Day by day, the construction industry workforce evolves due to economical, technological, and societal changes. With the constant workforce transformation is a constant need for leaders to strive for quality management tactics. Common important traits for a leader to have are confidence, transparency, and innovation, among others. However, 2023 is a new year, with new challenges, and construction industry leaders should take note of these 4 key traits and skills that will make them successful and benefit their employees this year.

Decisiveness

On a regular basis, leaders are put into situations where they are expected to make tough decisions that can impact the entire company. In addition, they are responsible for communicating their decisions to employees and others. To be successful, a great leader is able to make quick decisions by balancing emotions and logic. When it comes to information processing and decision making, leaders are able to use both sides of the brain; left being the logic center responsible for reasoning and analysis, and right being the emotional center responsible for creativity and intuition. With the fast pace of the construction industry, leaders and top executives have to implement balanced decision making without hesitation and without wasting time.

Focus

In 2023, technology continues to expand and grow at a fast rate with AI, big data, cybersecurity, and IoT being at the forefront of not only the tech industries, but also construction, manufacturing, healthcare, banking, and more. With this growth, leaders need to be able to adapt to changes, but also know their core business and stick to it. Changes and challenges can cause leaders and executives to lose focus and lose sight of their mission which can ultimately result in a loss of profits. It is important for leaders to stay organized and stay on track with established strategies, plans, and goals, while also keeping employees and other leaders in the company focused for the business to be successful no matter what changes the industry could be experiencing.

Communication Skills

Having exceptional communication skills is common for leaders, but especially important in today’s day and age. There are four different generations with a prominent presence in the workforce currently. Furthermore, today’s leaders fall into many of these generational categories. This makes it so important for leaders to be able to clearly communicate strategy and goals, give and receive feedback, and motivate employees no matter if they are dealing with Baby Boomers, Generation X, Millennials or Gen Z. While many of these generations have stereotypes stamped onto them that may or may not be true, it is extremely important for leaders to pay attention to what communication methods are the clearest and most concise for employees and the team.

Insightfulness and Innovation

The current workforce has been highlighting the importance of employee wellbeing in a job. A 2022 study by Indeed shows that 86% believe work can provide more than just a paycheck, concluding that companies should focus on happiness, purpose, satisfaction and stress in their employees. As leaders, it is extremely important to be insightful and innovative in creating a great company culture. Top executives can improve the quality of their workplace environment and culture by simply having a clear understanding of what employees want, and creatively finding solutions to drive employee wellbeing. This will help to not only retain current employees but attract new talent as well.

Effective leadership takes time and experience, but with practice, construction industry leaders can polish these traits and benefit themselves, and their employees. What other leadership traits do you think are crucial for top executives to have in 2023?