A Call for Action to Defeat Mental Illness and Substance Abuse

By Gregg M. Schoppman, FMI Corp.

Many readers are expecting another piece on strategy and project tactics.  Unfortunately, this isn’t one of them. I am a son of a man that battled mental illness and substance abuse for most of his life. This is not meant to be an admonishment of our healthcare system nor a plea of sympathy for my family. In full disclosure, my father lived a long life despite his challenges and was the best father he could possibly be.

One instance always bobbles around my brain. I recall a time when I was around 15 and we had taken my father to the hospital where he proceeded to tell the doctor, my mother and myself how he wanted to take his own life. I wish I could say this was the only time this happened, but as I reflect on this encounter, I consider the countless lives that have been lost in situations just like this because there was no one to hear that cry for help. This is not a piece about pre-construction planning or close-out but a call to action for all industry professionals to mobilize against this awful disease.

The construction industry is one of the hardest hit occupations where both mental illness and substance abuse are at an epidemic rate. Consider the facts: The industry is extremely taxing on the body and takes a physical toll on craftspeople. Additionally, it is an incredibly stressful business. Now it would be myopic to think that the construction industry is the only stressful business out there. However, marry the stigma of addressing mental illness and the largely masculine presence in the business. Consider the last time you heard someone say, “Wow – I am really stressed out.” How often is the advice, “Just man up!” “Or don’t be a wimp…”?

There are many great men and women in the industry, and this is not meant to further segment this problem as strictly a male issue. In fact, it is just the opposite. Mental illness and substance abuse are not discriminators. This is simply a commentary that relates to how perceptions further complicate dealing with this awful situation. It is always fascinating that if this was a situation of an individual with heart disease or high cholesterol, the reactions would be drastically different. The stigma of mental illness makes this situation even more challenging to confront. However, the construction industry and public at large must confront this head on and no longer build walls, but rather open windows, shedding light on this epidemic

Know Your Team

It goes without saying, but as a business consultant and an engineer, I am neither qualified nor an expert on diagnosing or treating mental illness or substance abuse. Any of my knowledge is simply from firsthand experience and there are many qualified practitioners and experts that should be consulted. The thoughts contained in this piece are simply touching the periphery of what industry leaders can do to be proactive and take the fight to the situation.

First, know your team. This is easier if your firm is ten to twenty individuals. How about 100? 500? 1,000? This is not to say a president or CEO should have an intimate relationship with every associate. Rather, do the leaders in a firm – department heads, business unit managers, field leaders – have even an inkling of what drives or motivates their team members?

Once again, this is not to say a division manager should act as a therapist or psychologist but individuals that are connected to their teammates are more likely to observe unusual or aberrant behavior. Sometimes all it takes is a colleague asking, “How are you doing?” to provide the impetus to drive concern.

Know the Indicators

The construction industry does in fact live in a world of extremes.  Extremely risky, very dangerous and also driven by incredible deadlines. This creates a pressure cooker of stress and anxiety.  Long hours and stress filled days are commonplace. Firms are managing projects with an eye fixed on cost control and labor deficiencies in just about every position within the firm.

So, managers, supervisors, craftspeople, and estimators all build as the stress around them weaves in every fiber since we also have allowed technology to keep us “on the clock” 24 hours a day. How do leaders discern the “normal” stress of the job with saturation? If you have ever said, “In my day, I managed ten projects at a time (uphill, in the snow, etc.)”, stop it. Times are different – they are not better nor are they worse. The industry has enhancements as well as new challenges. There is a fine line between “normal” and “overworked” but so many leaders know what they are doing when they take on “just one more project” with little cognition on how that work will get done. The human capital in a firm is NOT disposable and burning through those assets as if they have a shelf life of 12-24 months is a sure indicator that the team is not okay.

Focus on the Positive

The construction industry is a “fixer” business – contractors fix problems. As rudimentary as that sounds, that is how the business works. A customer has a need, the contractor “fixes” it. As a result, contractors have become very efficient at identifying things that require fixing and things that don’t. If something is operating correctly, perfect. Find something to fix instead.

Unfortunately, the unintended consequences of this behavior is that businesses tend to avoid the “correct” things and focus on the negative. Positive feedback is sometimes the hardest thing to come by in many firms. Rather, there is a focus on negative or constructive reinforcement. When was the last time someone in your firm “caught someone doing something right?”

Once again, this is not about every person “getting a trophy” or providing empty platitudes that are about as filling as a Twinkie. Associates in firms tend to muddle around in their firms, shell shocked because the last piece of real feedback they received was on some cumbersome annual appraisal form, completely devoid of anything meaningful. There is a great deal of inertia that a firm must overcome to become more “positive”. However, best of class firms have made it a point to celebrate their associates with greater frequency which has a correlative effect on mental stability.

The construction industry is an amazing place to create a rewarding career and life. When one considers how much time is spent at their job, it is easy to see how mental stability is influenced by these environmental factors. Mental illnesses and substance abuse were not created by our industry nor will it be fixed overnight. However, the stigma of this plight must be removed so the fixing can occur now.

If one person reads this piece and finds the help they need, the fixing will have begun. Let’s not add to the ever-increasing statistics, but rather be the solution. For William.

About the author:

As a principal with FMI, Gregg specializes in the areas of productivity and project management. He also leads FMI’s project management consulting practice. He has completed complex and sophisticated construction projects in several different niches and geographic markets. He has also worked as a construction manager and managed direct labor. FMI is a unique and fast-growing firm of professionals passionate about creating a better future for engineering and construction, infrastructure and the built environment throughout North America and around the world.

For more information on FMI, please visit www.fminet.com or contact Gregg by email at gschoppman@fminet.com.