The aim is to create an environment where your greatest critics can praise you and your best cheerleaders can alert you to trouble.

Want an environment where individuals perform at their best, can rely on each other for intellectual and moral support and where communication is intentional, consistent, and authentic?

Then you first need to establish a clear team hierarchy. This brings great clarity and helps to define roles and responsibilities within teams. If there’s a flat structure and the team grows to even a medium-size, this can lead to mixed messages, unnecessary tensions, and double and triple handling of tasks. It can also lead to requiring cotton gloves treatment for some members of the team and a general lack of accountability.

Don’t be afraid to introduce a clear hierarchy in your team. 

Not copious layers of ill-defined management, but a sensible arrangement of accountability and productivity. Be alert to the dynamics that it triggers and have the necessary conversations to resolve or adjust accordingly.

It takes incredible self-awareness as a leader to be able to tune into the team dynamics at any given time on your project’s journey. There will be times when team motivation and productivity are high, and of course, times when it is low. By cultivating highly functioning feedback loops you can stay alert more easily and adjust your leadership behaviour to best support your talented team. 

Feedback loops are open communication channels between individuals, teams and stakeholders, where feedback is actively sought in both directions. Admittedly it’s hard to give and receive feedback that isn’t always positive, even when we know it’s healthy and constructive, right?

In my experience, everyone just wants to be seen and heard. It’s this simple and powerful need to be validated that drives many of the things we say and do. Even though someone may tell you that they love the fact that you challenge them or throw some intriguing new perspectives at any given situation… they usually don’t!

No one really wants to be shown that they’re wrong. Although wouldn’t it be amazing if they did? 

Teams can be very noisy environments. Given how hard it is to generate the right type of productive and creative noise - don’t underestimate the power of constructive feedback loops to play a significant role in doing just this.

With the right intent, they can elevate your project to new heights by enabling a refresh of your approach when necessary. They can alert you to unconscious biases and prompt timely course corrections.

Feedback loops can also create a ripe environment for innovation and challenge. 

It comes down to how your leadership sets the tone for communication across the team. Whether you invite diverse opinions or whether conversations are shut down too quickly for innovative seeds to be planted or valuable lessons to be learned.

My final plea is to create a support network for your leadership team in the form of structured and informal access to peers, experts, and mentors. Establishing a critical friend space in which to bounce ideas - both inside and outside of your team - will directly benefit your talented team to be even more effective.

Please reach out if you are a courageous leader who is interested in more support.

I am keen to spark conversations for leaders within the built environment so that they can share their experiences and lighten their load. I have written a book that is intended as a pragmatic blueprint to support courageous leaders in pursuit of high-quality project outcomes.

Our industry has some amazing opportunities and challenges ahead, that can use collective wisdom. You can check out my new book BUILD SUCCESS or follow me with the links below. 

Enabling your success!