I wrote this opinion piece when a friend asked me 3 questions. Here are the questions and here are my responses. What is the traditional construction leadership style? Why is it not working? What are you doing and why is it working?
The traditional construction site is run by one of the following: the person that has put in the most amount of hours, or the person that works the hardest. The gap in this mindset is that nobody is taught or understands the most important part of construction: the people side of it. Leadership currently, but especially in the past is this weird blend of degradation, manipulation, power struggle and guilt; always making the other person feel inferior to get what you want. Example: making someone feel like their job is on the line for taking holidays, not working fast enough, or even taking extended times off for the birth of a baby.
What this leadership is breeding is the next generation of leaders that are a product of the environment they have been brought up in. This means repeated behaviors that all would admit to being called “old school ideology.” The best way I can describe it is the way you were raised has a direct correlation of how you will raise your future children. In a similar way the way you are led in the industry has a direct correlation with how you will lead in the industry if you get promoted into a leadership position. It’s far more challenging to break from old patterns and ideas then to just continue with the status quo.
I’m a firm believer that if you cannot lead yourself well, you won’t be able to lead others well. There's two things I try to remember when dealing with the people side of construction from Mark Batterson- everyone is my superior in one way, and everyone is fighting a battle I know nothing about.
The most common (not all) structure of leadership in the industry is slowly and thankfully dying off. The yelling and screaming is almost completely gone (thankfully) but there’s a couple hardcore old dudes that still use this as their primary way to “motivate” their crews. What isn’t changing though is the principles that lie beneath the surface of the yelling mentality. The principles like: I don’t care just get the job done, you’re not paid to think, just do what I’m telling you to do etc. These principles used to be directly said to people but now are communicated through body language and perhaps what is not being said to the employees. As I am on the front line of these issues it's very apparent to me these old principles are not holding up but rather creating toxic culture and an employee vs. management ideology. I’ve noticed an uptick in people leaving which people call “the great resignation” but root causes are extremely clear to me; their supervisor/ leader is the one they are leaving, not because “they are called elsewhere.”
The new wave of leadership for millennials and gen X is complex but also simple in nature. Take a genuine interest in people- their work lives, personal lives, struggles, etc. Like best selling author Bob Goff says: “Build relationships 3 minutes at a time.” These small conversations a couple times per day pay off massive dividends in the productivity and employee engagement as a whole on the site. The leadership style has to move to servant leadership for you to be a next gen- top performing leader. Think of recent years in the NFL, some of the best teams in the league are led by the youngest coaches, is this only throughout football? I bet this is across all industry and not adapting will have costly mistakes for employers. You’re seeing it already- guys who have been loyal for years to a company and have made them hundreds of thousands of dollars are now leaving to go to other companies just because they might be treated better even if the wage is slightly less. I repeatedly hear stories of companies sticking to their “tried and true” methodology in hopes to regain control of their workforce without thinking twice that they might be the issue. Ask yourself this as a leader: who have you served today? If the answer is nobody, I’d take a serious look in the mirror and see who your employees are loyal to and might be saying behind your back.
Leadership today: if you give me what I want, I’ll give you what you want. Sounds selfish right? It is selfish, but you want to swim, not sink right? I’m not saying give employees everything they ask for, what I am saying is that if you shut down everything it's going to bite you down the road. Pay greater attention to people that never ask for anything, making sure they always get what is required.
Here’s an example of what I mean: give them the Friday off they requested, buy the new tool to increase productivity. Pay for coffee once in a while, let them borrow the company truck if needed. This creates a massive amount of loyalty and in the end the most important thing in any relationship: trust. And trust is the currency of the future.
Let me say that again cause it’s really important: Trust is the currency of the future.
Here’s what I have done in my few years as a new generation construction leader. I knew when I first started working I wanted to be in charge one day. “Begin with the end in mind”- Stephen Covey. I tried to lead myself well by always keeping a positive attitude and making sure the people I worked with enjoyed their time with me. A simple hello in the hallways always goes a long way. Get to know people’s names because the most powerful word in someone’s life is their name. If you know it, use it. If you don’t, learn it. You never know when you’ll need someone’s help and it's far easier to ask for help when you know everyone. In my experience I have seen the fruitfulness of my leadership style many times. I’m approached often requesting that I do our weekly tailgates/ safety talks as they seem to be the most engaging to people, maybe it has something to do with keeping the mood light, and making sure peoples safety concerns or requests are taken seriously.
People want to be led, not managed. What I mean by that is to not micro manage. Micromanagement is a leadership suicide and on the opposite side of that is effective delegation which will become your best friend. Show a person the job they need to do, and let them explain to you how they are going to do it. If they struggle, help and guide them. Keep your own opinion out of it and don’t tell them how to exactly do it (unless safety protocols aren’t followed) . Give each person a chance to push themself and instill in them the confidence they need to get the job done safely and effectively. In the past I have helped workers with financial advice and even marriage advice that I can only hope might save the marriage. Are you ready for these conversations?
In conclusion there’s no fast way to proper construction leadership. It takes time to build trust and relationships. These trust and relationships will help you get the job done, and with a team that would be worth fighting for. Change your mind which changes your heart which changes your actions. Going against the grain in construction leadership is what I feel my calling is, don’t let the bullies of the past dictate your leadership style for the future.
Challenge for the week: give your boss some slack, they have a lot going on. Bosses, give your workers a break- if they all left you wouldn’t be able to get anything done!
See you in the pit!
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