In a rapidly changing construction environment, leadership is no longer defined solely by titles or adherence to regulations. It is demonstrated daily through presence, engagement, and listening skills. With the advancement of technology, organizations can now benchmark and ultimately transform traditional planning best practices into learning opportunities, providing a means to measure and educate intentional leadership development.
Drawing on authentic dialogue from the field, we can examine how visibility, trust, and technology are converging to foster a liberating culture of high support and high challenge, resulting in better operational outcomes and reduced exposure to rework and incidents.
Field Leadership and Budget Responsibility
Field leadership is typically responsible for approximately 30 percent of the overall construction budget.1 On a $100 million project, this means field leaders directly influence about $30 million in project spending. Despite this significant responsibility, leadership development efforts within the construction industry have historically focused on executives, leaving field leaders relying on personal experience to develop critical management and communication skills.
This oversight presents a substantial organizational risk: Companies may fail to cultivate leadership behaviors, decision-making capabilities, and accountability structures essential to effectively manage a large share of their budgets. Construction companies that invest in field leadership development as both a best practice and a proactive risk prevention strategy ensure that leadership excellence extends beyond the boardroom to the jobsite.
Why Field Leadership Matters
Field leadership is a key component of operational outcomes and the overall success of a project. The construction industry has always measured safety performance using lagging indicators, such as incident rates and costs. However, numbers alone don't reveal how people communicate expectations, transfer knowledge, and prepare for the work. True transformation occurs when management can see and hear what is transpiring in the field.
Amplifying the field leader's communication is an attribute that
adds value and enhances project success, which occurs by reimagining the Job Hazard
Analysis process. Moving toward a Daily Planning Conversation (DPC), while
simultaneously implementing a robust field leadership development program, the Field
Safety Leader (FSL) process of Jordan Foster Construction (JFC) reveals the
correlation between intentional field leadership development and operational
excellence, creating one of the most valuable key initiatives in construction risk
management.
Reimagining Daily Planning as Leadership Practice
JFC reached a turning point when we realized that daily planning was more than toolbox talks and checklists. It was an opportunity to practice leadership at scale—to coach, communicate, and learn. Over the last several years, JFC has reestablished our FSL program, where we identify leaders without formal titles and recruit them for a unique experience. Throughout the course of a year, candidates are immersed in a curriculum of safety best practices, combined with Giant Worldwide Leadership's best practices, which are established to foster the culture expected in the field.
Through the FSL program, field leaders learned about their
communication tendencies and patterns, their natural personality type, and skills to
develop a more intentional leadership style, helping them grow into better
communicators and, ultimately, leaders worth following. Field leader graduates can
become a key part of the leadership pipeline, integrating the program into revamped
career pathway processes. By shifting focus from graphs and checklists to
communication and dialogue, space for authentic connection is created.
The Power of Listening: Voices from the Field
Armed with the SmartTag It app (www.factorlab.com) and an iPhone, FSL graduates can utilize this technology and integrate a video while completing their daily planning. The goal is to ensure that the crew not only has an understanding of work expectations but is also invited and encouraged to participate in the conversation. Leaders ask the crew to engage in dialogue and actively participate in discussing the daily plan. The byproduct of engaging the crew is that they become part of the conversation, which fosters respect and trust.
Building Learning Organizations Through AI
Technology has finally caught up with the aspirations of risk and safety leadership. Artificial intelligence (AI) tools identify patterns in language, engagement, and focus that were previously invisible. We can identify leaders who consistently balance scope, capacity, and safety—and coach others through examples. AI-powered summaries, coaching insights, and benchmarking help transform data into growth. When forepersons read positive comments from divisional leaders to their crews, it builds recognition and trust, which are powerful forces in cultural change.
It seems evident that investing in behavior-based leadership education would have a positive impact on safety. Unfortunately, there was never a safety metric to validate the assumption. Researchers developed a framework called the "Simple Seven" components of a highly effective conversation, including the following.
Care. Do the leaders demonstrate authentic care and concern for crew well-being? Is there mutual trust and respect?
Planning. Are expectations for the day's work scope clearly articulated? Does the discussion go beyond surface-level hazard statements?
Hazards. Which specific hazards are identified? How thoroughly does the team analyze them?
Participant engagement. Is there a genuine two-way dialogue with multiple voices actively contributing?
Observer engagement. How invested is the supervisor in facilitating open discussion through thoughtful questions?
Question quality. Are insightful open-ended questions being asked to fully explore risks and controls?
High hazards. Are serious precursor conditions for potential fatalities and life-altering injuries being recognized?2
JFC risk management compared the Simple Seven components to the key FSL structure, which includes the following.
Mission. Develop safety knowledge and leadership skills to engage and mentor our field labor force.
Vision. Protect our workforce from harm and continuously elevate the JFC safety culture.
Values. Caring, servant leadership, passion for our work, engagement, and service to our crews and community.
Candidate profile. The ideal candidate is dedicated to the overall success of the JFC safety process. They must be willing to devote additional time to learning all aspects of safety while performing their current work duties.
