Exclusive Insights from Roberto Albaizar, General Director with an Exemplary Career in the Construction Industry, on Sustainable Leadership and Transformation in Innovative Projects
It is a true honor to welcome Roberto Albaizar today, a General Director with an impressive track record in the construction industry, renowned for his focus on sustainability, project management, and innovation in real estate development. With over 25 years of experience in various leadership roles, his ability to transform challenges into opportunities is a testament to his commitment to excellence. Roberto is a highly respected professional in his field, and throughout this conversation, we are eager to explore the philosophies that have shaped his career and his approach to responsible and transformative leadership. His perspective on how to align sustainability with business development is incredibly relevant for today’s leaders. We are grateful for the opportunity to engage in dialogue with you and delve into your insights.
1. Roberto, you have worked in the construction industry for many years and have led various projects in different contexts. How have your perspectives on leadership in this industry evolved and what do you consider essential for current leaders?
Understanding that leadership is not just a position, but a shared responsibility with the team, is crucial for success. I don't know any leader who wasn't shaped by their own team.
Throughout my years in this industry, I've been fortunate enough to work for companies on different sides of the sector (architectural design and engineering, project and construction management, development and construction). It's astonishing that, despite being in the same industry, interests can be so vastly different depending on the role. Often, they even contradict each other. I believe adaptability is essential in leadership to navigate the changing environment.
An unadaptive leader without the ability to evolve their team to match, cannot be considered a real leader. And I think any effort to improve adaptability, yours, your team’s or both, is a smart and necessary path.
2. Your career includes significant experience in managing multidisciplinary teams. Given the diversity of perspectives that may arise, how do you manage to balance the personal values of team members with the objectives of the organization?
Cultivating an environment where every voice is heard allows personal values and organizational objectives to coexist harmoniously.
Without listening to and valuing contributions appropriately, balance will never be achieved.
This is essential for motivating the team, engaging them with the challenges we face. Many people are familiar with the theory of motivation; the reality of its application is quite different. Sometimes, motivation does not materialize until we start achieving the objectives we have set, if that occurs at all. However, it is the responsibility of a true leader to garner team motivation before the fulfillment of objectives, as this is the only way to ensure success and make the journey shorter and more collaborative.
The diversity of the team can become its greatest strength in achieving this. Avoiding futile competition among interests while maximizing the various personalities, experiences, training, skills, and values, and channeling them towards a shared goal in a motivational environment ultimately leads to an unbeatable dimension.
3. In the context of sustainability and innovation, what do you consider to have been the decisive moments that prompted you to reassess your strategy and approach? How do you think coaching could have been a useful tool in those moments?
Sometimes, it is in challenging moments where we find the brightest opportunities to innovate. Although the concept has been overused at times in our recent history, I still appreciate the idea of "reinventing oneself," even if it doesn't always require going to such extremes. When something is not quite working, sometimes it is enough to reinvent a strategy. Other times, it is merely a matter of tactics.
Calm reflection and analysis of mistakes, or simply of what is not quite working, often lead to the most successful innovations.
The path to review will already have more than half the distance covered if you have firmly resolved to benefit from everything that hasn’t worked out for you.
To achieve this, it is essential to learn that your spirit cannot falter when things do not go as planned. In my experience, this aspect is much more important and challenging than we usually believe.
Naturally, we tend to find scapegoats on which to blame our lack of judgment or luck. It is vital to learn not to allow anything or anyone to take even a tiny watt of your energy, and this is something that generally cannot be taught by just anyone. You will undoubtedly need all of it to provoke any analysis that leads to significant change. Even when things eventually turn out well, they are sometimes achieved with a strain that could have been avoided if we had approached the situation differently.
4. Emotional resilience is crucial in the construction field, especially in long-term projects. Could you share an experience in which you had to maintain your composure in a high-pressure environment? How do you think neuroscience-based coaching could benefit leaders in similar situations?
Developing a resilient mindset allows leaders not only to survive but also to thrive in times of adversity. Someone who is not willing to be taught new techniques is unlikely to have attained the status of a leader; however, if they have reached that status, they will never be a modern leader.
Emotional resilience can be the differentiating factor in effective leadership.
Sometimes, it can seem contradictory to balance energy and calm.
There have been several specific moments when it became necessary for me to manage pressure while maintaining composure. Some instances were resolved better than others, but I remember one particularly challenging situation due to two factors that, when they co-occur, can lead to total chaos: extreme difficulty of objectives and extreme difficulty with the client. I know we all tend to think this happens to us all the time in every project, but that is not the case. In this instance, and after more than 25 years in the industry, I can confirm it was the most difficult project with the most challenging client, both occurring simultaneously.
Any task, no matter how minimal, became a challenge in itself. The main difficulty lay in focusing on the long term during the nearly four years of project drafting and execution, trying to combine the necessary energy to meet the objectives with the essential calm needed to address any movement, no matter how trivial, from the client. Hardly anyone is born prepared and taught for these situations, and any advancement in science should be welcomed and fully utilized. This was one of those cases where, as mentioned earlier, things ultimately turned out well, but with a level of stress that proved almost unsustainable.
