I seem to have just one gear in my approach to work, life and cycling: flat out. I’ve always been like that.

Recently, however, I’ve tried another gear for cycling based on the advice of my coach, Chad.

He told me that most riders don’t dedicate conscious effort to skill refinement, especially those who put in insane miles or bury themselves with high-intensity intervals.

He wanted me to aim for that next level up because I’ll reap more dividends for the time I spend in the saddle, so that’s what I’m doing, and it’s paying off.

Reflecting on that, I’d say the same is true in business, especially at the management level in construction.

For 45 years I’ve worked alongside countless enthusiastic, determined, committed people who work flat out, day in, day out, making hard-won progress.

For many, this is done at great personal sacrifice to get the job done.

Energy and commitment to the cause is not in doubt but, following Chad’s lead, is enough conscious effort put into management skill refinement in construction?

I mean conscious, deliberate and sustained effort into management skill refinement?

I’d say that, at best, it’s rare. Normally it’s just assumed you can do your job optimally, and so can your people.

What do you mean, skill refinement?

Since lockdown, I’ve been cycling indoors on my Wahoo Kickr turbo trainer, using an app called TrainerRoad.

Chad comes with the app, so he’s there talking to me from the screen in front of the handlebars.

TrainerRoad takes me through eight-week blocks of training. Each block starts with a fitness test and ends with a week of sessions at an easier pace dedicated to conscious skill refinement.

The weeks in between are constant hard work, though Chad throws in lots of skill refinement drills so I’m frequently applying them while under strain.

(I wonder sometimes if they are to distract from the agony.)

In cycling, skill refinements include things like “Kick and Pull”, where you lightly kick over the top of the pedal stroke and pull back across the bottom.

Also, deep breathing from the gut and watching knee alignment at the top of the pedal action.

Also, curiously, smiling, even under serious load, because a grimace affects your whole body!

I’ve been cycling hard for over 50 years but, with Chad’s coaching and the rigour of conscious, sustained skill refinement, I feel I’m now at my cycling best.

And my fitness tests at the start of each eight-week block are showing steady improvement in my hard numbers.

What would skill refinement for managers look like?

Off the top of my head, here are 10 suggestions:

1. Working at the right level, the level you’re paid to work at, not meddling in stuff a pay-grade or two down because it’s what you used to do and it’s still your comfort zone;
2. Holding to values, tough ones, even when it gets tricky;
3. Enabling effective meetings that help everybody in them do their jobs instead of wasting their time;
4. Getting and staying grounded and centered through roller-coaster days;
5. Creating psychological safety in your team and organisation;
6. Working ‘on’ your team, consciously, so its performance improves all the time;
7. Handling under-performance effectively;
8. Setting and getting buy-in for stretching goals;
9. Delegating effectively, again and again;
10. Using MS Teams well or, even better, Zoom (it’s so easy to do this right but so many get it wrong).

Acquiring and refining these and other skills is an ongoing obligation for effective managers, because the workplace is constantly changing.

(Hint: That’s why CPD stands for “continuing professional development”.)

Wait, you said 11 tips? That’s 10 …

Yes, the eleventh is a great place to start in refining your management skills.

It’s a new online course we’ve developed for the CIOB Academy on the essentials of a coaching style of management, called “Coach for Results”.

We saw a lack of good CPD opportunities for managers in construction about management itself, so we created this low-cost programme to give managers a powerful tool to boost engagement, excitement and capability in their people.

It’s actually a good way to start doing many of the 10 things listed above.

You do it in your own time and practice what you learn with in-work assignments.

And the best thing is, you do it with other people on a learning platform.

There’s also an alumni community, so you can maintain contact with other participants you meet along the way and work together on conscious skill refinement after the course is over.

You can find out all about it here.

Unfortunately, there’s no Coach Chad, but I’ll be accompanying you on your journey.

Oh, and please invite your people to sign up too; the more the merrier and the bigger the impact for you, them and the industry.