Africa is experiencing rapid development, with construction playing a pivotal role in its economic transformation. From infrastructure projects like roads, bridges, and airports to large-scale housing, and energy developments, construction is vital for meeting the continent’s growing needs.
Drawing on 18 years of experience operating in Africa, I have established a few key principles to minimize risks and ensure project success.
Effective project management establishes clear timelines and budgets from the outset, monitoring progress against these goals to prevent scope creep. It also allows for better forecasting and financial control, preventing the common issues of unexpected expenses or missed deadlines that plague many construction projects.
Effective project management is essential for the success of construction projects in Africa; without it, projects risk delays, cost overruns, and even failure, which can negatively impact economies and communities. As such, strong project management serves as a cornerstone for achieving successful outcomes.
Bringing Project Managers onto a project as early as possible provides several key benefits for both the project and the team:
• Project Planning: Project Managers analyze project requirements, assess risks, and develop a comprehensive project plan. This proactive planning reduces the likelihood of delays or costly rework, setting a strong foundation for success.
• Team Alignment: By providing strong leadership and clear direction. Project Managers use various tools and techniques to motivate and coach the team. They help remove obstacles, allowing team members to focus on critical tasks without the distraction of off-track activities or budget issues.
• Early Challenge Recognition: Project Managers consistently look ahead, understand the environment, and leverage insights from team members familiar with the region. This collaborative approach helps identify challenges early, enabling the creation of a stage or project risk register.
Project Managers should inherently be proactive, actively managing the project schedule throughout its lifecycle. By coordinating changes, keeping the timeline accurate, and communicating updates to stakeholders, they encourage a forward-looking mindset within the team to mitigate surprises and prepare effective responses.
“The journey shapes the destination: How the team approaches the project impacts the outcome. Along the way, the team and project evolve, refining shared goals. Ultimately, the path taken to achieve success plays a significant role in overall satisfaction”.
When it comes to management styles, understanding local culture and customs before entering a new region is essential for effectively managing and getting the best results from the team. For instance, local team members often observe that South African Project Managers tend to be more aggressive and directive, which can lead to low morale, reduced productivity, high turnover, and a lack of innovation within the team.
A Project Manager should recognize their role as part of a larger team, making an interactive management style crucial for effective collaboration. This approach helps ensure that solutions are practical, effective, and tailored to meet the needs of clients, tenants, and developers in that area. By fostering a collaborative environment, this style minimizes conflict, improves productivity, strengthens relationships, provides clear direction, encourages innovation, and enhances workplace culture.
Preparing a risk assessment document with input from the whole team is a core component of project management, and plays a crucial role in minimizing the effects of unforeseen events. By anticipating potential obstacles and developing contingency plans, project managers ensure that work continues smoothly, even when confronted with local complexities such as bureaucratic delays or political changes.
It is key to seek input from the consultants, as a project manager cannot operate alone, and a dictatorial management style does not work, it prevents involvement, stifles creativity, and initiative, it creates resentment and the result is the project suffers. While there are occasions where the PM should be dictatorial in their approach, to avoid procrastination, but knowing when this is needed comes from a clear understanding of the project and who the team members are, this should not be the norm.
“Trying to anticipate the local conditions without involving local teams, experts, and consultants is risky”.
Though these principles may seem straightforward, they are often overlooked due to time constraints and other pressures. Investing time in thorough planning and adhering to sound project management practices before beginning a project is essential for long-term success.
While Project Management has established sound project stages, with key deliverables, and provide guidelines on a Project, while necessary, Project Managers should recognise that the way these are presented, managed and monitored is just as important to ensure that the team is aligned and motivated.
Choosing the appropriate management style that will suit the team makeup, for example:
• A democratic leadership - Democratic leaders encourage employees to share their ideas and opinions and consider employee input when making decisions.
• A transformational leadership - Transformational leaders use effective communication and collaboration to inspire their team.
• A consultative management - Consultative managers make team members feel valued and heard, which can lead to higher employee satisfaction and well-being.
• An adaptive leadership - This proactive approach helps project teams and stakeholders deal with change.
While I addressed some project management processes, practices, and deliverables, I chose to cover how to effectively communicate these to the team.