Look for Humility, Hunger & Social Smarts
I’ve blogged a lot about the truth of leadership: team-building, secrets to handling the c-suite, and how to make requests more effective and much more. But I’d like us all to drop our titles for a moment. Forget the hierarchy. Come back down to your role as a team member.
Because the fact is, with construction projects, leaders are often shifting. Depending on the day, PMs, vendors, contractors, owners, owner reps or executives could be leading any given meeting.
As old projects close and new projects begin, I often return to Patrick Lencioni’s “The Ideal Team Player“. Because effective team-members can truly elevate the success of any project.
Here, I’ve adapted them slightly for construction.
(Notice that “competency” is not included. And you wanna know why? Because if you’ve got these three below, competency (and good communication) will always be along for the ride.)
Humility
As C.S. Lewis said. “Humility isn’t thinking less of yourself, it’s thinking of yourself less.” This is an important distinction as it allows you to offer a generous spirit–easily appreciating others’ contributions–without self-deprecation. Humility means defining success collectively, rather than individually. And when you release the ego, vulnerability and team playership emerge.
Example: During a recent construction crisis, we were unexpectedly faced with the task of moving multiple hospital beds to a different floor. A vendor came onto the scene, and I requested his help. But he said: “I don’t do that. I have people who do that. I’ll get them.” Yikes. There wasn’t time for that. And if he was too “high up” to help out, he wasn’t humble enough for me.
Hunger
Hungry people are naturally motivated–they’re always looking for more ways to learn and more ways to give. Taskmasters need to be hungry. Negotiators need to be hungry. A hiring committee needs to be as hungry as the interviewee. A hungry person asks questions and seeks to understand both the details and the big picture of the situation. They’re instinctively connecting the dots between the project success and their personal success.
Example: I recently had an engineer spot a future problem. Examining the opaque film on the bathroom doors of a hospital room, she expressed concern that the privacy might not be up to par. It’s a great example of team-member thinking ahead, understanding the human impact of her work, and providing anticipatory problem-solving. I loved it.
Social Smarts
I’m talking about social and emotional intelligence here–even common sense. Not IQ or intellectual capacity. A socially aware individual is a diligent observer and an engaged listener. Especially in a group setting, they notice when an explanation didn’t do the job, when someone’s feeling shut down or when the energy has shifted. They’re not afraid to ask good questions. In construction, it’s easy for technical experts to slip into confusing acronyms or abbreviations. A socially smart person asks themselves: Is my audience tracking? Did I lose them? How can I explain it better? And sometimes it’s another listener who sees the disconnection and suggests a translation.
Example: I recently witnessed a nurse explaining the nuances of the lighting above a patient bed to the engineers and electricians who would soon be working on it. They thought they were tracking, but I knew something was off. A mockup on the wipe board helped define the nuance of his requests.
Don’t forget that team members need a leader to embody these principles. When seeking these in your people, make sure you’re modeling social smarts, hunger and humility yourself.
