SLS Consultants

George Watts

Project Alignment Authority

Leadership Principle: Inspire People Around Shared Purpose

After more than forty years of managing projects and teams, I have seen management theory and practice evolve significantly—mostly for the better. The construction industry has traditionally been slow to adopt new approaches, but I am encouraged by the last 20 years of forward progress in construction leadership. Especially the emphasis on treating everyone with respect, both in the office and on the jobsite, rather than relying on the outmoded, outdated Theory X management style. The leadership principle that has most shaped my approach is transformational leadership.

Early in my career, while working as a real estate investment banker in the 1980s, I was fortunate to have an outstanding mentor, Drayton Heard, who exemplified this principle. Sociologist James V. Downton introduced transformational leadership in his 1973 book, Rebel Leadership, which focuses on inspiring people to find purpose in their work and pursue shared goals. Drayton was exemplary in challenging the status quo at one of the largest and oldest banks in the United States, doing so with professionalism and respect.

“Anyone who leads teams and projects needs to understand the importance of strategic alignment of their teams. The reason this is important is that the success of your team, your organization and your own career trajectory is on the line.”

As a senior vice president responsible for several teams, he helped us move beyond the routine mindset of traditional analysts to become enthused about the meaning and purpose behind our work. He encouraged innovation in a highly conservative banking culture where new ideas were rare—and it worked. I truly enjoyed working with and learning from Drayton. With intentionality, I have carried his transformational leadership style throughout my career.

Before Project Begins: Make the Bigger Picture Clear

Anyone who leads teams and projects needs to understand the importance of strategic alignment of their teams. The reason this is important is that the success of your team, your organization and your own career trajectory is on the line. To be more specific, leaders need to deal with the fact that most employees don’t fully understand their organization’s strategy, or how it relates to their daily work activities. Misalignment can cause dissent and confusion, which wastes time, money and morale. Before launching a project, leaders should step back, take time to fully understand the big picture, and be able to articulate how that relates to every team member and the value of their individual contribution to a smooth journey and an ideal result.

Construction Technology: Prove Value Before Chasing Novelty

Of course, technology brings incredible advantages to project teams. The challenge is to prioritize the true value of viable solutions over the novelty of another AI tool. Because technology is expensive to implement, leaders should align on the business case for the platform, including the cost and time needed to train their people, potential disruption in workflows if something should go awry and they should track actual KPIs against plan, including but not limited to ROI. Technology also enables a culture of no-blame accountability so leaders can intervene early and pursue continuous improvement, instead of punishing people or calling them out for mistakes.

What Challenge to Solve: Always Solve the People Problem First

It’s hard to pick just one. I believe the most significant challenges right now are:

1. Labor shortages, which can cause project delays and cost increases

2. Volatile material costs, which can result in cost overruns and thinner margins

3. Poor productivity, which drags down the efficiency of construction operations

4. Slow adoption of technology for companies that are married to manual processes.

Of these challenges, according to data and industry experts, the majority of construction firms are reporting severe difficulty in filling open positions with qualified people. Without human beings to plan and implement the work, we have a bottleneck that seems to worsen all of the other issues I mentioned.

Future Leadership: Ask Better Questions, Build Alignment

As a leader, you need to learn how to effectively guide conversations with their teams to align daily responsibilities with long-term organizational goals. They can start by asking five alignment questions:

5. Are we all clear on the strategy?

6. What exactly are we working on today?

7. Why are we doing this now?

8. How does this connect to the bigger picture?

9. What could we do differently to improve or make a bigger impact?