To promote or not promote, that is the question… Just because someone is “next in line” doesn’t mean that they are ready. The best approach is to use a combination of assessment, mentoring, and intuition. I like to assess for self-awareness and leadership approach (using a few different leadership and personality assessment tools). Most people know the “job description” and usually have the basic skills to fill the role, but they are missing some of the leadership capability to make the role successful. So, some coaching (mentoring really) helps to develop their leadership “brand.” Ideally, this work will happen proactively, a year (or two) before the promotion. It also works if a promotion has already happened and the new leader is struggling a bit. Finally, most senior leaders have a “gut feeling” about someone being ready for the next level. Sometimes when they act on their intuition, it works out (and sometimes it doesn’t work out right away). Trust your intuition, of course, but also add an objective perspective and leadership “data” to your decision. That’s where I come in.
Not all high performers are leaders, but leadership can be developed. Sometimes the high performer’s highest and best use is staying where they are. Just because someone is a great project manager, doesn’t mean they should or can develop other project managers.
If they think that they are already good enough, resist or reject feedback and aren’t trying to continue to improve. This is a leading indicator for leadership derailment.
The short answer is a lifetime. Great leaders are always looking for ways to improve and help those around them to perform better. That being said, a three-month evaluation phase followed by as much coaching as needed to move the needle on performance (usually for at least one year).
An emotionally intelligent and competent leader will outperform the technically proficient one all day. There are ways to measure emotional intelligence, so there are also ways to develop it. It requires self-awareness and a willingness to do the things necessary to dial it up.
Management: Quantitative, Task, Control
Leadership: Qualitative, People, Influence
It’s cliché, but you manage stuff and you lead people.
Most of the time, newly promoted leaders still have their old job to do. It takes a little while for them to develop the team around and hand off their old duties to someone more appropriate. In the best-case scenarios, they have already developed their replacement and the team around them before the promotion.
Coaching is primarily performance-driven, helping individuals improve specific skills, achieve defined goals, or overcome challenges within a set timeframe. It is task-oriented and often short-term, ranging from a few months to a year, with measurable outcomes and structured sessions
Mentoring, on the other hand, is development-driven, focusing on broader career growth, personal development, and knowledge transfer. It is relationship-based, often informal, and typically long-term, lasting a year or more. Mentoring provides guidance, advice, and emotional support, helping mentees navigate career paths and build confidence.
Certified Executive Coaches are trained to ask questions, not to provide answers. They want to help the coached come to their own conclusions. My approach is more of a mentoring relationship. I will ask challenging questions, of course, but I also will provide context and real-life examples from my own personal experience. I want to help leaders decide on an approach with as much information as possible.
The two most important questions are:
If the answer is “no” to either (or both) of these questions, they won’t benefit from mentoring or coaching.
Yes, of course. No one who commits to the mentoring process will exist without some insight into how they can improve.
Lots of reasons: more money, less travel, a promotion, a move. These are the extrinsic reasons. The intrinsic reasons are more important: cultural misalignment, poor leadership/supervision, unhealthy social environments, and personal issues. Companies that pay attention to the intrinsic motivations and incentives will generally have higher retention rates.
It doesn’t happen by accident. Companies that have a strong leadership pipeline also have cultures that invest in leadership development. They provide opportunities for “ambitious” people to learn and grow and thrive. If you want one, we can build one. If you build one, they will come (it also worked in the movie, Field of Dreams).
Culture is a shared set of values, beliefs, customs, behaviors, and way of life for a group of people. Values drive behaviors, and those repeated and rewarded behaviors become culture. So, the first step is to make sure that there is clarity about what your company’s values are. Keep in mind that there could be a difference between what your aspirational values are versus what they are. Company culture improves when you distill your common values into a single believable set. To get us started, I’ve found the values of America’s most respected construction companies and created a list of values:
Interestingly, the firms differ in strategy and markets, but their cultural foundations are nearly identical. The strongest pattern is that they view safety, integrity, trust, people, and continuous improvement as the core drivers of long-term success.
