The Beauty in Bricklaying

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In a talk I gave last week about community management, I chatted about five different faces that these kinds of positions wear. One of them was that of a builder. A bricklayer, the person tasked with actually putting the pieces together to make the visions and ideas into reality.

Then the hard question: How do you motivate the bricklayers? How do you make them want to be builders instead of architects?

It seems that being a bricklayer isn’t glamorous. That its only sexy to be the Big Idea Person and stun the world with groundbreaking thought leadership. But what is that big idea worth, really, if all of its substance dissipates in the air after its said aloud?

There is beauty in bricklaying. In taking an idea or a problem and laying out all of its pieces and parts, mapping out a solution, and putting it in place, piece by piece. I’d actually be willing to bet that those of us that spend a lot of time bricklaying actually relish the hands-on part of the work, the tangible results that we can see and feel.

But I think the breakdown happens because of our tendencies to put everyone’s responsibilities in a hierarchy instead of a web. Instead of looking at the symbiotic nature of different roles, we’re compelled to rank them in order of imaginary or perceived importance, putting ideas above execution. Visionaries above builders. But is that really the right way to look at things?

We bricklayers depend on the idea people for the inspiration. The visionaries need the architects and the builders to realize their ideas. But perhaps we’re doing a crummy job of letting the bricklayers see and feel the true impact of their efforts. We’re not communicating well enough that their role is mission critical, and as important as the idea generation itself.

Is that it? Why do we all want to be the ones with the big ideas, and why do we somehow think the execution work is less important?

Is it because the idea people are the ones we put on stage and in spotlights and give book deals and fancy titles? Is it that the bricklayers aren’t fierce enough to own their role and its importance with confidence and be their own champions? Are we not doing a good enough job communicating among our teams, sharing in both success and failure, and pointing to collaborative results?

I’ve really been chewing on this, and I’m going to do so some more, but I want your brainpower. There’s beauty in bricklaying. So what would you say we need to motivate the bricklayers to embrace and own their role as builders?

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  • matt filter

    All I know is that a mason is the only person that can do something perfect. No one else in the world can do that except me or my brothewrs. So don’t look into it so philisophical. I am a mason and I can do things no other humans can

  • http://www.fastforwardblog.com/?author_name=pthornton Rotkapchen

    With great respect for people like Sarah, in today’s business environment, if you don’t have bricklayers that think like the 3rd one, you’ll be out of business soon.

    It’s all about the context. The business with more 3rd-level bricklayers will outperform all the others because they have more personal energy being invested into their work and thusly more vested interest in the results.

    There’s another story: a company has level-3 bricklayers but management is horrible and results don’t happen. They too will fail.

    It’s a symphony — without everyone feeling the connectedness to the end result, isolated efforts are useless.

    Rotkapchens last blog post..Understanding the role of Enterprise 2.0 and moving towards a Social Business

  • http://www.fastforwardblog.com/?author_name=pthornton Rotkapchen

    With great respect for people like Sarah, in today’s business environment, if you don’t have bricklayers that think like the 3rd one, you’ll be out of business soon.

    It’s all about the context. The business with more 3rd-level bricklayers will outperform all the others because they have more personal energy being invested into their work and thusly more vested interest in the results.

    There’s another story: a company has level-3 bricklayers but management is horrible and results don’t happen. They too will fail.

    It’s a symphony — without everyone feeling the connectedness to the end result, isolated efforts are useless.

    Rotkapchens last blog post..Understanding the role of Enterprise 2.0 and moving towards a Social Business

  • http://tourismtech.wordpress.com Sarah Page

    Amber (and Rotkapchen),
    Our company does Myers Briggs testing/training for all new employees. I find it fascinating, acutally. The trouble is that after the training is over, no one ever puts that knowledge to good use.

    Rotkapchen – I never meant to imply that the bricklayers at my company are either incapable or uninterested in the world of the architects. That couldn’t be further from the truth. I think there are a lot of us bricklayers who see the value in the big picture or a big idea (myself included). There are some of us who can rather deftly float between the two worlds. I simply prefer my less bureuacratic bricklayer world.

    My comments were mainly directed at the architects in my company. Not all, but many of them tend to exhibit the “information is power” behavior, and therefore, do not share information that us bricklayers could put to good use in doing our jobs.

    It is most definitely helpful to have a broader understanding of how our roles fit into the company’s big picture – and – how our personality traits (Myers Briggs) provide a framework for how we get our jobs done.

    Sarah Pages last blog post..Social media monitoring: Are you listening to what they’re saying about you?

  • http://tourismtech.wordpress.com Sarah Page

    Amber (and Rotkapchen),
    Our company does Myers Briggs testing/training for all new employees. I find it fascinating, acutally. The trouble is that after the training is over, no one ever puts that knowledge to good use.

