Most land development professionals acknowledge that the industry is undergoing significant and rapid change. Today, more team members and different groups hold stakes in our projects than ever before, and those people come from increasingly diverse areas of specialization, experience and perspectives. Further, technology has permeated virtually every seam of the industry, improving the speed and the nature of communication and collaboration.

With these changes come new problems and increasing complexity. Even in the face of change, however, the natural human tendency is for people to assume —even hope—that their own future will be pretty much like the past. This tendency slowly degrades not only individual organizations’ competitive positions, but collectively, the industry’s ability to best serve our social and economic outlook for future generations.

The natural preference for the status quo creates a tremendous opportunity for those who embrace today’s realities. It creates even greater opportunities for those who can educate and motivate other members of their teams to embrace them as well. Therein lies the single most important success factor for professionals in our industry— leadership.

Whether you manage projects, direct organizations, or supervise staff level personnel, the single most important determinant of success in today’s environment is the ability to effectively lead teams of people - both within and outside of your organization.

Most people in leadership positions in the industry have risen from a technical educational and professional background such as civil engineering, architecture, landscape architecture, etc. This suits them well for the specialized requirements of the industry. In fact, those in positions of leadership throughout the industry must have a better grasp than ever before of the entire gamut of land development disciplines, issues, processes and solutions. Even that, however, is rapidly becoming a baseline for survival. Leaders must be able to leverage that knowledge to create a comprehensive vision that will deliver the results they desire. Then they must effectively guide a team of stakeholders toward the vision.

Of course, nothing about a technical background precludes one from being a great leader, but as more and more stakeholders become increasingly involved in land development project and organizational success, the effort becomes more difficult. Effective leadership requires a different set of personality traits, a broader and deeper set of competencies, and new skills and abilities than the specialized technical knowledge that pervades today’s environment. With more stakeholders, the importance of effective strategic planning, interpersonal communication, and new systems implementation increases. These areas comprise the territory of leaders.


Strategic Planning
A strategic plan is a set of conclusions that define a desired future state, along with a method to achieve the desired results. The strategic planning process is about defining long-range goals and objectives that further a team’s vision, providing a solid framework for identifying needed resources in equipment, capital, and personnel. It is the foundation for educating team members as to future direction and priorities.

Strategic planning is too rare in all industries, and the land development field is certainly no exception. Even when planning is conducted, it is too often delegated to a “planner” or “planning consultant.” While external consultants are quite useful in research and in facilitating plan development sessions, effective planning must involve the team members and stakeholders in the organization. No strategic plan can work well without the involvement, enthusiasm, and initiative of the team’s members. Everyone must clearly understand, and generally agree with, the strategic objectives.

There are countless excuses for lack of strategic planning. Often, executives assume that an organization simply cannot develop effective long-range planning appropriate to its resources and needs. They perceive themselves as too small to have a need for long-range planning. Other executives reject planning because they perceive team success without it, or because previous planning efforts have been viewed as unsuccessful.


The Nature of Strategic Planning
Many leaders—especially those with strong technical and financial backgrounds—have a tendency to develop such a reverence for numbers that they reduce or even eliminate intuition or value judgments from the strategic planning process. While there is no question that any strategic plan must have financial viability with fair degrees of certainty, the simple fact is that the future is, quite simply, uncertain. There is a tendency in the land development industry to assume that strategic plans, once made, are in the nature of blueprints and should be followed rigorously. Leaders should approach the planning process on the assumption that the future is, in fact, uncertain, and maintain the flexibility necessary to optimize performance as time progresses.


The Strategic Planning Process
Any team begins the strategic planning process by taking a critical look at the environment in which it operates. Following are just a few of the environmental questions that must be defined.

    • What markets are you now serving?

    • What markets could you be operating in?

    • What are the sizes of your markets?

    • Who is your competition and why do clients seek you out instead of them?   

    • How do your markets perceive your organization?

    • What important changes are occurring  (or have recently occurred) in your markets and what are their impacts on your organization?


From an environmental definition comes the development of a strategic goal, and most likely, a number of quantitative benchmarks that will allow for the measurement of the goal. The long-range goal serves as a stimulus and challenge to the entire team. If a strategic goal can be achieved in one year, then you probably have not stretched your vision far enough.

Supporting the goal, a strategic plan then defines the strategies and objectives that will lead to the achievement of the goal. In addition, leadership responsibilities for the strategies and objectives are identified, as well as the financial, human, and equipment resources needed to accomplish the goal.

The last step in the strategic planning process requires a judicious review of the newly defined goal, strategies, and objectives to assess demands that will be placed on the team as well as likely future effects.
   

    • What will the plan implementation cost?

    • What are the human resource implications?

    • What production capabilities will be required?

    • What changes will be necessary?

    • Are strategies, systems, and people properly aligned to meet the needs and preferences of our markets?


Interpersonal Communication
Achievement in today’s dynamic environment is as much about vision, judgment, and passion as it is about knowledge and experience. This is where leadership skills become the differentiators that propel those who possess them to new heights. The best way to enable change is to involve people in every step of an improvement effort: identifying the need for a change, planning and implementing the change, monitoring and acting on the results.

Communication is the catalyst for turning vision into reality. Effective leadership requires an ability to communicate a mutual perspective among all team members. It requires a combination of skills that together, enable teams to meet today’s needs and objectives, while facilitating a movement toward what the future will hold. Leaders create purpose, conviction, courage, and participation.


New Systems Implementation
The third area of leadership effectiveness in the industry is the implementation of new systems. Most people in leadership positions today do not yet push innovation or quality improvements because either they don’t impact the short term enough or they are afraid to “rock the boat.” Too often, we do business by looking at individual results, and pay too little attention to the quality of our processes and systems.

Leaders must be adept at analyzing their team structures and communications mechanisms in order to restructure them in ways that facilitate the achievement of the vision. An understanding of effective change management and communication are absolutely vital to this process.

Effective systems create a sustainable competitive advantage that leads to the achievement of a long-term vision. Many people in leadership positions do not think that all areas of a land development organization lend themselves to systemization. But, all the important ones do. Business development, project design, marketing, project management, accounting, and many other areas can all benefit from the implementation of systems.


Conclusion
Change is difficult in any industry, but it is especially challenging in one with so many divergent players with different interests. Many understand the way things are, but behave as if timeworn methods can endure forever. At the time they were established, there were good reasons for doing things that way, but the changing state of the industry requires that we continuously reevaluate issues and address new realities.

Now, more than ever, organizations and project teams require effective leadership to thrive. As strategic planning, communication, and new systems implementation come into alignment, achieving your vision will become a reality. The result will be that all team members will make better decisions, in a more timely fashion, and consistent with your vision. The short-term orientation that has served many teams up to now will not deliver the necessary results anymore. The best solution is thoughtful leadership and a plan that makes sense to all the stakeholders.

Those who anticipate and act on these opportunities through strong leadership, innovation, investment, and growth have the best chance to gain the competitive advantage. Continuing change requires members of the land development industry to focus on the future, and those with the greatest instincts and leadership skills will reap the greatest rewards. SLDT