Leadership – The action of leading a group of people or an organisation.

Management- The process of dealing with or controlling things or people

A construction site is by the nature of the work very stimulating to the sympathetic nervous system (fight, flight or freeze responses to stress). Unfortunately this is only exacerbated via forms of often seemingly benign behaviour such as ‘banta’ and/or the cyclical ‘roasting’ and singling out of individuals over their differences or perceived shortcoming, or choice of transport, or clothing. If we imagine a few unnecessary comments regarding sexuality, nationality, beliefs, politics, and the odd ‘story time’ of where individuals share tall tales of their ethically questionable, self validating, subjective triumphs, and we have an image of an unfortunately all too common stereotypical job site dynamic.

While it is proven that certain acts of hazing can strengthen group dynamics, I sense that too many of the individuals that find themselves in todays management roles, lack evidence of their own individuation process, and miss the nuances necessary for such attempts at hazing to offer much productivity at all.

Unfortunately what more often results is a dynamic that is suboptimal for productivity, training, personal growth and/or complex problem solving. I suspect it might also contribute to why we have so many people leaving the trades, and with relatively little talent coming in, or staying in, to replace those that age out.

This begs the question; What does good leadership look like, and what should we aspire towards to help maintain a viable industry?

1.  Egoless leadership. Doing what makes sense considering the most perceivable factors, as oppose to the other extreme, doing what is most soothing to the largest ego or egos on site.

2. Manageing group ‘flow’ which involves a high level of emotional inteligence to read the diverse needs of a group, and keep everybody in the ‘flow chanel’ for as much of the day as is sustainable. A lot of creativity can be applied in order to create this dynamic and all leaders have their own natural talent in which they apply this. This can involve, redistribution of labour responsibilities, vibe sitting using apropreate music or respectful humour, well timed hydration breaks, task demonstrations and discussions.

3. Monitoring and managing peoples needs, creating opportunities for communication ad early intervention before the last resort, conflict resolution.

4. Continued education for everyone.