Developing skills to lead infrastructure projects

This past week one of the major headlines was the delay of planning permission for the Lower Thames Crossing project. It’s not the first delay, and likely won’t be the last either, and it’s frustrating for all involved.

Already more than £300 million has been spent over several years, just developing the feasibility of the project. Not to mention that the need to develop better road infrastructure in the area was identified more than a decade ago.

There seems to be a bit of an obsession about crossing every t and dotting every i, before moving forward on major infrastructure projects in the UK. It’s frustrating for construction leaders that want to get on with building the solutions for the problems they see in front of them.  Yet it seems to be the nature of developing infrastructure in the UK. Nothing happens as planned. Delays and project overruns, they’re one of the few constants that can be counted on.

Given this, tenacity and resilience are an unspoken requirements for leading infrastructure projects and driving them forward despite the obstacles. What are the specific skills that professionals can develop to help them achieve this?

Co-ordination

It may seem obvious that any major project requires detailed co-ordination between stakeholders and their respective responsibilities. This is a skill that is usually developed over time working in project management roles, but it starts with an innate ability to think of small details while still seeing the big picture. Practicing this on smaller tasks can help you build up the skills needed to co-ordinate bigger projects more effectively.

Communication

This is not just about being able to share the details of a project in an accurate way. It’s about being able to sell an idea and why it’s the best solution for the stakeholders involved. Communication requires active listening to understand what the concerns and objections might be. When these are directly and accurately addressed, it can help win over stakeholders and move a project forward.

Negotiation

It’s rare that stakeholders will agree on everything even if they have the same end goal of making the project a success. The ability to negotiate requires careful listening to what is being said and what is not, understanding priorities, and being able to think of ways of getting these priorities to align.

Innovation

With inflation and productivity a challenge in infrastructure projects, innovation is necessary to make them succeed. Finding new materials or methods is important as is leveraging technology to create efficiencies.