Effective leadership alignment is crucial for any organization’s success, and the construction industry is no exception. For specialty contractors, with complex and multifaceted projects, the alignment of leadership on tech solutions becomes even more critical. However, the construction sector faces unique challenges that can hinder getting tech buy-in from leadership.
Recently, Procore’s Brian Davis had the opportunity to talk with someone who is very familiar with these challenges — Jeff Elwell, CTO at E.M. Duggan, a mechanical contractor based in Canton Massachusetts. This article explores key themes and some of the ways leadership at specialty contractor firms can ensure success with tech adoption and implementation decisions.
Here are six of those key common themes:
1. Centralized Decision-Making
One of the significant challenges in leadership alignment within construction companies is fragmented decision-making. In such organizations, decision-making authority is often distributed across various levels, departments, and project teams. This fragmentation can lead to conflicting priorities, delayed decision-making, and a lack of clear direction when it comes to making critical technology decisions. Without centralized decision making at the executive level it’s very difficult for the next tier of management to feel supported and enabled to execute on tech adoption initiatives.
“The biggest reason to get executive buy-in from the top down is because those are the people that are driving everything at your company. And if you get them believing in what you’re doing, then it enables a trickle-down effect to where the people at the management level are now buying into what you’re doing and have clear direction,” said Jeff.
To address this challenge, construction companies should consider implementing clear organizational structures and decision-making frameworks starting with a shared vision at the leadership level. By establishing well-defined roles, responsibilities, and communication channels, leaders can streamline decision-making processes and make confident and inclusive decisions about technology adoption and implementation.
2. Balance Competing Priorities
Leadership alignment can be hampered when different departments or teams within a construction company have conflicting priorities. For example, the operations team may focus on completing projects quickly, while the safety team emphasizes compliance and risk mitigation. Such competing priorities can lead to tensions and hinder overall alignment, especially when it comes to adopting new technology.
To tackle this challenge, leaders should establish shared goals and values that guide decision-making across departments. Leadership should foster a collaborative environment that encourages cross-functional dialogue and understanding. By clearly articulating the company’s vision, mission, and objectives, leaders can align different teams towards a common purpose. It’s important that trade contractors don’t just adopt tech for tech sake but that new investments are made that work with not against existing effective processes. Jeff recommends clearly identifying the right balance between what is working in an organization and what can be improved with new technologies – “One of the biggest challenges is finding software that doesn’t change your workflow, but that you can adapt your workflow to.”
3. Overcoming Resistance to Change
One of the primary challenges faced by leaders in the construction industry is resistance to change. Construction projects often involve long-established routines, hierarchies, and entrenched practices. Introducing new processes and technologies can be met with skepticism, fear, and resistance from employees and sometimes especially those on the leadership team. Jeff knows these challenges with change management all too well, “No one likes change. When you change large portions of the way you do things it is always tough on people.”
However for Jeff the key to overcoming this challenge is trust. “You’ve got to build trust along with getting buy-in from everyone on the executive team. They need to know that you’re doing the best thing you can for the company. I mean, that’s what I’m here for, right? I need to be trusted to pick the right technology and get rid of the wrong technology.”
4. Plan for Complexity of Stakeholder Management
Specialty contractor org charts involve various stakeholders, including preconstruction, field operations, accounting and finance, shop operations, human resources, safety management, and third parties such as suppliers, vendors, and subcontractors. Coordinating technology change management efforts across all these stakeholders can be a real challenge for leadership. According to Jeff, teams must avoid falling into the trap of operating in silos.
“Being overly siloed at your company is a really tough thing to deal with. One of the toughest things that we have as an industry is that a lot of people are still closed off in their department with their work. This results in teams not wanting to be collaborative and not having a desire for stronger communication, visibility and transparency. That’s something that’s always going to hold you back,” said Jeff.
Leaders must develop effective stakeholder management strategies by identifying key influencers and engaging them early in the technology change process. Additionally, specialty contractor leaders should anticipate and address potential conflicts either internally or externally, and practice negotiation and mediation skills to find mutually beneficial solutions.
5. Address Training and Skill Gaps
Another major hurdle construction leaders encounter is the need to bridge skill gaps and provide adequate training to their workforce. Implementing new technologies often requires employees to learn new software, tools, or processes. Field and even office employees may not possess the necessary technical skills, which can hinder the successful integration of new technology into their workflows. Construction leaders must invest in comprehensive training programs to ensure that employees are proficient in using the new digital tools. The key to an effective training program is patience.
“Be patient. Nothing’s gonna make sense to your teams the very first time. Just be patient with it. Re-implement over and over and focus on continued education. Success lies in the training,” said Jeff.
6. Leaders Limited Technological Awareness
Another challenge lies in the limited technological awareness even among specialty contractor leadership. Many leaders may not have the necessary knowledge or expertise to evaluate and select the most suitable technologies for their specific needs. This can lead to skepticism, indecisiveness, or reliance on outdated information. However, the last few years have seen an explosion in construction solutions and this challenge is dissolving.
Jeff has seen firsthand that tech adoption and executive leadership’s appetite for technology has grown in recent years.
“Five or six years ago, people were hesitant to even move to BIM. We were really in a place where we would ask ourselves, do we really need this stuff? And now good luck finding a job that isn’t completely in BIM. The good news is that the willingness to change has gone along with the advancement of construction technology. The tech products we were using six years ago had far more bugs and were far harder to work with any software than what we’re working with now,” recalled Jeff.
Continuous learning among leaders on new tech solutions through training programs or partnerships with technology providers can bridge their knowledge gap and enable them to be more confident on technology trends and options.
Conclusion
Achieving leadership alignment in a construction company is a complex and ongoing process. By addressing the challenges of fragmented decision-making, competing priorities, resistance to change, stakeholder management, training gaps, and leadership tech awareness, construction companies can enhance their ability to align leaders in objection and purpose with technology usage.
I definitely agree that it is difficult to become a leader, because the construction industry consists of a huge number of processes, from design to paying contractors . But with a clear plan, awareness and the latest technologies, success is possible.