Having management skills helps you employable readily in any field. But, in the construction industry, you must have excellent management skills to succeed in the project goal.
There is a massive amount of money, human resources and different types of equipment involved in a construction project within a short period. Hence, not only construction managers but also all construction workers should have necessary management skills to complete work effectively and efficiently.
Necessary Management Skills for Construction Workers:
- Technical Skills
- Conceptual Skills
- Human or Interpersonal Skills
Construction Managers
As one might expect, construction managers manage certain aspects of a construction project. Aspects such as the planning, coordinating, budget, and supervision of a specific construction project. They tend to stay on board for the project from the beginning stages of a construction project until completion.
They usually negotiate prices, apply strategies, interpret information, report on work to higher-ups, collaborate with others, make adjustments, supervise, hire people, understand certain legal requirements in the project, and much more.
Since the job has such an overwhelming amount of tasks involved with it, there are a ton of construction management skills every construction manager should have. Down below are 12 construction management skills they should have.
12 Construction Management Skills
As noted, below is a list of 12 construction management skills you must have. There are a plethora of management skills you should have, some of which aren’t listed in this article. However, this is a general list of key skills you need before anything else.
1. Being Able to Arrange
There are a ton of moving parts within a construction project. Every construction manager should have the ability to be able to arrange all of the moving parts. Otherwise, the entire project will fall through.
2. Being a Leader
Since they’re looked as the leaders behind a construction project, natural-born leadership is an important role in the management perspective. No one will work their full potential if they don’t respect the person they have to work with.
3. The Ability to Schedule Everything
Since a construction project may take months or even years to complete, scheduling is a major part behind it all. So much so that daily scheduling is thoroughly looked at in the industry.
As a construction manager, their job is to be able to make schedules. Such as when specific parts are coming in, what the task is for the day, and much more.
4. Making Sure to Follow the Budget
Since construction projects are so expensive, it’s important for construction managers to be able to understand the budget behind them and to not go overboard. If they can’t follow a budget properly, they may overspend or underspend which will greatly affect the process.
5. Understanding Risks
Risks are a major factor in this industry. Understanding the risk of not only the safety concerns of day to day operation but the risk of not ordering a specific material or waiting to do something. All of which play an important role in the risks involved in the industry.
Something that is heavily looked at in the industry and is highlighted by a construction project.
6. Managing Employees and Suppliers
A construction project can have a ton of employees behind it. As a construction manager, their job is to manage all of the employees under them. By not only managing them, but understanding the entire daily tasks involved in a company.
Other than employees, the ability to manage suppliers is just as important in the industry. Without the proper suppliers, a construction project can fall apart.
7. Adaptive Way of Thinking
Issues and changes are very common throughout the entire process of a construction project. Because of this, adaptiveness is important for a construction manager. As the leader of the construction team, people will look to them as to how they can adapt to certain scenarios.
8. Having Great Communication
Since they’re looked as the main people to talk to in the entire process, great communication is extremely important for the job.
Needing to communicate is the most important aspect of the job. Issues, positive feedback, accomplishments, and much more require great communication.
9. Being Able to Properly Teach People
Since they’re looked at as the natural leaders of a construction project, they’re also looked at as the people who teach others. People who may end up becoming in their position in the industry need to get the proper training to become in that situation.
Basically, just like they were trained, they need to properly train their future coworkers. Other than that, they might be expected to train newcomers on the project.
10. Having the Ability to Be Positive
Since construction projects deal with a ton of issues, the ability to remain positive is an important one in the industry.
This is due to the fact that no one will want to work for someone who always looks at the negative and is downer about every situation. The reality is that the job requires a realistic approach with a sense of optimism.
11. Not Afraid to Enforce Rules
Although optimism is an important aspect for the job, the need to enforce rules is just as important. If a supplier is repeatedly late, a worker is slacking off, or something else that needs a bit of enforcement, the construction manager is looked at to enforce these rules.
A manager who doesn’t have the ability to enforce rules will be looked as someone who can get taken advantage of. Something that shouldn’t be looked at for a manager.
12. Meeting Managing
Since construction projects have a ton of preparation and work behind them, they tend to have a lot of meetings. As a construction manager, they’re in charge of managing all of the meetings.
Not having the ability to properly manage certain meetings will lead to a negative situation. Negative situations are something that should be completely avoided in all work environments, especially in the construction industry.
Conclusion
Construction managers play a vital role in the construction industry. As noted, aspects such as the planning, coordinating, budget, and supervision of a specific construction project fall into the hands of the manager.
Besides that, they need to have a certain skill set in order to be completely suitable for their job. The 12 skills listed in this article are some of the most important skills they should have. Besides the skills listed in this article, there are a ton of skills needed for a proper construction manager.
However, the general list in this article highlights some of the most needed skills for the job. Something every construction company needs in order to perform perfectly.
