The Foreman Test
Five situations, whole month, no warm-up. This is the one the certificate cares about.
One sentence sums up the whole promotion. Which one?
Friday they paid you for your hands. Monday they started paying you for eight men's day.
A foreman leads from the front, tools on, first in and last out.
The title makes the foreman. The office decides, the crew follows.
Your mate's brother needs a job and your mate asks you to put him on the crew, no interview. What runs through the decision?
One standard: whatever any man's referral would get. The office hires; you recommend on merit only.
Friendship earned him the favor. Family is family.
Flat no. Hiring anyone connected to a friend looks bad.
You handed work back to a man twice this week and now he's sulking, working slow, muttering. What's the read?
The standard is being tested. Hold it, flat voice, and give him a real conversation off the floor before it festers.
The redo rule is costing more than it buys. Ease off for a while.
Sulking is insubordination. Document it for the office.
It's raining, the truck with the trusses is stuck, and two men called in sick. By 7:10 the crew is moving anyway. What made that possible?
Yesterday's look-ahead. You knew what the sick men carried and where the slack was before you parked.
Luck. Some days break your way.
Yelling. Urgency travels downhill fast.
The office chewed you out, the crew watched, and one of your men says 'rough one, boss?' What do they get?
"Schedule's tight. Plan's coming Monday." The information, minus the weather.
The full story. They're grown men.
Silence. A foreman explains nothing.
Four or five right: the month is in you. Three or fewer: watch the two lessons that got you, then come back. The test will still be here.