Leading to Success

When managing construction projects, construction project managers must deal with many resources, objectives, demands and constraints.

We are all pressed with budgets and connected costs, (too) short deadlines and quality requirements that define our project deliveries. On top of the mentioned constraints come (additional) demands from different stakeholders of our projects and from different publics.

We need to allocate and manage many resources to achieve project objectives through controlling the constraints. In this constant ‘battle’ with costs, time and quality, what our projects tend to turn into, it is easy, but not right, to forget about the most important resource managers use. Literature defines it with the term human resource(s). Our own colleagues, subordinates in classical vertical structures, or co-workers/team members in more horizontal teamwork for organizations.

There are many excellent managers in our construction industry. They have good technical, organizational, financial, contractual and legislative knowledge. But we are all limited to being one person who can do only a finite amount of work. Our role is primarily to organize, supervise, and coordinate work.

We have colleagues who do most of the tasks to meet project deliveries and help complete our projects. We need to clearly understand that there is no success without the successful work of our co-workers. Our main objective should be to support them towards our project success.

I am sharing a short overview of our company's effort to support its employees.

STRABAG sees People & Workplace as a central part of its strategic approach [1].

Understanding people is the real value of the company; STRABAG takes great care to provide a healthy and safe environment for its employees. We have an active zero-accident policy and are involved in developing guidelines for personal protection equipment. STRABAG offers prevention exams of hearing, vision and stress for health protection. We have many campaigns and workshops about exercise, nutrition, and stress control, too.

STRABAG offers its employees continued training and development. In the year 2022, more than 3,370 training sessions were organized in which 38,785 employees participated.

Our company is committed to ten global principles of the United Nations in the areas of human rights, labor standards, environmental protection, and anti-corruption.

Last but not least is gender equality, which STARBAG follows with initiatives to have more women in the construction business, being seen as predominantly men domain. It also means having more culturally diverse employees and ensuring a work environment free from discrimination, harassment, and retaliation.

Supporting our co-workers so they feel safe, knowledgeable, skilled, and non-discriminated doesn't stop at the corporate level. It is very important that we extend it to our managerial level. We make them feel that they are accepted and needed, and their effort is appreciated (being a part of the winning team).

‘Some of us are born leaders; most must learn being ones with studying literature, working with other great leaders, and practicing leadership.’

To make our colleagues feel like a part of the winning team (our management level), we need to dedicate time to them. Not only time for discussing work duties and performance. But it is time to show interest in them, as our fellow human beings, to get to know them better, have small talks with them, offers a hand when we see them worried, organize non-formal gatherings and team building events to connect better, to give them praise for job well done in front of others, to give them critique (in a positive feedback way) only when we are face to face with them alone, to lead them with an example and not micromanage them and to encourage them to take decisions, learn from others and their own mistakes and to allow them to grow with us. Try our best to win not only their minds but hearts!

To achieve the above, we need to be more than just managers. We need to be leaders, authentic ones.

Some of us are born leaders, and most must learn by studying literature, working with other great leaders, and practicing leadership. It is not an easy role to be a leader, but it is a great one, as you deal with people, which is our most important success factor in construction projects.

My dear colleague, managers strive to be leaders, not only managers. When you win your colleague's hearts, there is no project too hard to take on. You will have engaged people in your teams who are willing to follow you and do a bit more, so the team led by you and the project succeed!