By Wayne Farrell, Director, Lynas Engineers
The construction industry faces a looming leadership gap. As experienced leaders approach retirement, a skilled and prepared next generation is needed to navigate the complexities of modern construction projects. This requires a proactive approach to cultivate future leaders who can not only manage projects efficiently but also embrace innovation and sustainability
As a relatively young director and business owner within the construction industry, it’s easy for me to remember what it was like to be a technician starting out. The pathways for progression were not always easy to navigate or relate to; being in an incredibly technical environment I never really saw myself as a potential leader when I couldn’t even understand half of the three letter acronyms people would often use!
These kinds of memories tend to invoke feelings of wanting to ‘look after’ younger members of our staff more closely. To ensure they fully understand what it is that is being explained to them not only to gives them a better chance of doing the task well, but also builds their confidence by knowing why they are carrying out the task in the first place. These small interactions have such incredible impact not only in the immediate space, but for their future and progression also.
This is just one small example of what we’re trying to do with the development of staff at Lynas Engineers; instilling knowledge and experience, creating exposure, giving them the feeling of ownership and responsibility; eventually leading to confidence and true pride in their work. With consistent guidance and mentoring, we now have members of the team that are running several of their own schemes at once, who are delegating with authority, and who are, more importantly, applying that original ethos of looking after the younger staff who are now working directly from them.
This is a very organic method of cultivating leadership, and we have real-life examples of those within the company who have shot through the ranks from senior technician to senior engineer within just 5 years. We want to help foster a culture of mentorship and development that works for all members of staff, which will ultimately benefit the overall business and allow more growth for the creation of real jobs. We have an avid belief in the creation of ‘real’ new jobs, and what I mean by this is – we don’t just look to transfer local skills from one design consultancy to another, but with currently 38% of our 13-engineering staff on degree apprenticeship courses we seek to provide new job creation for the region as a whole. This obviously then opens up opportunities for more people to step onto the construction ladder to help balance the gulf of the retirees stepping off on the other side; and develops our existing team into the future leaders our industry so desperately needs.
It isn’t always easy to grow a company this way. It would have been significantly easier and quicker to simply buy-in all the skills we needed as we needed them. But instead, we have spent, and continue to spend, a huge amount of time and effort with our team to ensure that they grasp the intricacies of design, of delivery, of client and consultee liaison, on standards and guidance, and so on, so that they can look at project cycle holistically from an early onset in their career and grasp the importance of what they do on a daily basis. They are important, and what they do – and how they do it – is crucial too.
At Lynas Engineers, we are proud to be a young, vibrant, and ambitious company, which is synonymous with our passion and appetite to excel. And in order to do that we, and the overall industry, need to continue to inspire ambition, confidence, and success into the next generation of young engineers to ensure Construction continues to have a buoyant succession plan for those that will carry the baton on and lead us through the coming evolutions of the industry.
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