IN THE KNOW —
Are you a manager or a leader? My recent ponderings have covered building, construction – all trades and aspects involved. I like blokes. I know. I hate it when that pops out. I digress. Perhaps because of my military background and love of the outdoors, or time spent in the pits supporting my brother the kart driver, or the hours spent with my father working on cars and building projects. End result = I have an affinity for blokes. Recently I spoke at the New Zealand Certified Builders conference in Wellington. To be certified – or certifiable – is not generally an aspiration in other parts of our society, however, the folks I met at this conference seemed just fine. The topic was ‘what is leadership?’ We covered a vast range of material, including neuroscience, personalities, and the need for deep nurture. We concentrated on the detriment of cortisol (stress), and on the decreasing ability to focus and pay attention to detail. We explored a cause-and-effect model. When we speak to our team, our body language, pitch and tone (frustrated – aggressive), triggers the ‘fight or flight’ response in our team, physically shutting down their ability to hear us. The end result, their performance decreases, your frustration rises, and profitability declines right along with mental wellbeing. I talked about dopamine, related to pleasure, and the unhealthily high levels of this drug in our young people. Dopamine is more addictive than nicotine and alcohol and is released in excessive quantities during gaming and during high social media interaction. It can be a major cause of poor sleep quality (dopamine inhibits the making of your sleep drug melatonin), delivering – each and every morning – unmotivated, tired and inattentive team members. We then explored the link to an increase in anxiety and depression in the industry.
Managing versus leading Management – the processes are about planning, budgeting, staffing, clarifying jobs, measuring performance, and problemsolving when results did not go to plan. Leadership is very different – it is about aligning people to the vision, that means buy-in and communication, motivation and inspiration. Many building or primary industry business owners: 1. Are/were builders 2. Work damned hard to produce and provide quality builds or products. 3. Have strong managerial skills; having learned to forecast, run cashflow, order, juggle, run rosters, inventory and product lines, but lack leadership skills and tools.
4. Are passionate about their teams, workers and their business. 5. Are stressed and ready to pop – largely fuelled by the current economic environment and rapid post-COVID growth that has tailed the sheer terror of surviving 2020. Some building or small primary business owners: 1. Struggle with communication. Not the direct, blunt, to the point bit – they have that bit nailed. But the softer piece around culture, expectations of behaviours, wellbeing and checking in on the mental wellness of their teams. (I call this ‘Soft Strength’ and my next book will delve into the meaning of this term and growing this attribute.) 2. Wrestle with keeping their frustration in hand when dealing with silly mistakes that ‘shouldn’t’ be made. Apprentices and qualified builders doing stupid things. 3. Struggle with their young team members’ distracting use of cell-phones on-site. 4. Contend with apprentices who aren’t motivated to complete their study, but constantly seek pay increases. 5. Find they have to repeat themselves, do it themselves, or don’t get listened to unless they have ‘torn a hole’.
Your legacy – grow your leadership skills “As a leader, and ultimately a mentor, you have the responsibility and privilege to grow those around you and help them become their absolute best.” – Mike Davis of BlueCollar Leadership and Supervision, USA. You are the legacy. Challenge statement – people reflect the attitudes, behaviours and culture of the people who manage them. Enquire now and allow me to help you grow your leadership skills and tools allowing you to decrease your stress and anxiety, and increase both retention of the great team members and your company profit. Email sally@sallyduxfield.com to chew the cud and solve the problems of the world; or ring 021 7255 93 or 06 367 8438.
Sally Duxfield. Sally is an expert in designing experiential programmes to allow participants to ‘feel’ leadership; supported by the science that supports leadership behaviours. Sally has immense knowledge of the motivation required to activate business leaders and teams, increasing their mental toughness and passion for leadership. For more information, visit www.sallyduxfield.com
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