How you lead determines how your team performs. Command-and-control leadership may work in a high-stress moment, but it rarely builds lasting success. Positive, intentional leadership creates stronger teams and stronger results.
Merrick Kemp, shop supervisor at Terus Construction, shares practical ways to lead with intention. With 20 years managing maintenance teams, he now oversees three maintenance shops supporting Terus concrete equipment and plants. His work helping other supervisors grow began after he was invited to speak at the Canadian Institute’s Annual Shutdowns and Turnarounds Superconference several years ago.
“When everybody's involved and everybody wants to contribute, that's when you get the best ideas.”
Merrick Kemp
Terus Construction
WHERE TO START
The first step is to identify the people on a team and understand who they are. After doing this, it might become obvious there is already someone on the team who brings positivity and builds other team members up. These people are the glue of a team. Merrick says they aren’t typically management or the entry-level employee, but what he calls the “mushy middle.”
When leaders identify high-potential individuals and intentionally give them additional support and room to grow, this can inspire the rest of the team to follow.
The next step is to listen. Employees want to feel heard.
This provides a relief for employees and a benefit to supervisors because they are creating an environment where employees feel safe to open up.
The key is consistency. Change occurs over a period of months and years, not a day or two.
“It builds confidence in your team,” Merrick explains. “It allows them to grow and to challenge themselves in different ways.”
CREATING BETTER TEAMS
Positive leadership is not about lowering standards. It is about responding differently.
When mistakes happen, the focus should shift from blame to improvement. Identify what went wrong and adjust moving forward. That approach turns errors into learning moments. Workers know that taking a risk or making a mistake isn't going to be detrimental but instead could help them learn what to do differently.
Growth requires space. Employees who are trusted to try, adjust and improve often develop stronger skills and better processes as a result.
Purpose drives performance. When teams help define goals or shape a shared mission, they understand how their work contributes to something larger.
Recognition reinforces that momentum. Celebrating wins builds pride and encourages collaboration rather than competition.
Finally, connection matters. Asking about the best part of someone’s day or what they enjoy about their work may seem small, but those conversations build trust. And trust is what allows teams to rely on one another.
Strong leadership is intentional. And over time, those small, consistent actions shape teams that perform better together.
EFFECTS OF POSITIVE LEADERSHIP
In a time when the industry is experiencing worker shortages and high rates of retirement, retaining your workforce through positive leadership is essential.
When someone leaves a position, the bar is reset. That person will need to be replaced with someone new and potentially green to that position. This will lead to more training and other coworkers pulled away from their duties to fill the void.
“People don’t typically leave a job, they leave a boss or a supervisor,” Merrick shares.
Companies that establish a positive leadership style will see better overall retention and employee commitment.
If someone is happy in their job, they are more likely to stay and grow with a company.
When an employee feels listened to and respected, they will bring new ideas to management. This is important because the people who often come up with the most impactful ideas are the workers who are on site each day.
“When everybody's involved and everybody wants to contribute, that's when you get the best ideas,” Merrick notes.
One easy takeaway a manager can implement today is asking their employees about the good parts of their day or what they love about their job.
“When people talk about a positive moment, a memory, it builds a connection, and it builds a bond between people,” Merrick advises.
Learn how to take your workforce to the next level, acquire the best skilled labor and keep the best skilled labor with CONEXPO-CON/AGG’s workforce resources page.
PHOTO CREDIT: SHUTTERSTOCK/FREEDOMZ
