Construction’s traditional “heroic” style of leadership is no longer fit for purpose, according to an Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) review of major project delivery. The ICE’s second iteration of its A Systems Approach to Infrastructure Delivery report outlines eight principles for project clients to implement to ensure major projects are delivered on time and budget.
It takes lessons from five projects at various stages of delivery including Crossrail, Tideway, East West Rail, British Antarctic Survey’s Infrastructure Modernisation Programme and Anglian Water’s Strategic Pipeline Alliance. The ICE also looked at the way Costain has implemented a systems approach to project delivery.
One of the main recommendations is an overhaul of outdated leadership models. The report concludes: “Leadership was a recurring theme across all of the case study interviews and roundtable sessions that made up the second phase of the review.
“Construction’s traditional, ‘heroic’ style of leadership is not fit for purpose for modern infrastructure projects, but the solution is not to introduce swathes of new controls and processes either.
“Instead, the sector needs to adopt leadership models that spread authority and empower highly competent individuals to take the key decisions in their areas of a project, while ensuring that everyone involved is focused on maintaining the integrity of the system to deliver the outcome demanded by its users and owners.”