Use Red Teaming to Support Strategic & Tactical Planning

My family decided to take a short cruise right after the Christmas holiday. While the cruise line shall remain unnamed, it was definitely the happiest place on earth. However, when cruising with a 5-year-old, there are a million horrible safety hazards that come to mind — which can transform a happy place into an exhausting chamber of horrors.

As we settled into our stateroom, my wife and I went through the safety checks to ensure we could at least dial back our travel anxiety to a nine. It was almost as if the shipbuilder/cruise line/master mouse in charge had already done this, creating real safety measures where so many other businesses leave you to your own devices. As I looked from the door to the outdoor patio, the locks were clearly placed at the highest spot possible. The railing did not allow for climbing and gymnastics. Even common areas seemed to be kid-proofed to an extreme level. Of course, for a kid-friendly cruise line, it is incumbent that they know their clientele and their proclivities. Plus, unfortunate tragic situations more than likely amplified the need to ensure every possible outcome was well-thought-through. As I sat pondering how I just paid $25 for a silly, fruity drink and even more for a kid-themed mocktail, I came to the realization that this ship/business had done their due diligence and effectively “red teamed” the ship.

Red teaming is hardly new, and authors like Bryce G. Hoffman (“Red Teaming”) and Micah Zenko (“Red Team”) discuss in their books not only the origins of red teaming, but also how organizations and businesses have implemented it in everything from thwarting terrorist attacks to preventing vicious cyberassaults. Construction businesses, which seem to live in an ever-evolving canyon of risk and hazards, can capitalize on creating a forum where project teams actively challenge project assumptions, confront potential rocks in the road and implement margin enhancing tactics.

Think of red teaming as a simulation. The blue team — the good guys — realize they are ripe for an assault. The red team — the figurative enemy — is actively probing for weaknesses and areas that are susceptible to failure. The good news is the red team is simply an actor, poking and prodding to help the blue team shore up those defenses.

Now consider how a construction business can use this technique at both a strategic level and project level to supercharge their business.
 

Enterprise Level: The Strategic View

Most organizations engage in either an annual business planning event or a periodic strategic planning event that looks at the long view. The business leaders leave the sessions having batted around a series of strategies that may not be pressure-tested appropriately.

For instance, consider a firm that wants to grow its revenue 10% each year in its current market. It decides that it will do so in three to four particular sectors with some modicum level of team growth as well. As the adage goes, “the devil is in the details,” and there are subsequent tactics that need to be refined to support that growth.

Create a strategic business plan? Check.

Now think of this same strategy where a subset of the leadership team is responsible for picking the plan apart. We know how everyone loves to be critiqued and how feedback is relished amongst our teams. Put another way, having an armchair quarterback look over your shoulder after you have slogged through hours of conversation is about as much fun as working a children’s club on a cruise line. However, think of the red team’s assault on the plan and the potential outcomes.
 

Revenue Target & Sector Viability

Why 10%? This sounds incredibly arbitrary. Furthermore, is it naive to show equal growth across three to four sectors when our current revenue is not even equal?

What is the projected sector growth saying? This business is in an area where the population is declining and certain demographics show potential sector contraction.

What about profit? We have a service arm that generates five times higher margins than our traditional construction business, yet we seem to ignore growing that business at a higher rate.
 

People: The Scarcest Resource

Where will the managers and supervisors come from? Once again, this area is showing a population decline, so what will our value proposition be to a newer manager/supervisor?

What about attrition? We show adding people, but did we account for that fact that there will be some level of attrition? Instead of X managers, we will need X+3.

Why will our team stay? Our culture is already on a decline — we’ve lost five people in the last 18 months to the competition, so are we just bolting on new people/more work without treating the real issues?

Competitive Response

• How will our known competition respond? With market compression, are we adequately considering how our two to three key competitors will respond with pricing and talent?
• What about the unknown competition? Granted, they are unknown as of now, but are we being naive to think that there will be no new competitors within the next five years?

There are plenty of questions that could be utilized as a test case. However, strategic planning in a vacuum is dangerous and creates a risk of having a “best-case scenario” as opposed to a best-, middle-of-the-road and worst-case scenario, as well as an appropriate “break glass in case of emergency” plan.
 

Project Level: The Tactical View

Red teaming at the project level is extremely practical, and it also provides an appropriate level of training for personnel. Consider how your team kicks off a project in the preconstruction phase. Often, there is the “hand-off” where estimating transitions to the project manager and/or that same hand-off occurs with the field leader. Project information to the front line? Check. However, the imagery invoked in this situation looks a little like the baton transition in a relay race: “Quick, give me the information so I can get back to work.”

Is your process adequately assuring that the project will be successful from day one? The red team becomes that first line of the assault to verify that the project team is ready:

• What if you don’t receive the permit in time?
• What if the trade contractor with the largest scope/critical path/etc. fails or goes out of business?
• What if there is a labor issue (i.e., strike, work stoppage, worker shortage)?
• What if there is unseasonable weather?
• What about that school down the road, nosy neighbors, high-crime area — what’s your plan?
• What are the two materials that, if not ordered in time, will delay the project?
• How will you improve the project duration by one day, one week, etc.?
• How can you add one point to the margin on the project?

The red team might fear that they don’t know enough about the project since they are on the outside looking in. Questions they ask might sound a little mundane or even elementary at the start. On the other hand, even the smallest project — in terms of revenue, risk or duration — will benefit from having an “outsider” pierce the veil and create real thought provocation.

Red teaming helps avoid the biases and groupthink that can serve as a stumbling block for construction organizations. It is not meant to be contrarian or “the wet blanket” smothering team members in negative “that won’t work” mindsets. It is an effective risk mitigation tool to ensure long-term success.

I only hope my cruise line friends eventually use red teaming to find a way to crowbar chicken nuggets on every menu on the ship.