3 Min

The 4 Skill Buckets in Construction

Every role in construction draws on four main types of skills in which our communication is drawn from (or falls into):

• Physical / Mechanical – the hands-on actions (drilling, cutting, lifting, writing, standing).

• Technical – the know-how (using software like P6, Excel, Asta, SureTrek—or even something as simple as printing a form or connecting to the internet).

• Management – organizing things and processes (sequencing tasks, building schedules, allocating manhours, setting priorities).

• Leadership – working with people (communicating expectations, motivating crews, building trust, creating accountability and respect).

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The Common Confusion: Management vs. Leadership

• Physical and Technical skills are usually easy to identify and separate.

• Management and Leadership, however, are frequently confused and often become convoluted.

It is important to be clear:

• Management and Leadership are not the same thing.

• Both are important and useful in their own right, and both are needed to be successful in our work.

Here’s the critical distinction:

• You manage things and processes (budgets, schedules, subcontracts).

• You lead people (crews, subcontractors, clients).

Think of it this way: You manage the subcontract, but you lead the subcontractors.

Take the task of Scheduling, for example:

• Physical / Mechanical: typing into the software, writing, printing.

• Technical: knowing how to use the scheduling software or tools.

• Management: building the plan—who goes where, when, and in what order.

• Leadership: communicating that plan, getting buy-in, motivating crews to do it safely and productively, and strengthening relationships.