Category Archives: Team-Building

Transportation and Infrastructure Executive Daily Operations: a Generic Outline and Primer

28 Friday Dec 2018

Posted by in Collaboration, Leadership, Learning and Success, Management, Results, Team-Building, Transportation, Trust

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Executive leadership requires a complete and evolving set of tools, including maintaining a big picture perspective and delving into details as necessary. This spectrum of leadership, management, and oversight manifests itself in daily activities. As such, I have borrowed from my own experience in developing the generic outline below for conducting daily activities. Every person develops their own unique daily routines. Thus, I emphasize that this is simply a generic outline and primer based on my own experience.

Leadership Style

People-Based, Results-Driven

A basic premise

Opportunity + Preparation = Success

Personnel Management

People-based: You lead people and manage things, but it is all about people: first who, then what (Good to Great).

  • “feedback loops” and continuous improvement
  • trust
  • relationships
  • collaboration
  • alignment
  • humility
  • listening
  • common courtesy
  • consistent communication

What’s most important? Employees. Select the right people, set the right expectations, provide the right tools and training, provide opportunities, help them succeed and develop leaders. They will take care of the clients. “We listen, we solve.”

Overall, set the vision, values, direction, culture, priorities, and coach within a framework where people can flourish.

Results-driven

  • “feedback loops” and continuous improvement
  • strategic plan: goals and performance measures
  • the future of transportation is at a “tipping point”
    • public-private partnerships (ramped up collaboration)
    • digital technology revolution

Daily Operations

  • “feedback loops” and continuous improvement
  • outreach to employees, clients, client’s clients, stakeholders and partners
  • ensure trust/relationships
  • ensure collaboration
  • leverage emerging technologies
  • ensure alignment
  • identify issues, problems, obstacles and fix them: continuous improvement

Goals

  • routine goals:
    • ensure linkage to strategic/long-term and near-term goals
    • balance everything against risks
    • do an assessment of employees, new and existing clients, stakeholders and partners
  • new goals to consider:
    • expand market share with existing clients…understand client interests and issues, win work, exceed expectations, repeat clients
    • develop new clients and expand transportation (roads, bridges, rail, transit, aviation, ports etc), through planning, design, construction management, CEI, program and project management, and other services as the preferred provider, including through staff augmentation
    • be a tier 1 provider of planning, design, construction, operations, maintenance, and support services
    • build image-increase visibility with various interests, including existing and new clients-legislatures, city councils, county commissions, transportation commissions, dots, aeronautics/airports, economic developers and departments, emergency management, AGC/contractors, ACEC/consultants, ASCE, AASHTO, ARTBA, ITSA, ATA, APWA, PMI, IHEEP, universities/colleges, MPOs, ACO/counties, LOM/cities, UP, BNSF, short line railroads, USDOT, FHWA, FAA, FTA, FRA, USACE, and others
    • assess the efficacy of acquisitions/mergers
    • support and collaborate with other line business sectors
    • monitor and assist growing bridge programs…design and construction
    • assess the efficacy of alternative delivery…DB, CMGC, PPP
    • assess economic stimulus of work…jobs created, taxes generated, spending/re-spending, etc
    • prepare, emphasize and execute sustainability across all business sectors
    • explore/expand:
      • teaming with contractors, consultants, and others-collaborate to win business
      • efficacy of targeted acquisitions/mergers
      • efficacy of new markets

The world is changing and we must change with it. Traditional engineering and construction are not enough.

Commit to the success of team, organization, clients, partners, and stakeholders.

Good to Great by Jim Collins, 2001, HarperBusiness, NY

A Few Common Foundational Elements of Leadership and Management

08 Monday Feb 2016

Posted by in Leadership, Management, Relationships, Team-Building

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Below are some common foundational elements of leadership and management. This is primarily “a top of mind” list based on my experience. This list is neither comprehensive nor unique to me.

Leadership matters—people-based, results-driven; provide direction, remove obstacles; be accountable and responsible for everything that does or does not happen; take blame; give credit; be action-oriented; lead change; systematize; develop leaders; be authentic—to thine own self be true

Know the business

Know the industry

Attract and retain talent and build the team—they are the ones that get the results

Relationships matter—trust, transparency and alignment

Communicate a lot, especially listen

Collaborate constantly

Delegate authority and responsibility (accountability cannot be delegated)

Don’t tolerate micromanagement or bureaucratic nonsense

Focus on a clear and simple mission

Focus on results (outcomes), not process—oriented on a few, simple, elegant performance measures that drive the mission

Focus on continuous improvement

Focus on evidence-based decision-making

Be frugal—spend money as though it is your own

Leverage technology, and allow for changes in technology

Develop economies of scale

Develop feedback loops

Develop simple, elegant, consistent messaging

Develop simple, actionable focused reports

Balance everything against risks

Balance change, directives and control with empowerment, delegation, trust and relationships

Recognize individual and team success—this raises them as an example to others and themselves

Always use simple courtesy and appreciation—say thank you

Celebrate success and have fun

Feel free to add other items to this list or develop your own list of leadership and management foundational elements. What’s important is to be mindful of the foundational elements that work for you so that you can reflect and improve them. Leadership and management are aspirational goals that are never achieved or finished.

“Leadership is an opportunity to serve. It is not a trumpet call to self-importance.”

-J. Donald Waters

“Leadership cannot really be taught. It can only be learned.”

-Harold S. Geneen

“The leader is one who mobilizes others toward a goal shared by leaders and followers… Leaders, followers and goals make up the three equally necessary supports for leadership.”

-Gary Willis