Enhancing Management and Leadership

29 April 2021

Parlour’s Work & Wellbeing survey increases understanding of the impacts of the pandemic on Australian architecture. What are the opportunities to improve and change leadership and management in the profession? What might that mean for practices? Anwyn Hocking continues to unpack the answers to the open questions, identifying the core themes around management and leadership, and assembling key advice.

An organisation’s management and leadership are instrumental to employees’ wellbeing and professional development. This article explores some of the recurring practical advice on developing more effective management and leadership offered by the 1,883 survey respondents. It is a companion to the earlier article outlining suggestions for enhancing workplace communication. Considering that 96% of the respondents indicated that they would like to see substantial permanent improvements following COVID-19, there is much to learn from the summary below of suggestions from those engaged in architecture and built environment professions.

1. Develop and provide leadership training

Employers and employees proposed training programs to encourage senior staff to enhance their communication skills, management styles, empathy, patience and understanding of wellbeing. As one participant suggested, “more training around managerial and leadership skills” would allow leaders to develop the necessary “ability to delegate efficiently” and gain a greater understanding of “how to invest in time for communication and check-ins”.

The importance of including education around mental health within such leadership training was a common theme. Enabling team leaders to “to know when and how to assess mental health and when not to be invasive” would, as another respondent put it, help leaders “engage as humans with their employees”.

One respondent – a practice director – captured a recent event in which mental health awareness and training had aided them in their strategy with a staff member.

“For instance, one of our staff ‘appeared’ to be having a less-than-happy time. As he was meant to be going overseas at the time, we encouraged him and his partner to have a break (paid). He has done that and stuck his head into my place the other day and seemed much chirpier. But sometimes, it is hard for us to gauge online, and, as I said, know when to intervene. We are trying to be as observant as possible and to include it as an agenda item in our directors’ meetings. Of course, this is always (NOT just COVID). It’s a challenge to:

1. 1. See if someone is struggling for any reason outside specific work issues.
   2. Have the right methods to broach the subject.
   3. Hope they can see it themselves and/or be able to talk about it openly.
   4. Find the right mechanism to support without being invasive …

We also use some of the [named practice] methods in weekly team meetings of catching up on social and personal events before we review project status and office updates.”

Armed with knowledge and skills, Respondents reminded us that good leaders are armed with knowledge and skills, and “lead by example – practising good work-life balance, and acting with good personal and professional management”.

2. Increase diversity at leadership levels

Stop rewarding the same type of people to lead the profession. It’s really becoming boring. Look outside the square.

Respondents urged the necessity of extending workplace gender, cultural and life circumstance equity to leadership levels. By fostering “efforts and advocacy in areas of diversity and equality in leadership”, organisations would be able to respond “to the real issues of our diverse community”. As one participant recommended, we need to “recognise that a lot of people work very hard with little or no recognition or career advancement because of their gender, ethnicity or work-life situation and are not what is falsely or commonly perceived as ‘leadership material’.”

Many participants hoped that the COVID-19-inspired acceptance and shift towards flexible work arrangements would also enable a greater diversity of people with different work habits and life circumstances to participate in “leadership and shareholder levels”.

3. Trust, respect and support staff

Respondents indicated that trusting and respecting the autonomy of staff as individuals and professionals is critical to supporting employee wellbeing. The recommendations for building respect between employees and employers often argued for a review of archaic hierarchical models of leadership. As one participant said, “seriously contemplate a shift from a hierarchical command and control management style to a more flexible style of support and encouragement, where staff are allowed a sense of autonomy and to feel as if they are valuable contributors to the process of design. Recognise that individual styles and personalities respond to different working arrangements and that there is benefit in allowing these to be explored and integrated.”

Another described “exploding the hierarchical and conservative inefficiencies of the industry” by genuinely supporting “creative and inspirational research/work, matching skills deliverables and not getting hung up on titles over genuine cultural development.”

4. Clearly define roles/responsibilities and resource effectively

Employees can’t do their job efficiently if the directions and objectives are unclear. Overwhelmingly, participants described the need for “clear, effective communication regarding tasks” and “better understanding of the timeframes involved to get a thing done to avoid work hour creep.”

Some respondents indicated that this could be achieved through “better data management systems,” including “project teams in design discussions and decisions, by making it participatory not imposing” and involving “directors in design reviews at early stages of design work”.