Intended outcome. The field safety leader will become a trusted adviser for crews with the intention of raising awareness and increasing their individual safety focus. The knowledge and understanding that they gain will be passed on to their fellow crew members, enabling them to play an active role in ingraining safety into operational best practices.
The structure of the FSL program gains linguistic situational awareness and
the ability to use language to influence and lead safety behaviors, a core concept
in the Lens of Language Intelligence framework. These activities directly strengthen
the seven communication dimensions, creating a living model of the Simple Seven.
Table 1. Simple Seven/FSL Comparison
Simple Seven Component
FSL Equivalent Practice
Impact
Care
Servant leadership and trust-building
Creates psychological safety
Planning
Weekly meetings of threat hazard assessment leadership
Clear expectations and proactive safety
Hazards
Specialized safety training
Better hazard identification
Participant Engagement
Crew-led discussions
Inclusion and empowerment
Observer Engagement
Coaching and leadership development
Enhanced observation and mentoring
Question Quality
Giant worldwide leadership training
Thought-provoking, safety-driven dialogue
High Hazards
Immediately dangerous to life or health awareness and stop work support
Early risk recognition and prevention
Source: "Simple Seven/FSL Comparison," JFC Risk Management, 2025. Used with permission of JFC.
For the first time, risk management was able to utilize technology to measure and confirm that leaders who score high on care and respect for our field personnel perform better overall. Compared to over 1.2 million conversations, our field safety leaders score 20 percent higher than the benchmark, with 53 percent of leaders continuously improving their conversations over time.
Table 2. Smart Tag It Graph
Avg. Cumulative Score
Avg. % Rate of Change
# Improved Entity
% Improved Entity
# Improved Entity Last 10 Conversations
% Improved Entity Last 10 Conversations
FactorLab Population
19.7
5.5%
4,372
38%
4,637
40%
Filtered Population
23.7
2.6%
7
41%
9
53%
Source: "Smart Tag It Graph," JFC Risk Management, 2025. Used with permission of JFC.
Culture, Challenge, and Support
Every company envisions and defines its culture. Every project leader also multiplies a culture, whether by design or by default. Some dominate through fear and control, and others abdicate through apathy, while others protect through control. The goal is to cultivate a liberating leadership culture—one that fosters a culture of empowerment and opportunity.
Leadership involves a balance of high support and high challenge. When organizations provide both, people grow, turnover decreases, and rework dissipates. Without both, performance declines. Leadership isn't about telling others what to do; it's about creating conditions where people are part of the process, informed, and engaged to do their best work.
Case Insights: JFC
An example of this approach may prove helpful. One of our 15-year crew members was not initially visible in leadership discussions. When his superintendent engaged him in the DPC, everything changed. He embraced the process, began leading the conversations, asking questions, and addressing concerns. He was soon recognized by leadership and enrolled in the FSL program. Someone who may have been overlooked was recently promoted to the superintendent position.
Conclusion
The integration of AI and field insights provides new ways to observe and connect with people, elevating performance. But the essence remains human: connection, recognition, and growth. By defining cultural expectations, investing in field leadership development, and utilizing technology to mentor teams, we can create environments that amplify the culture we want. Intentional leadership protects profitability, ensures safety, and drives operational excellence.
Opinions expressed in Expert Commentary articles are those of the author and are not necessarily held by the author's employer or IRMI. Expert Commentary articles and other IRMI Online content do not purport to provide legal, accounting, or other professional advice or opinion. If such advice is needed, consult with your attorney, accountant, or other qualified adviser.
Footnotes
12023 Workforce Development and Training Report, Associated General Contractors of America, 2023.
2 Barry Nelson and Charles B. Pettinger, "The Lens of Language Intelligence: A New Perspective on Incident Prevention," Professional Safety, December 2024, pp. 39–45.
In a rapidly changing construction environment, leadership is no longer defined solely by titles or adherence to regulations. It is demonstrated daily through presence, engagement, and listening skills. With the advancement of technology, organizations can now benchmark and ultimately transform traditional planning best practices into learning opportunities, providing a means to measure and educate intentional leadership development.
Drawing on authentic dialogue from the field, we can examine how visibility, trust, and technology are converging to foster a liberating culture of high support and high challenge, resulting in better operational outcomes and reduced exposure to rework and incidents.
Field Leadership and Budget Responsibility
Field leadership is typically responsible for approximately 30 percent of the overall construction budget. 1 On a $100 million project, this means field leaders directly influence about $30 million in project spending. Despite this significant responsibility, leadership development efforts within the construction industry have historically focused on executives, leaving field leaders relying on personal experience to develop critical management and communication skills.
This oversight presents a substantial organizational risk: Companies may fail to cultivate leadership behaviors, decision-making capabilities, and accountability structures essential to effectively manage a large share of their budgets. Construction companies that invest in field leadership development as both a best practice and a proactive risk prevention strategy ensure that leadership excellence extends beyond the boardroom to the jobsite.
