What Style of Leadership Works Best in Construction?
As Engineers, we spend about four years studying dirt, concrete, steel, and math. We then move into construction, and its more dirt, concrete, steel, programs, cost tracking and registers (oh so many registers). By the time we are promoted to PE and have a few engineers reporting to us, we have spent 8 years focusing on things and not focusing on people. As our careers evolve, more and more of our job is managing people and not things. As I’m sure we have all found out, people behave a little bit less predictively to concrete.
As an industry, we tend to expend so much effort educating ourselves on so many disciplines, and such little effort spent on learning leadership, even though it makes up more and more of our job as our careers evolve. We tend to view leadership as “either you have it or you don’t”. This is synonymous with the “great man theory” which fell out of favour with psychologists over 100 years ago. The field of business psychology very much believes that leadership can be learned and always improved.
What are the types of leadership?
Depends who you ask… Over the years of research, the theories of leadership have evolved as further and better research has been conducted. The early 20th century saw a focus on leadership traits and after a lack of consensus on the universal traits of effective leadership, the focus moved onto the behaviours of leaders. These behaviours manifest themselves into various distinct styles of leadership. Further development in the field showed that these styles were not stagnant. In fact, effective leaders would change their style and behaviours based on the situational variables. Finally, the most modern research is focused onto transformational leadership which is characterised by its impact on followers and can largely adopt various styles to achieve this impact.
Task vs People
The Blake-Mouton managerial grid (2016) is a model that evaluates leadership on two axis, task (or production) orientation and people (or relationship) orientation. The model creates four quadrants with distinct leadership styles from each.
Construction Project Management requires a high focus on both people and task. Team Management is considered the ideal style within the grid. It represents a leadership approach that values both the team’s output and its members’ well-being. This style is characterised by:
Clear communication of goals and roles.
Constructive conflict resolution.
Trust and respect among team members.
A supportive environment that fosters collaboration.
Applying Team Management in Practice
The application of Team Management involves several practical steps:
Goal Clarity: Leaders must articulate a clear vision and set achievable targets.
Role Definition: Each team member should understand their responsibilities and how they contribute to the larger objectives.
Empowerment: Encouraging autonomy and providing the necessary resources empowers teams to take ownership of their tasks.
Feedback and Recognition: Regular feedback and acknowledgment of achievements bolster motivation and performance.
Continuous Improvement: Team managers should foster a culture of learning and development to adapt to changing circumstances.
The Impact of Team Management
When applied effectively, Team Management can lead to:
Higher productivity and quality of work.
Increased employee satisfaction and retention.
Enhanced problem-solving and innovation.
Stronger alignment with organisational goals.
What Type of Leader should you be? Depends on the Situation!
Have you ever had a boss that painstakingly micromanages you by telling step by step how to do something you are competent and experienced in? Or have you had a boss that delegates you something you have never done before with no instructions, direction, or feedback?
If so, this illustrates exactly why the same approach to leadership won’t work well in every situation. Sometimes you need a ball breaking authoritarian like Alan Joyce, and sometimes you need a hands off visionary like Richard Branson. One size does NOT fit all when it comes to leadership.
This is where the situational model comes in, where the style of leadership is driven by the situation and more importantly, the follower and their level of competence and confidence.
The situational and contingency approaches to leadership argue that no single leadership style is universally applicable in all scenarios. Rather, different situational variables call for different leadership styles for best effect. It is therefore incumbent on the leader to assess the situation and apply the most effective leadership style. Hersey and Blanchard’s Situational Model (Blanchard, 1997) II ascribes effective leadership styles to the given situation.
As shown, each style varies in its people (supportive) orientation and its directive (task) orientation, dependent on the follower’s needs or more specifically, their development.
The situational model says that a leader will alter their style to meet the needs of the situation. Therefore, as leadership styles are transient, a measure of one’s leadership style would not prove useful. Rather, an astute leader must be aware of their follower’s development levels and the needs of the team to be able to switch between styles appropriately.
This social and situational awareness correlates strongly with emotional intelligence. Therefore, it is determined that emotional intelligence is a better measure of one’s ability to adjust their leadership behaviour based on the needs of their followers.
The Key Take Aways
Be the leader your team needs you to be in any given situation
Pay attention to people just as much as task when managing a project
Understand your team to be able to adjust your leadership style based on their needs
