Construction sites are some of the hardest environments to work in. And that’s before we even get to the psychological pressure. It’s no wonder that it can lead to aggressive behaviour, frustration and pent-up energy. Talking to Adam Evans, who leads electrical teams on major construction projects, reminded me just how different leadership in construction can look when there is no room for ‘good enough’

He talks us through an example of what a workday can look like for him (it involves being called out of bed at 4am, and that’s the easiest part about it).

One of the threads running through my conversations with Adam is how much changed when he became more aware of his own preferences, and started recognising that other people don’t necessarily think, communicate or work the way he does. (It’s also something we explore through the Team Management Profile (TMP), if you suspect that might be a roadblock for your team too).

We also talked about the challenges of motivating a team beyond money, retaining good people, building a culture, and becoming the guy whose projects people always want to be on. (By the way, if that’s something you’re thinking about too, my Guide to Motivating Your Team is still a useful place to start). Really, about what leadership looks like in construction, an industry so much more complex than the public perception of it.

If you work in construction, whether you’re a project manager, team leader, tradie or work alongside the industry, I think this is a conversation worth hearing.

Towards the end of the episode, we briefly touch on suicide and the troublingly high suicide rate in the construction industry. If you or anyone you know is struggling or the topic brings anything up for you, there is free, confidential support available through TIACS (This Is A Conversation Starter), the mental health counselling service founded by TradeMutt.

If you would like to connect with Adam or read more about his experience, you can find him on LinkedIn.

If some of the challenges Adam and I talk about feel familiar (even if the industry is not), you’ll find more practical support for navigating them, and becoming the leader you want to be under pressure, here.

We often talk about people who are great at what they do, so they are put in a leadership role and given a team of people, without being given any leadership training.

Adam Evans’ career was on this path and over the next few episodes, Juliet is talking with Adam about how his career as an apprentice-chef-turned-electrician changed when he was sent on a leadership course. From a self-described “angry young man” to someone who found a language to talk about how he works, and understand the strengths in difference across his team, Adam has some fascinating insights into the importance of leadership in the construction industry. And there’s the challenge of his mum’s expectations…

In this first episode Adam shares his career path and how building his self-awareness is enabling him to lead a team of young tradies and collaborate with teams across the industry to deliver high profile construction projects.

If you have worked in the construction industry or have shared any of Adam’s experiences in a different industry, we would love to hear from you. You can share your experiences and ask questions at https://www.facebook.com/growyourinfluence/

And if you would like to connect with us, including accessing free resources on this and other leadership challenges, you can do this and contact Juliet at Big Goals.

If you would like to connect with Adam or read more about his experience, you can find him on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamevans1988/.

In our last episode we talked about how we make our values real. In this episode Juliet is talking to Meredith Staib, the CEO of RFDS Queensland, where values are one of the key elements that attract new joiners. If you’ve ever lived in a regional or remote part of Australia, the RFDS will have touched your life or the lives of people around you.

We took Meredith back to the start of her extensive career and some of the challenges of leading. How do you innovate in an organisation with such a strong and established role? How do you keep a large and widely distributed team connected, and how do you stay in touch with what is happening in remote regions for teams delivering a variety of health services? In our conversation, Meredith shares her experiences and insights into leading an organisation that touches so many people’s lives.

Do you have a link with the RFDS? We would love to hear from you about your experiences. You can share your experiences and ask questions at https://www.facebook.com/growyourinfluence/

And if you would like to connect with us, including accessing free resources on this and other leadership challenges, you can do this and contact Juliet at Big Goals.

If you would like to learn more about the Royal Flying Doctor Service (Queensland) you can find information at https://www.flyingdoctor.org.au/qld/ and you can read more about Meredith’s experience online and on Linkedin.