"It was nice speaking with someone who could give me an independent perspective on the construction packages I am considering."
- Jacob Patton, All State Electrical

The Importance of Leadership Skills in Software Selection

By Sheldon Needle

What is a leader?
A leader is someone who organizes and manages various resources to achieve a specific goal.

Let’s take a look at some of the notable qualities of a leader

Decisive - doesn’t endlessly contemplate pros and cons but is willing to make decisions
Willing to take a stand – challenges the status quo, takes a position even if it’s not politically correct
Trust themselves - Confident but not arrogant
Persistent – knows and trusts their instincts to keep moving toward their goal
Knows what they don’t know – does not fear asking for help when they need it
Inspires confidence – people follow because they lead with a sense of authority

In one word, we might just say someone with courage.

Where would the world be today without the courageous actions of individuals like Roosevelt, Churchill, Eisenhower and Martin Luther King? The potential impact of a single individual on world events is truly a wondrous thing.

What does all this have to do with a successful software project? Everything!

The fact is that a software selection project for a company of any size, is a pretty complex exercise. It involves a great deal of research, decision making and convincing to make it ultimately successful.

Think about it, you can be right about 10 different things regarding a construction software selection project and still fail. Here are some notable situations that happen every day

Buy good software which is poorly set up
Buy good software but staff , for their own personal agenda, refuses to use it
Buy good software and have poor training or inadequate support from the vendor
Recommend good software but have the recommendation overturned for political reasons
Buy cheap, inadequate software due to an unrealistic budget
Make a good decision on what to buy but fail at convincing management that it is a good choice

Leadership and You

A smart CEO will choose a good leader, and not just a good technologist, when embarking on a complex construction software selection project. This individual, along with committee members, have to be masters of many disciplines and have the absolute trust of management. Otherwise there may be endless starts and stops to the project due to the unwritten lack of will to run the project the right way. The result will be a great deal of time wasted by the vendor and the prospective buyer playing “pretend” that he/she is a serious candidate for new software.

We see construction software selection projects run by summer interns, inexperienced network administrators, and others who simply lack the detailed understanding required to successfully navigate a construction software selection project that may involve the rigorous disciplines of general contracting, construction management, service management and/or project management.

We often speak with individuals who are tasked with finding a good software solution but are operating with one hand tied due to unrealistic budgets and /or timetables, lack of expertise, wavering management commitment and the like.

Unfortunately, those issues will be seen as excuses and won’t save the person who is given responsibility for the project. Software failure will always be laid at his/her feet so they may as well take a stand and insist that things be done right or not at all.

Summary

Choosing new construction software for your construction company is a challenge if you want to find the very best solution appropriate to your size, needs and budget. Management must be alert to the challenges and invest in a competent leader to assure a successful outcome.

Free Construction Software Selection Kit

Detailed reviews of leading construction software packages, including functionality specifics, module-by-module benefits; and system strengths and weaknesses

Side-by-side rating comparisons for 1,000 features to compare program performance

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