reply to this email or send me a note. If there’s a way we can help your leaders build the strategic muscle—starting with a 90-day plan—I’d be happy to talk.
Spark Notes:
Across the industry, too many construction leaders can flawlessly manage a project schedule but struggle to think beyond it—stuck solving today’s fires instead of shaping tomorrow’s results.
The real shift happens when teams move from a “project look-ahead” to a “business look-ahead,” learning to think in 90-day, 6-month, and 12-month horizons.
By training leaders to name their natural planning horizon, build crisp 90-day plans, and practice strategic rhythm, owners can turn reactive managers into proactive thinkers.
When your team learns to see around corners—not just execute what’s in front of them—you unlock scalable leadership, stronger results, and a business ready for the future.