    Rotkapchen – I never meant to imply that the bricklayers at my company are either incapable or uninterested in the world of the architects. That couldn’t be further from the truth. I think there are a lot of us bricklayers who see the value in the big picture or a big idea (myself included). There are some of us who can rather deftly float between the two worlds. I simply prefer my less bureuacratic bricklayer world.

    My comments were mainly directed at the architects in my company. Not all, but many of them tend to exhibit the “information is power” behavior, and therefore, do not share information that us bricklayers could put to good use in doing our jobs.

    It is most definitely helpful to have a broader understanding of how our roles fit into the company’s big picture – and – how our personality traits (Myers Briggs) provide a framework for how we get our jobs done.

    Sarah Pages last blog post..Social media monitoring: Are you listening to what they’re saying about you?

  • http://www.fastforwardblog.com/?author_name=pthornton Rotkapchen

    Sarah: Thanks for the clarifications.

    One of the challenges that many practitioners have is that as a battery, the Myers-Briggs assessment isn’t all that actionable (one of the reason that other batteries are used over time, including the Enneagram and The Thomas Concept).

    In the end none of it is as valuable as simply providing an infrastructure where people can find each other and can connect to their works, their thinking and factilitate ongoing conversations and exchanges of questions, issues and ideas.

    Rotkapchens last blog post..Components of Social Media Marketing: The Moogis Case by Wyndstorm

  • http://www.fastforwardblog.com/?author_name=pthornton Rotkapchen

    Sarah: Thanks for the clarifications.

    One of the challenges that many practitioners have is that as a battery, the Myers-Briggs assessment isn’t all that actionable (one of the reason that other batteries are used over time, including the Enneagram and The Thomas Concept).

    In the end none of it is as valuable as simply providing an infrastructure where people can find each other and can connect to their works, their thinking and factilitate ongoing conversations and exchanges of questions, issues and ideas.

    Rotkapchens last blog post..Components of Social Media Marketing: The Moogis Case by Wyndstorm

  • David Houlihan

    In many ways the motivation will be through self gratification taking pride in buildings you produce as well as
    a competitive nature among your pears. It”s interesting to note as a bricklayer you will work in teams as in many other production based work environments and these teams individual accomplishment will be looked upon and respected.

    I believe you are correct to assume that the system break down will accrue when the motivation is the selfish nature of greed for recognition of importance beyond the collective unity of the project.
    in many ways it is necessary for the visionaries, architects and bricklayers to communicate there objectives collectively in a manner of respect. this in turn will enable a camaraderie that will ultimately enhance production and quality of the project.

  • David Houlihan

    In many ways the motivation will be through self gratification taking pride in buildings you produce as well as
    a competitive nature among your pears. It”s interesting to note as a bricklayer you will work in teams as in many other production based work environments and these teams individual accomplishment will be looked upon and respected.

    I believe you are correct to assume that the system break down will accrue when the motivation is the selfish nature of greed for recognition of importance beyond the collective unity of the project.
    in many ways it is necessary for the visionaries, architects and bricklayers to communicate there objectives collectively in a manner of respect. this in turn will enable a camaraderie that will ultimately enhance production and quality of the project.

  • http://www.beautyoffers.net/teeth%20whitening%20free%20trials.html Sue Beauty

    Perhaps we need more beautiful bricklayers!

  • http://www.beautyoffers.net/teeth%20whitening%20free%20trials.html Sue Beauty

    Perhaps we need more beautiful bricklayers!

  • Francesco Capone

    Hi Amber,

    I think your on to something great in your article. I am actually a futur Bricklayer with a completed bachelors degree in History and part of another degree in education. I had the opportunity to see what it felt like to wear the suit ,the tie, the status, the attention etc. But as time passed, history has taught me that the best jobs are the ones that have been around for centuries because they require “hands on” tasks that cannot be replaced by computers, machines or any other new technology. The problem today is that, like you mentioned in your article, todays generation is not interested in getting their hands dirty or getting up early to go to work. They all want to live the life of movie stars and make easy money in call centers and offices when the beauty of it all is when you can finally see the finalresult of the work you have done with your sweat and will power. is it not ironic how a trade that was practiced by slaves in egypt( stacking bricks and making them too out of mud and straw) is for a while now very lucrative?

    Francesco Capone

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Ioana-Stan/100000243298628 Ioana Stan

    Wow.. Interesting.. Thank you for that!

    –
    Best Regards,
    Ioana Stan
    CEO SENIOR
    Tigla Metalica Iasi
    Oferta Tigla Metalica

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  • Hasterjake

    Being a brickie is crap being a brickie’s laborer is worse than shit .

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