Why Field Leadership Matters
Field leadership is a key component of operational outcomes and the overall success of a project. The construction industry has always measured safety performance using lagging indicators, such as incident rates and costs. However, numbers alone don't reveal how people communicate expectations, transfer knowledge, and prepare for the work. True transformation occurs when management can see and hear what is transpiring in the field.
Amplifying the field leader's communication is an attribute that adds value and enhances project success, which occurs by reimagining the Job Hazard Analysis process. Moving toward a Daily Planning Conversation (DPC), while simultaneously implementing a robust field leadership development program, the Field Safety Leader (FSL) process of Jordan Foster Construction (JFC) reveals the correlation between intentional field leadership development and operational excellence, creating one of the most valuable key initiatives in construction risk management.
Reimagining Daily Planning as Leadership Practice
JFC reached a turning point when we realized that daily planning was more than toolbox talks and checklists. It was an opportunity to practice leadership at scale—to coach, communicate, and learn. Over the last several years, JFC has reestablished our FSL program, where we identify leaders without formal titles and recruit them for a unique experience. Throughout the course of a year, candidates are immersed in a curriculum of safety best practices, combined with Giant Worldwide Leadership's best practices, which are established to foster the culture expected in the field.
Through the FSL program, field leaders learned about their communication tendencies and patterns, their natural personality type, and skills to develop a more intentional leadership style, helping them grow into better communicators and, ultimately, leaders worth following. Field leader graduates can become a key part of the leadership pipeline, integrating the program into revamped career pathway processes. By shifting focus from graphs and checklists to communication and dialogue, space for authentic connection is created.
The Power of Listening: Voices from the Field
Armed with the SmartTag It app (www.factorlab.com) and an iPhone, FSL graduates can utilize this technology and integrate a video while completing their daily planning. The goal is to ensure that the crew not only has an understanding of work expectations but is also invited and encouraged to participate in the conversation. Leaders ask the crew to engage in dialogue and actively participate in discussing the daily plan. The byproduct of engaging the crew is that they become part of the conversation, which fosters respect and trust.
Building Learning Organizations Through AI
Technology has finally caught up with the aspirations of risk and safety leadership. Artificial intelligence (AI) tools identify patterns in language, engagement, and focus that were previously invisible. We can identify leaders who consistently balance scope, capacity, and safety—and coach others through examples. AI-powered summaries, coaching insights, and benchmarking help transform data into growth. When forepersons read positive comments from divisional leaders to their crews, it builds recognition and trust, which are powerful forces in cultural change.
It seems evident that investing in behavior-based leadership education would have a positive impact on safety. Unfortunately, there was never a safety metric to validate the assumption. Researchers developed a framework called the "Simple Seven" components of a highly effective conversation, including the following.
JFC risk management compared the Simple Seven components to the key FSL structure, which includes the following.
The structure of the FSL program gains linguistic situational awareness and the ability to use language to influence and lead safety behaviors, a core concept in the Lens of Language Intelligence framework. These activities directly strengthen the seven communication dimensions, creating a living model of the Simple Seven.
Source: "Simple Seven/FSL Comparison," JFC Risk Management, 2025. Used with permission of JFC.
For the first time, risk management was able to utilize technology to measure and confirm that leaders who score high on care and respect for our field personnel perform better overall. Compared to over 1.2 million conversations, our field safety leaders score 20 percent higher than the benchmark, with 53 percent of leaders continuously improving their conversations over time.
Source: "Smart Tag It Graph," JFC Risk Management, 2025. Used with permission of JFC.
Culture, Challenge, and Support
Every company envisions and defines its culture. Every project leader also multiplies a culture, whether by design or by default. Some dominate through fear and control, and others abdicate through apathy, while others protect through control. The goal is to cultivate a liberating leadership culture—one that fosters a culture of empowerment and opportunity.
Leadership involves a balance of high support and high challenge. When organizations provide both, people grow, turnover decreases, and rework dissipates. Without both, performance declines. Leadership isn't about telling others what to do; it's about creating conditions where people are part of the process, informed, and engaged to do their best work.
Case Insights: JFC
An example of this approach may prove helpful. One of our 15-year crew members was not initially visible in leadership discussions. When his superintendent engaged him in the DPC, everything changed. He embraced the process, began leading the conversations, asking questions, and addressing concerns. He was soon recognized by leadership and enrolled in the FSL program. Someone who may have been overlooked was recently promoted to the superintendent position.
Conclusion
The integration of AI and field insights provides new ways to observe and connect with people, elevating performance. But the essence remains human: connection, recognition, and growth. By defining cultural expectations, investing in field leadership development, and utilizing technology to mentor teams, we can create environments that amplify the culture we want. Intentional leadership protects profitability, ensures safety, and drives operational excellence.
Opinions expressed in Expert Commentary articles are those of the author and are not necessarily held by the author's employer or IRMI. Expert Commentary articles and other IRMI Online content do not purport to provide legal, accounting, or other professional advice or opinion. If such advice is needed, consult with your attorney, accountant, or other qualified adviser.