Leadership, Listening, Learning and Leaning are four Living words which will be evident in any successful building project. In the first instance there must be Leadership, that is there is a Project Manager (PM) who will lead the project and whose leadership will be respected and honoured throughout the life of the project, both by the contractor and by the PM’s clients.
If this respect is not present, or the client constantly seeks to chip away at the PM’s authority in public, then the project is likely to be uneven, more costly and much less enjoyable.
Equally, the PM needs to demonstrate from the outset the key skill of Listening, that is giving sufficient quality time to listen to and understand the needs of all parties and then to respond rather than leading the project in a cavalier and insensitive way leaving all parties in their wake and being wilfully ignorant of the terrible impact their behaviour is having on the project. A third quality that both a PM and contractor will have is the ability and willingness to being open to Learning. Contractors should be willing to either innovate themselves or have clients that can innovate, often in ignorance, but in a way that can bring significant advantages to a project. The PM that encourages thinking beyond their own experience can help parties feel fully engaged and valuable members of the team and the contractor in particular will feel more confident as every effort is focussed on getting the project across the line as quickly and efficiently as possible but in potentially new and better ways. And finally, the PM and team that are Leaning on God throughout, as well as each other at times, will enjoy and share with one another the challenges, battles and victories as a project progresses knowing that, in the end, it is God who is in control and that He Loves to bless his children.
