Perspectives

Stop giving orders! Project managers should coach on site: industry veteran

When he was rising up through the ranks, Dave Stitt thought he had to be the toughest, meanest and bossiest person on site (Courtesy of DSA Building)
Dave Stitt FCIOB used to be hard as nails.

A civil engineer, he came into the industry as a teenager and rose through the ranks at big UK contractors Taylor Woodrow, Birse, and Wates, thinking he had to be the toughest, meanest, and bossiest person on site.

Then he reformatted his style after he found himself leading culture-change programmes at national construction firms.

Now, he coaches construction leadership teams on team-building and people skills, and is convinced that construction managers should stop giving orders on site.

Instead, they should coach.

But how do you do that, and won’t it lead to chaos?

Hear him make his case on the 21CC Podcast, below. Story starts at 19 minutes, 21 seconds.

Story for GCR? Get in touch via email: [email protected]

Latest articles in Perspectives