A common challenge for partners in engineering and construction firms is a misalignment of mindsets and approaches across the partners. There are stresses resulting from balancing the client’s priority of getting the job done as quickly as possible with the responsibility of keeping their people safe. There’s also an endless list of improvements, initiatives and technology updates to drive efficiency. Construction partners also have to be flexible enough to manage a workforce of varied mindsets with engineers, finance, project managers, commercial, sales, etc.
Partners face a constant challenge to ensure silos do not develop, inhibiting the flow of communication and collaboration within and across varied functional areas. Add to this the pressure on margin and the impact of environmental factors, particularly weather, it’s no wonder many firms struggle with maintaining productivity and profit levels.
Developing strong, empathetic leaders establishes a working environment where people feel supported and are inspired to perform at their best. This in turn creates opportunities for the workforce to develop their skills on a variety of projects.
Are you interested in seeing how we could support you and your partners to develop your leadership skills?
If you would like to understand how to improve in these areas, we have a tailored program that will support you to align your partners and leaders to drive a culture that delivers results.
Case Study: The challenge of varying approaches
The partners of a large full-service civil construction business were struggling to work together. One partner had an entrepreneurial approach while his partner had a strong attention to detail. These disparate personalities whilst complimentary, led to increasing levels of frustration and conflict with each other and was negatively impacting the wider teams.
We tailored a program commencing with focused one-to-one mentoring for each partner to fast-track an uplift in their leadership skills. Once these sessions were underway, we added partner workshop sessions where they could learn to understand each other’s perspective, reset unclear expectations of each other and agree mechanisms to reduce conflict in the future.
Once the partners had developed a deeper level of understanding of each other, a facilitated workshop was conducted with the wider leadership team to agree a new strategy and underpinning behaviours.
This resulted in a significantly improved dynamic between the partners and leadership team where they could be a source of support for each other. This new found way of operating permeated across the business driving improved engagement and performance.