HUG Construction

Michael Wrozek

Construction Innovation Authority

Michael Wrozek, Head of Construction, HUG Construction, oversees complex construction projects with a focus on quality, efficiency and execution excellence. Drawing on extensive industry experience, he leads teams to deliver innovative building solutions while maintaining high standards for safety, performance and client satisfaction.

You are not a great leader. Let that soak in for a minute. If your ego says otherwise, congratulations, you are having the human reaction. The good news is you aren’t alone; no one else is a great leader either. We all know the handful of “great leaders” from history that we learn about in school, and, shocker, if you are reading this, you won’t be amongst them. What we all can do is work at becoming better leaders, the leaders our industry and companies need to be successful.

We have all worked at companies or heard the cliché that “our people are our most important asset,” or some version of that statement. Most of the time, it feels like that correlates to a quarterly BBQ, which isn’t a bad thing to do, but ends there. If the people are the asset (and have no delusion that it is the people, not the process, not the product or the technology), then why don’t we invest in the leadership of that asset and in its future leaders?

Investing in Leadership, Not Just People

Leadership comes in many forms, but these are the soft skills that make the difference. If you look at employee feedback when people leave, most of it boils down to leadership, from the top to the bottom. Buzzwords like “toxic work environment, quiet quitting, burnout” are all symptoms of the same thing: a lack of leadership. It doesn’t matter the size of the company, even if it is just you, you will have people in leadership roles. Ask yourself this question: What leadership training or education have you had? What about the leaders below you or above you? It isn’t surprising that for most, the answer is none, and the further down in an organization, the more likely that is to be the answer. If the boots on the ground and the ones getting the work done don’t have good leadership, do you think it really matters how good the leadership at the top might be? It just takes one weak link in the chain for the whole thing to fall apart.

Building the Next Generation of Leaders

Leadership training is an investment in yourself, your people and the future success of your organization, and it doesn’t have to cost tens of thousands of dollars. There are a ton of free resources, videos, podcasts and amazing books out there to get you started. You can start small with a few employees and build from there, using feedback on what works and what doesn’t for your company. The other mistake made is focusing only on the current leaders in your organization. While that can be a good place to start, you also need to look to the future and think about the next leaders in waiting you already have. Investing in them now will not only make them better leaders when they step up to their next role but also allow them to start practicing the skills and tools now, making them better people and employees.

Our industry, like every other, is experiencing greater change and technological advances. What doesn’t change is the people that make it all happen, and for all the investment in the other things, the incredible lack of investment in the people needs to change. We ask people to do more, be more productive, learn more tools and be more efficient, but don’t train them in how to lead to make that happen. It doesn’t matter if you are the CEO/Owner or a day laborer; leadership affects you every day.

You are not a great leader, but that is okay; you can take the steps to start becoming a better leader today.