find leadership comes easily

Rob Payne, service development and communications manager at Ringway, talks to Sarah Dale about leadership styles and why having the right team helps you become an inspirational leader

Get to know your team and find out what makes them tick.

That’s the key piece of advice Rob Payne would give to new managers starting their first role.

“Getting to know them and what makes them tick and knowing how to motivate them is key to being a good manager,” says Rob, service development and communications manager at Ringway.

“Make sure they understand what you and the business need from them and how you expect that to happen and work with them to achieve that.”

Rob, a civil engineer and design engineer who has designed bridges, roads and airport roads, has worked in managerial roles for 25 years and says his leadership style has developed over the years.

“I love developing people,” says Rob, who has worked at Ringway for 12 years, starting as a bid writer to apply for the highways contract with Hertfordshire County Council, which he won.

“I look to agree everything, but I’m not scared of telling in the end if I have to. The failings of a younger manager are trying to make everyone happy at the same time.

“People who work with me say I’m supportive but show tough love when it’s needed. I have high expectations of myself and the team.

“But what I love – and what I try to do –is look at what people’s specialities are and develop them.

“I look to bring in people who are really good at their roles. The technical skills are a given; most decisions I make on hiring someone are based on their behaviour and how well they would fit into the team.

“It’s about getting the right people for the job. My role then becomes really easy, freeing up their time and their space to do their job well, which ultimately reflects well on me as well.

“I admit I used to be a micro manager but I’m more of a collaborative manager now. I don’t like the dictatorial style of management, the sort where you only hear from them if something is wrong.”

Rob also tries to set a good example to his team of 50 and as sport is a big part of his life, he encourages others to keep fit and healthy too.

“Mental health and wellbeing is a big thing now too,” he says.

“Health & Safety has always been vital in our industry – and continues to be our number one priority – and then we looked more at people’s health and how to stay healthy and now it’s moved into ensuring people’s mental health and wellbeing are good too.

“In a male-dominated construction industry, how do we do that? That’s why the social side is important and knowing your team well and what may be affecting them personally and in work and encouraging people to talk.”

Ringway, which is part of Vinci Construction UK, manages and maintains more than 43,300 kilometres of the UK’s highways network and employs 2,000 employees across nine local authorities.

In Hertfordshire, the company employs 450 people.

Being a valuable member of the Hertfordshire community is one of the reasons Ringway supports two charities, as part of their social value: Helping Herts and Emmaus.

It is also why they joined Hertfordshire Chamber of Commerce at the end of 2022.

“Hertfordshire want to know from us how we can help with the impact of highways,” he says.

“Sustainability is a key area for us and a side benefit from being a Chamber member is we can meet other businesses to share knowledge and develop. SMEs in Hertfordshire do it far better than large corporations.”

Ringway’s three pillars at the core of any business planning are digital, social value and sustainability.

For example, there are 180,000 gullies in Hertfordshire, which all must be cleaned on an 18-month to two-year schedule. The advanced IT systems the company use provide the data they need to make decisions on where to go next, as well as correlating with weather data to ensure they visit the roads which regularly flood during heavy rainfall to ensure the gullies are clear.

As part of their sustainability plans, the company is moving across to electrical fleets where they can. All their company cars and vans will be electric and their 18-tonne lorries currently run on HVO (hydrotreated vegetable oil).

Although Rob’s team is spread out geographically, they meet socially in London and he sees his managerial team and the team he manages more as friends than colleagues.

“But what I have learned as a manager is you need to let your team go out without you and moan about you sometimes!” he adds.