Angela Gismondi
Special to Ontario Construction News
Female leaders in the construction industry provided some candid advice for future generations during the CEO Breakfast event at The Buildings Show, held recently in Toronto.
In a session billed Supporting the Next Generation of Women Leaders, held at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre Dec. 5, Lidia Di Maria, vice-president, national commercial project management and construction at BentallGreenOak, said it’s important to have confidence and not second guess yourself.
“Fake it ‘til you make it,” she told the soldout crowd at the annual event hosted by the Toronto Construction Association and Procore.
“You don’t need to know everything. It’s OK to say I’m going to get back to you on that and go away, figure it out and come back.”
Merrill Fung, vice president of architecture and design, development, The Cadillac Fairview Corporation Limited, talked about how to balance family and a career.
“It’s not easy … the truth is you can’t do it all,” she stated. You need to ask people for help and you need to accept it. I find the challenge is we’re in a position where we tell people we can do it, we’re high performers and we’re here to achieve things, we want to make sure people are happy about it, and yet if you’re not happy at home it doesn’t work well.”
One of the most valuable lessons Krystal Davey, senior vice-president – corporate operations, Bothwell-Accurate, learned early in her career came from an unexpected source: the controller in the accounting department.
“I was just starting to become part of the leadership group and I was really struggling with every time we had a problem, I didn’t know how to tackle the problem without offending people,” she recalled. “She said something important to me that I’ve carried with me, ‘attack problems not people.’”
“If you don’t do that, you do kind of end up with a workforce that is always afraid they are going to say something wrong, do something wrong and then no one actively contributes,” she added.
Sarah Heppinstall, vice president design, construction and facilities, Canadian Tire Corporation, said many women in leadership roles struggle with imposter syndrome.
“Every job I got I’ve been asked to apply,” she explained. “They had to convince me to apply because my imposter syndrome is so real. I have talked myself out of thinking I can do the job and thinking I’m going to get fired because they’re going to find out that I don’t know what I’m doing.”
Something that helps her is to do positive reflections on her interactions at the end of the day, she said.
In terms of advice for the younger generation with aspirations to move up to senior leadership, Di Maria said it’s important to be present in the office. There is no course that’s going to teach you how to be the best manager, she added.
“It’s experience, it problem-solving…those are all learned from your surroundings, from being in-person,” said Di Maria. “You have go to the office and learn and get mentored from other people. That’s what’s going to put you ahead of anybody else that is permanently working from home.”
Fung said delivering is also important.
“Be present, be seen and be heard but make sure you have to deliver, because if you don’t deliver you’re just creating noise and nuisance,” she said.
Tania Skapura, senior manager, business development, Bothwell-Accurate, who moderated the session, had a final piece of advice for future leaders in the industry.
“Great leaders, they build people, not just projects,” she stated.