Disengagement has a lot of sources, and it rarely happens because of a single issue. It is usually the result of unmet needs and a disconnect between the employee and the company.
The most common causes of disengagement include lack of recognition, poor management, limited career growth, lack of purpose or meaning, excessive workload and burnout, poor communication, lack of autonomy, unfair compensation or reward, toxic workplace culture, and lack of trust in the leadership.
Early Warning Signs of Disengagement (what managers should watch for):
If you see any of these signs you should drive engagement with some specific actions and re-organization.
Leadership succession takes time and the “best in class” contractors consider it a strategic imperative. They create a culture of leadership development, where everyone creates a successor (or two). Assessments are used to provide self-awareness and understanding. They also provide robust leadership development at every level of the organization from foremen/field all the way up to the C-Suite.
Most executives have a “gut feeling” about who their future leaders are. They should trust their intuition, of course, but also add some leadership “data” to their decision. Leadership is more than a “job description”. I like to assess for self-awareness and leadership approach (using several different leadership and personality assessment tools). Then the executive should watch and observe the emerging leader. Do they build good working relationships with people at all levels? Can they prioritize tasks effectively for themselves and their team. When making decisions, do they consider all the factors? Are they good communicators? Do they understand the needs of all the different stakeholders, their personalities and their approach to them? Do they bring people together to solve problems and come up with new approaches and solutions? Does their team trust them? Are they emotionally intelligent? Leadership is more important than management. Companies will fail if they are missing.
Great companies have talented leadership teams. “Team” doesn’t just happen though. It is driven by the President/CEO. It’s an expectation. When your leadership team is struggling to collaborate, it is time to look in the mirror and self-reflect on what you are rewarding (and not “punishing”). I always ask about their incentives. Often financial or corporate incentives create competition instead of collaboration. It’s the President/CEO’s job to make sure that the leadership team is rewarded for working together and helping each other. Sometimes there is a personality conflict or misfit on the team. A good dose of self-awareness and coaching can help here. The best way to ensure that collaboration will occur is to create a culture that enjoys it and systems to measure and recognize it.
Foremen and project managers are “underserved” groups when it comes to leadership development. These folks, especially the foremen, are at the “tip of the spear” when it comes to company profitability. It is disappointing when I don’t see any talent development investment for these groups. It is one of the best investments any company can make and will provide the greatest return on investment for the company. Better project performance and higher engagement and retention are typical lagging indicators that we can measure.
Construction is my primary focus (all sectors and types of contractors). The leadership and developmental content, including the experiential learning exercises, can be transferred to any industry.
Every leadership “program” is designed to achieve specific, strategic goals. My favorite question is, “what are you trying to achieve and how can I help to get your field, pms, directors/vps to deliver it more effectively?” I design programs to deliver results.
Strategic planning and business planning. Facilitating sessions to help leaders to understand the strengths and weaknesses within their company, and the opportunities and threats for their company with consideration for the current and future context they are working in. We create a 7-year vision, a year one-and-90-day plan with actionable steps with accountability and metrics.
We can decide on a topic and get it on the calendar.
Most of the mentoring and leadership coaching is done remotely. The initial feedback is usually done in person, followed by a regular cadence of phone and “Zoom” calls.
I do, but probably not in the traditional sense. Good coaching asks great questions. I believe in that. But sometimes people don’t need questions, they need perspective. I enjoy listening, sharing what I’m seeing, offering practical options, and helping people move forward. That’s why I’ve always felt more like a mentor than a coach.
I don’t like to be “typical” so I would prefer to create programs for the goals and results my clients are wanting to achieve. Of course, I have some development “models” for foremen, project managers and executives that we can apply to initiate the development discussion.
I would like to think that I can help any company or any leader, but there are some common denominators to the best working relationships. If you don’t really care about your people, we will not be a good fit. I genuinely care about what I do and how I do it. My motivation is always to help.
