Matt Verderamo is a consultant at Well Built Construction Consulting, a Baltimore-based firm that delivers strategic consulting, facilitation services and peer roundtables for construction executives. Opinions are the author’s own.
Most executive promotions in the construction industry follow a similar pattern.
First, a boss approaches you to let you know you’ve been tapped for an executive role. Second, you get excited because it’s what you’ve been working for.
Third, the realities of the position set in and you start to wonder if you are capable. Fourth, you start preparing yourself for the new role by working the hardest you’ve ever worked in your life. With all the new responsibilities and competencies needed, your brain is always moving.
Fifth, assuming you put in the work, you prove you are capable of the role and get the promotion. The work doesn’t stop, but it gets easier over time until you eventually cement yourself in that position — only for it to happen all over again when you get to the next level.
In my work with contractors across the country, I am reminded that if you want to be an executive, you really need to handle growth with grace and maturity. It’s going to be scary, but you must be able to overcome that fear and go out and take action. Here are some important traits of successful construction executives:
Be flexible
For leaders and businesses to succeed, they must stay agile and open to change. And I’m not talking about the unnecessary change that comes with not being able to make up your mind.
I’m talking about changes like evolving market conditions, backlog issues or opportunities in new sectors. Maintaining your strategic direction through all of this is a challenge, no doubt.
Flexible executives are highly valuable because they maintain their composure in the face of this type of change, which means their teams maintain their composure, too. And when you have large teams of people holding strong in the face of change, you’ve got a business ready to reach the moon.
Speak up
It’s hard to be a new executive. It’s a whole new set of responsibilities and expectations for yourself and others, which can be stressful and confusing. And since you’re trying to prove you can do the role, you may consider keeping that stress and confusion to yourself.
I’ve also seen plenty of new executives feel frustrated when they have ideas that the business doesn’t pursue. Often it comes down to the fact that you’re new in the position, and while your ideas are appreciated, they don’t fit with the direction of the business right now.
In both scenarios, I’ve noticed that new executives will stop speaking up; they don’t ask for help or bring new ideas.
While I appreciate that feeling of keeping quiet in the face of struggle, no one can help you if they don’t know you’re struggling. Second, no one can know you’re frustrated about not having your ideas heard if you don’t speak up and say something. Third, the business will never pursue your ideas if you don’t present them.
If you notice yourself getting quiet, I would urge you instead to speak your mind. I think you will find it to be a rewarding experience that reinforces your executive abilities rather than detracting from them.
You’re going to need to do things you’ve never done before, work with people to accomplish serious goals and learn every step of the way. If you can handle change with grace, be flexible and speak up, you will set yourself up to succeed.
