One exhilarating (and stressful) part of entrepreneurship is grappling with intricate challenges in areas where you have no experience — yet you must somehow devise a solution to move forward and achieve your goal.

When mission-critical projects start to fail

That’s exactly what happened when I and my team started our company. To complete our mission of assembling a portfolio of 10 sizeable RV and boat storage properties, we quickly learned that we would have to locate and acquire land, and then construct the facilities from scratch, rather than our initial plan of buying existing properties. None of our team had prior ground-up construction experience.

We found the sites, got city approvals, hired contractors and started, basically making it up as we went along. Things got more difficult as our projects fell behind for various reasons. Though our contracts had hard deadlines with bonus and penalty clauses, the contractors completely disregarded them, and the projects got seriously behind schedule, not to mention over budget.

It seemed like no matter what we did or said, we had no influence. It drove my stress levels through the roof. These projects were substantial, involving loans and interest payments, along with a lengthy waiting list of impatient tenants. Adding to the stress: This wasn’t a minor component of our strategic plan; this was the whole plan. If we couldn’t do it right, we would have nothing. Our reputation depended on it.

We finally recognized that our current approach of words, emails and meetings was failing. We needed to find another way to manage and motivate our contractors.

Stoplight graphs: A stark visual sparks clarity

The answer: Graphs! Specifically, stoplight graphs. We reasoned that if we could communicate how the contractors were doing in a more visual, factual, yes-or-no way, we might get through to them. This was something within our control, while so many other things were not.

We met with the contractors to break down the work into quantifiable milestones and identified key components to track and graph. Then, we created a weekly worksheet for the contractors to complete so we could update the tracker. For the general contractors (GCs), we tracked progress toward foundation completion, paving and certificate of occupancy. For canopy contractors, we tracked daily manpower, progress per canopy and progress per phase.

I have frequently used graphs in business, always with a positive impact on results. Four factors set these stoplight graphs apart:

• They were one-page, simple-to-understand line and bar graphs.

• Since the tracked metrics were tied to deadlines and penalty or bonus dollars, they projected the current and final penalty or bonus based on outcomes.

• Most importantly, they used stoplight colors. Each document had three graphs per page, each with a line or bar graph that reflected the project schedule. Actual performance was overlaid on this line, and the gap between actual and scheduled was filled with red if behind, green if ahead and yellow if minorly behind. This fill style created a lot of red or green which was the key to getting attention.

• The person most responsible for the performance filled out the worksheet informing the graph, making them hyper-aware of the status on a weekly basis.

We started using this stoplight graph strategy halfway through our first canopy job. The results were immediate and intense. The page was all red! The contractor flipped out, got defensive, mad, sad and went into denial. He took it personally; he had truly thought he was doing a good job for us. He had no objective view of his pace until he saw it illustrated on paper. We paired him with a construction consultant to coach him on a plan to “get to green.” Over the course of 30 days, they did it. The job went from four months behind schedule with a $328,000 penalty to 30 days ahead of schedule and a $130,000 bonus.

After that, all the graphs were all green. (Here’s a sample of what they looked like.)

We elected to start the tracker with the GC on our next project. Their graphs started in the green and never turned yellow or red — a source of pride for that GC. They finished months ahead of schedule and maxed their bonus.

After deploying stoplight graphs, we honed our expertise in building RV storage properties. We transformed into the company we wanted to be, and we can now achieve our mission as written.

Make stoplight graphs work for you

If your company is struggling with a mission-critical project and words, emails and meetings are not working, my advice is to try a stoplight graph. While they can work with any area of priority, they are particularly effective when you are new to a project or your company is just starting out. They help establish performance expectations and provide compelling motivation and direction for people who are new to your company, whether contractors or employees.

Remember to utilize all the key elements. You must use simple line and bar graphs on one page. If there is a bonus (or penalty) at stake, make sure to project that. Ideally, the person most responsible for the performance provides the data updates for the graphs so they know the numbers. And of course, use stoplight colors by filling the area between actual and expected performance with green, yellow or red ink.

I had no idea how powerful a graph could be. When you face a business-limiting underperformance in a key area, invest the time and effort in creating a super clear stoplight graph, and watch your results go from code red to green lights.