The latest digital innovations and methodologies are changing how construction pros perform in their respective roles. Just last year, Marzia Bolpagni of Mace introduced five main concepts that people in the construction sector should master to stay competitive and relevant in the upcoming years.
As a construction professional yourself, how broad is your skillset? Are you continuously improving your skills? What about your construction team? Are they equipped with the right skillset?
In this blog, we will cover five top construction skills and leave you with some tips that can ultimately help you sharpen your skillset and also your crew members. A broad skillset is crucial, especially now that the industry is ever-changing and expanding.
So, let’s start.
Upskilling is Crucial to Construction Industry
Mastering new skills or upskilling is an important movement in the construction industry, especially since everything is becoming more digitized and streamlined. As a project leader, you should commit to continuously developing and expanding your capacities through mastering new skills.
Advances in technologies today have made learning new skills necessary for construction management and the whole industry. Technology like construction management software add-ons, BIM, drones, construction robots, wearables, and AI data analysis tools are continuously advancing to make construction more efficient, increase safety, improve design, and reduce costs.
Below are other similar benefits you will gain if you keep on mastering new skills:
- Address skill gaps: For instance, soft skills like problem-solving and leadership and hard skills like data analysis are difficult to import. If you and your team are already equipped with this skill set, for sure, skill gaps are no longer an issue.
- Increased employee retention: Pushing your people to upgrade their skills makes them feel more valued. As a result, it increases loyalty to your company.
- Attract new talents: Upskilling proves that your company supports growth and ambition.
- Gain a competitive advantage: You will be first in the line once everyone knows that you and your people have the best skillset and experience in the field.
At its core, upskilling is important in turning people into becoming more knowledgeable and building new competencies that relate to their respective roles. Whether you are a business leader or a project manager, make sure to take action in learning and mastering new skills for the sake of your competency and your people.
Key Construction Skills to Master in 2023
Below, we present five key concepts that a construction professional like you should focus on this 2023. We hope you will learn a thing or two.
1. Soft skills for construction leadership
The necessity for soft skills will be around, even with the increasing adoption of technologies in the construction sector. If anything, they are becoming more crucial as a high level of automation and efficiency enhancements become the new normal.
Though all soft skills are vital for you and your construction team, we are focusing on the top three:
- Critical Thinking: A must-have skill for all construction professionals. With the number of subs participating in a project, quickly adapting to all changes is a vital construction skill.
- Communication: When it comes to communication, both verbal and non-verbal is important. This skill set applies to every single one in the construction industry. In some cases, miscommunication may cause mistakes and delays; however, in the worst-case scenarios, it may cause injuries and miscommunication on the job site.
- Conflict management: This skill earned the top three for the most important skill for construction pros. And it is for a good reason – no construction project ever runs perfectly. So, knowing how to make the right decisions on the spot can mean a big difference between a completed construction project and a disastrous one.
2. Lean and agile job skillsets for project leaders
As a construction pro, you should adapt and embrace the new approaches and technologies being incorporated into construction management. As multiple construction sites move more towards another side of things, it is crucial to understand and adopt the agile and lean methodologies being implemented in the construction sector.
Lean construction skills comprise these basic concepts – designing, planning, and scheduling your construction work significantly and minimizing construction waste.
3. Modern construction methods and building skills
Another reason construction professionals like you should learn new skills is due to the increasingly innovative techniques of modern construction methods today. The set of skills you and the rest of your team should learn includes the following:
- Knowing how to work with modular construction practices efficiently.
- Knowing how to take advantage of the latest construction management software extensions.
- Learning the nitty-gritty of construction robotics.
- The right implementation of offsite manufacturing strategies.
- And more.
Basically, when you are equipped with this skillset, you can minimize your labor costs, enhance the overall quality of construction, and quicken the delivery of your construction projects. Acquiring this construction skillset is integral as you move forward with a goal in mind.
4. Reality capture as a top construction skill
As the construction sector develops new ways to capture real-time information via the latest technologies, such as drones and construction management software extensions, learning how to utilize these tools is a vital job skill. While knowing how to use the tools is important, having the skill to handle data is another skill to learn. Ensure your team knows how to deal with all sorts of data and has the skills to act upon it.
As for reality capture, it goes hand in hand with the last skill on the list, which we will cover next.
5. Construction Scheduling Software
Over the last few years, construction management software tools have become a buzzword in the industry. And finally, it is the best time to recognize what it means for construction professionals and business leaders in the industry.
Once and for all, the future of construction is significantly driven by data. And to obtain the data, all construction pros need to make enhancements in the information and communication management – and construction time tracking software is an enabling factor.
When it comes to learning and mastering new skills this 2023, adopting project management-driven processes is one of the great ways to improve information and project management, allowing every project stakeholder to share and act on data in real-time.
Other Construction Skills to Upgrade
We just cited the above key construction skills you need to master. Now, here are other skills that you are already familiar with but need to be upgraded. Do not settle for less; keep improving your existing capacity to remain competitive and stay ahead of the game.
1. Physical Strength and Stamina
A skilled construction professional is expected to perform multiple tasks simultaneously. This alone requires you and your team to do extensive physical labor, including climbing, bending, digging, lifting, and operating hand and power tools. So, make sure to train your construction crews to level up their physical strength and stamina.
2. Manual dexterity and Coordination
In addition to physical strength, construction professionals should have excellent hand-eye Coordination, can move their hands quickly, and be capable of grasping and assembling objects with two hands. A lot of jobs often require standing, sitting, or lying down. So, skilled construction pros should muss multi-limb Coordination and the ability to work with both arms or with one leg and one arm.
3. Strong Reading and Math Skills
It is also vital for all skilled construction professionals and even laborers in all trades to be extra attentive to the specifications of a project. In fact, being able to read, analyze, and interpret blueprints and other work-related files is a very important skill.
Possessing great math skills is essential in calculating angles and measurements and determining accurate adjustments.
4. Building and Mechanical Knowledge
Skilled construction professionals must be familiar with building materials and other resources. They also need to have a great experience using tools often involved in the job – construction, restoration of buildings, and repair of buildings and other structures.
In addition, a skilled construction professional should also have experience in using mechanical tools, operating machines, and maintaining equipment.
Pro Crew Schedule is a Game Changer!
More and more construction professionals finally realize that they need reliable construction software that can make things easier, whether to track projects, handle critical data, manage people, or even master new skills.
Get started with Pro Crew Schedule – a top-rated crew scheduling software that provides an all-in-one collaborative environment between all parties involved. What makes Pro Crew Schedule different from the rest is that it has integrated project management and inventory management features. Ultimately, it also provides the means for standardizing all your construction processes and workflows.
By deploying this cloud-enabled software, you can reap numerous benefits like:
- Increased multidisciplinary team coordination
- · Optimized quality of construction project deliverables
- Faster project delivery and better time management
- More improved efficiency and productivity
- Fewer project delays and errors, with less information loss
- Minimized project costs and higher ROI
Pro Crew Schedule is your perfect go-to project management solution.
