Most people are promoted to management because they have achieved success using their technical skills. While this makes good sense, it does not follow that technical skills alone will help you manage the next step. You will need to employ a set of complementary skills that will bring projects in on time, to quality and within budget, such as:

  • budgets and finance
  • contract and employment law
  • planning, scheduling and organisation
  • leadership and delegation
  • negotiation
  • project and risk management
  • teamwork.

    The list is not exhaustive, but can be exhausting. At the heart of the change you need to make is the management of people.

    Building an effective team requires attention beyond “bonding” at weekend paintball events or having a regular drink together. Good teams make things happen quickly and they always equal more than the sum of their parts. To develop effectiveness, you will need to pay attention to two types of skills in the team:

  • operational skills, which include having a simple but common method for working together, sorting out objectives, taking corrective action, looking for, and building in continuous improvements

  • co-operative skills, which include listening and active support for good ideas, identifying and playing to the skills in the team, deliberately setting out to improve co-operation in the team and ensuring that all in the team are aware of their responsibility to ensure project success.

    Both operational and co-operative skills need to be given attention if the team is to grow and develop. If you give attention to the co-operative skills alone, you may end up with a team that gets on well together, but may not be very effective at getting things done. If you give attention to operational skills alone, then the team may be effective at getting things done but find the process gruelling.

    Organisational skills means having a common method for working together. This helps a team organise its thinking and actions. Having a simple and commonly understood method of getting things done means that the whole team can organise themselves around any project. The key is a systematic approach. This includes:

  • aims – agreeing and rating the purpose, end results and standards for the project

    Building an effective team requires attention beyond “bonding” at weekend paintball events or having a regular drink together

  • information – detailing and listing out all the important information, skills and resources that are vital for the project

  • what has to be done – listing and sequencing all the steps and sub-steps of work that need to be done in order to complete the project

  • planning – allocating names and deadlines to all the above actions

  • reviewing – end results achieved against the aims, in order to ensure full project completion and close-out.

    The sequence can have an amazing effect on organisation and effectiveness. However, it is much easier said than done and teams often need coaching to work their way through this sequence.

    Many managers have a worrying fear of the planning process, preferring gung-ho action to the quiet and deliberate process of planning. The production director of an international company once told me “we never have time to plan our projects, but always find time to put them right. In fact, we spend more time putting them right than getting them right.” Worrying.

    The process of reviewing to improve is deceptively simple, but can be the most powerful tool a manager has. It requires setting aside time with the team to ask three questions: what went well in that project and what were the causes of our success? What were our difficulties in that project and what were the causes? And what should we do next time in order to ensure we improve next time? This is the basis of learning and powers team growth and development. For it to add value, the whole team should be involved, all contributions logged and listened to, and there must be a climate of honesty within the team. If you do not understand the past, you are at risk of repeating the same old mistakes forever.

    • Source

    Construction Manager

    Postscript

    Denis Cummings is a principal consultant with the Coverdale Organisation which works with AMEC, BNFL and CITB. Its UK headquarters is at Villiers House, Clarendon Avenue, Royal Leamington Spa, Warwickshire CV32 5PR.